What Does the Bookworm Say? What’s in a Name

Hi and welcome to What Does the Bookworm Say?, a feature where I discuss bookish topics with my friends at The Reader’s Antidote, Books Unbound and The Windy Pages. Each week, we will discuss a new bookish topic. This week’s topic is: tell us what some of your favorite character names are and why.

As someone with a slightly unusual name, I find that I take particular notice of names in books. I like quirky and unusual names but I don’t like it when they get too strange or it’s a common name with just a weird spelling (though all bets are off when reading fantasy).  Nicknames can be cool but it really depends. One of the nicknames that I really don’t like is Jazz, short for Jasper. Jasper is a great name and I don’t understand why people keep shortening it to Jazz. Though I did just have a friend give her kid Jazz as a middle name, and I think that’s what they are calling him…

Right now I am reading The Raven Boys by Maggie Steifvater and I really like some of the names in this series. The main female character’s name is Blue, which I love. I have an affinity for colors as names and Blue is a simple but unusual name that fits the character well. Another character in the book is named Gansey. Well, his full name is Richard “Dick” Campbell Gansey III, but everyone just calls him Gansey. Again, somewhat unusual but not so much that it seems too precious. And last but not least, there is Ronan. I love how this name sounds dangerous and a bit mysterious, just like the character.

There are other names in books that I really like but I am immersed in The Raven Boys right now so that’s what’s on my mind. Does anyone else secretly look for their name in books? I think it would be cool to have the same name as a character in a book, but alas, it hasn’t happened yet. What are some of your favorite literary names?

Don’t forget to check out The Reader’s Antidote, Books Unbound and The Windy Pages to see what their answers are to today’s question.