The Top 10 Book Character Names I Came to Love

Top Ten Tuesday topic is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today’s topic is Top Ten Character Names I Love or Top Ten Unusual Character Names, so I’m going to focus on the top 10 character names that I might not have been a favorite going into the story, but I came to like. This week’s list is no particular order.

1. Peeta, The Hunger Games

Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson, Entertainment Weekly, August 5, 2011No I wouldn’t name my kid Peeta, but somehow the character was able to get me to believe that this was a completely acceptable and even a good name.

2. Catherine, Northanger Abbey

I already liked the name Catherine, but this was never my favorite spelling for the name. Well, it still isn’t, but I did come to like it more after reading Northanger Abbey.

3. Elizabeth, Pride and Prejudice

elizabeth-p&p

OK, the movie more so than the book but still, the movie wouldn’t exist without the book, and Elizabeth is the same person in both. Elizabeth is a strong yet feminine and classic name, and it was given to a character who fits the same bill.

4. Ryan, What’s Left of Me

Who am I kidding, I’ve loved the name Ryan for a long time. But liking the character Ryan in What’s Left of Me sort of revived it for me.

5. Elliot (for a girl), For Darkness Shows the Stars

fordarknessshowsSometimes, taking a guy name and using it for a girl works. This is one of those times. Elliot was the perfect name for this character and I think it could work for some other girls too.

6. Kai, Cinder and For Darkness Shows the Stars

TWO great guys with the same name?! How could I not grow to appreciate it?!

7 & 8. Chloe and Cameron, Left Behind

When I read this book way back (like sixth grade I think?), I loved the characters Chloe and Cameron (AKA Buck, a name I also grew to love at the time) and I found myself really liking their names as well. As time has passed, I still like them both, though the nickname Buck doesn’t have quite the same appeal anymore.

9. Gibson, Double Minds

This is from a book about a girl who is getting into the music business, and she and her brothers are all named after guitars, one of them being Gibson. Maybe it’s the fact that I live in the Nashville area, drive by Gibson headquarters almost daily, and love the look of their hollow-body guitars, but I like the name Gibson for a guy. So much so, in fact, I’m using it as a character name for my NaNoWriMo story!

10. Scout, To Kill A Mockingbird

scout-tokillI don’t know if this hit me quite the same way in high school as it does (even though I haven’t read the book in over ten years), but it’s such an interesting and fun name for a girl.

What character names from books do you love? Since I had so much fun with this list, next week I’ll do a Top 10 list dedicated to my favorite TV show character names! 

25 Responses to The Top 10 Book Character Names I Came to Love

  1. How did I forget Peeta and Kai this week? I completely agree with you about Peeta’s name- when I first read THG I wasn’t too keen on it but once I finished Mockingjay I thought it suited him perfectly.

  2. Peeta, lol! Nooo, I just can’t do it. I think of pita every time (especially since he’s a baker). I do adore the name Scout, though….. Especially for a girl!

    • The pita thing honestly never bothered me! Maybe if it was real life and I wasn’t looking at how it was spelled, but for some reason I thought it worked in the books.

  3. Such great names! I’m not sure if I agree with you about Peeta — I’m Team Gale through and through 😉 — but for the rest, I absolutely love. Ryan’s one of my favorite guy names as well, but only because a lot of the Ryans I read about in books seem to be REALLY swoon-worthy. The same goes for the name Alex. I think I like Alex more. I’ve also always liked the name Elizabeth, even though people complain that it’s old-fashioned. Hey, you can come with some pretty sweet nicknames for a kid named Elizabeth, you know?! Ellie, Liz, Beth, El, Zab (weird, but cool sounding, you have to admit ;D), Liza, and a couple more.

    I wanted to include Scout in my TTT, but then I thought I’d be the only one who’d like the name! Glad to see that I’m not. Scout is a really cool name for a girl. So cool that I might even name my daughter that one day. 🙂

    • I think it’s pretty cool too! I’d probably pick something more traditional for my own child, but it’s a fantastic character name for sure!

      Team Gale = booooo. 😉

  4. Peeta grew on me too..lol woo Team Peeta! I was happy at the end of that series 🙂

    I gave my own daughter the middle name Elizabeth, I just loved it and thought it was classy..lol Plus went well with her first name, Kailyn.. yes, no “t” in there 🙂 If I have another daughter her middle name will be Jane, also from P&P 🙂

    I also like “boy” names for girls..lol So Elliot for a girl is super cute.

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