TOP TEN TUESDAY: Character Names I Love!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week's topic is: Top Ten Character Names I LOVE!

As a teacher, names are usually associated with certain feelings thanks to many, many students. My husband and I often joke that there are some names that we can never use for our future children, for both positive and negative reasons. I feel the same way about character names - there are names I LOVE because I love the characters, and some names I can’t stand because the characters make my skin crawl (not that students ever do this). This week I’m sharing some of my favorite character names:

      

1. Eleanor & Park (Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell) - There’s just something so perfect about their names. I, never in a million years, thought I would like the name Eleanor, but after this book, it’s right up there with my favorites...oh the difference a good book can make! (I feel the same about Hazel and Augustus from John Green’s The Fault in our Stars)

2. Ryan Dean West (Winger by Andrew Smith) - Two first names? Love it! I don’t think Andrew Smith could have written a better name for this character.

3. Mary Shelley Black (In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters) - A creepy name with allusions to Frankenstein...perfect! There’s just enough spookiness to this name to make her feel real and yet paranormal at the same time.

4. Noah Shaw and Mara Dyer (The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin) - Perhaps I love these names just because I love these characters so much. Noah...oh, Noah. The swooniest of swoony boys; how can you not love everything about him, including his name!

      

5. Juliette Ferrars (Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi) - Juliette’s name is perfect in that it’s not perfect at all...does that make sense? To me, Juliette is a very soft, beautiful, feminine name. This Juliette is strong, powerful, and fiercely independent. I love that dichotomy, which is why I love her name!

6. Hermione Granger (Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling) - Simply put, I love her and kind of want to be her, name included.

7. Aristotle and Dante (Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz) - their names are just so unique. There’s history to these names, and yet, they are such modern characters. Plus, I loved the feelings these characters’ names evoked in themselves and in each other. Saenz clearly put a lot of thought into naming these two boys.

   

8. Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins) - another name that just fits the character perfectly! A name never heard before, and yet, no other name could possibly work for Katniss’ character. Strong and beautiful at the same time, just like her.

9. Clary Fray (The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare) - I’m not sure what it is about this name, I just like it. It’s different, unique, and just seemed to fit the character. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that I have a new-found desire to become a shadowhunter.

10. Isadora (The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White) - Beautiful name. I love that Isadora refused to shorten her name to “Dora” or “Izzy.” As she says, names define who you are, and her name suits her beautifully (I’m still going to keep my shortened name though).