A captivating book, an action-packed or truly moving movie, a dramatic TV show that keeps you watching for hours on end: All of these hold special places in our lives because the stories told stick with us for so long. Certain characters become instant favorites or personal heroes — sometimes we even apply the lessons we learn from them to our own lives. So, why not apply them to our kids’ lives from the very start, via a literary or screen-icon baby name?
From classics to new favorites, we’ve rounded up memorable fictional characters from novels, TV shows, comic books and movies for all the baby-naming inspiration you need.
Literary characters
Set your kid up for a lifelong love of reading with a literary character name.
- Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson, The Help
- Alice, Alice in Wonderland
- AnneShirley, Anne of Green Gables
- Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird
- Dorian Gray, The Picture of Dorian Gray
- Elizabeth Bennett, Pride and Prejudice
- Fern Arable, Charlotte’s Web
- Harry Potter, Trixie Belden and Hermione Granger, from the Harry Potter series
- Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
- Ichabod Crane, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
- Idgie Threadgoode, Fried Green Tomatoes
- Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
- Jane Eyre, Jane Eyre
- Jay Gatsby, The Great Gatsby
- Jo March, Little Women
- Katniss Everdeen and Rue, The Hunger Games
- Lisbeth Salander, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
- Milo Minderbender, Catch-22
- Owen Meany, A Prayer for Owen Meany
- Philip “Pip” Pirrup, Great Expectations
- Pippi Longstocking, Pippi Longstocking
- Rachel Chu, Crazy Rich Asians
- Ramona Quimby, a character from a series of Beverly Cleary novels
- Robinson Crusoe, The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
- Romeo, Romeo and Juliet
- Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes
- Sula Peace, Sula
- Vito Corleone, The Godfather
- Wang Lung, The Good Earth
- Willy Wonka, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
More: 81 Celebrity Baby Boy Names We Love — From Hipster to All-American
Comic book characters
You might read “comic book character” and immediately think of DC and Marvel comics, but we’re going more old-school with the following names. (Though, yes, we did include some of your favorite comic characters turned film superheroes.)
- Annie, Little Orphan Annie
- Archie Andrews, The Archies
- Beetle Bailey, Beetle Bailey
- Brenda Starr, Brenda Starr
- BruceWayne, Batman
- Bucky Katt, Get Fuzzy
- Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes
- Charlie Brown, Peanuts
- Dagwood, Blondie
- DennisMitchell, Dennis the Menace
- Diana Prince, Wonder Woman
- DickTracy, Dick Tracy
- Hagar, Hagar the Horrible
- Lulu Moppett, Little Lulu
- PeterParker, Spiderman
- Storm, X-Men
- T’Challa, Erik Killmonger and Nakia, Black Panther
Movie characters
The best movie characters stay with us far longer than 120 minutes. Here are some of our favorite names from film.
- Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption
- Apollo Creed, Rocky
- Butch Cassidy, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- Celie and Sofia, The Color Purple
- CharlesFoster Kane, Citizen Kane
- DorothyGale, The Wizard of Oz
- Forrest Gump, Forrest Gump
- George Bailey, It’s a Wonderful Life
- Harry Callahan, Dirty Harry
- Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, Hidden Figures
- Lando Calrissian, Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker, Star Wars
- Linus Larrabbee, Sabrina
- Marty McFly, Back to the Future
- Meg Murry, A Wrinkle in Time
- Nina Sayers, Black Swan
- Norman Bates, Psycho
- Oskar Schindler, Schindler’s List
- Randle McMurphy, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
- Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lund, Casablanca
- Rocky Balboa, Rocky
- Scarlett O’Hara, Gone with the Wind
- Tristan Ludlow, Legends of the Fall
- Yuri Zhivago, Dr. Zhivago
TV characters
How does one even begin to choose the best TV show characters of all time? Here are just a few great names.
- Augustus McCrae, Lonesome Dove
- Carrie Bradshaw, Sex and the City
- Cosmo Kramer, Seinfeld
- Dexter, Dexter
- Don Draper, Mad Men
- Earnest “Earn” Marks, Atlanta
- Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, The X-Files
- Homer Simpson, The Simpsons
- James T. Kirk, Star Trek
- Jay Pritchett, Modern Family
- Leonard Hofstadter and Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
- Louis Huang, Jessica Huang and Eddie Huang, Fresh Off the Boat
- Lucas Sinclair, Joyce Byers and Steve Harrington, Stranger Things
- Mary Richards, The Mary Tyler Moore Show
- Michaela “Mike” Quinn, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
- PhineasFlynn and Ferb Fletcher, Phineas and Ferb
- Ralph and Alice Kramden, The Honeymooners
- Richard Kimble, The Fugitive
- Ricky and LucyRicardo, I Love Lucy
- SamMalone, Cheers
- Samantha White and Lionel Higgins, Dear White People
- TonyNelson, I Dream of Jeannie
- Uhura, Star Trek
- Walter White, Breaking Bad
Leave a Comment