Tag Archives: Bleda

Top Ten Tuesday | Characters (and Literary Figures) That I’d Name My Children After

09 Wednesday Feb 2011

Posted by in Meme

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Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because of a fondness for lists. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists! Each week a new Top Ten list is posted complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join.

This weeks question is: What Are Your Top Ten Characters (and Literary Figures) That You’d Name Your Children After?

Wow, this is a good one! I guess I haven’t really thought about it much, but there are a few nice names out there that I like. Here goes.

1. Sumire (Sputnik Sweetheart – Haruki Murakami) I like the name Violet. I like its Japanese counterpart even more. In fact I fell in love with the name long before I read Murakami’s excellent novel, with Enya’s beautiful song ‘Sumiregusa’. It sounds so elegant and dainty. Perfect for a little girl!

2. Matilda (Matilda – Roald Dahl) I would dearly love my child to be as book-mad as me. If that doesn’t happen, at least I can give her a name that has become synonymous with the bookworm. I loved reading Matilda as a little girl. She (along with Anne of Green Gables) were some of the only characters I could identify with.

3. Nimue (In folklore, Merlin’s lover) I can’t remember the exact title of the book, but it was in a trilogy by a fairly famous author that I came across this enigmatic figure. I love Gaelic names.

4. Irene (The Forsyte Saga) I fell in love with the BBC televised version, and decided to read it at once. Irene is a wonderful female literary figure. She is strong-willed, decent, has a mind of her own. Many people try to bend her and break her, but she just keeps going. Also, I love the way the name is pronounced in this instance, with a stress of the ‘e’.

5. Mercedes (Count of Monte Cristo) Another great female character, but one who would be rather suited to the name ‘Dolores’ than ‘Mercedes’ what with all the despair she has to endure. Great name though.

6. Bleda (Atilla’s Treasure – Stephen Grundy) You can’t find these books that readily anymore, which is a shame as I managed to get my hands on this copy and absolutely loved it. Bleda is not a fictional character, he was the brother of Attila the Hun. If I have a boy, I’d like him to have a strong name, evocative of warriors of yore.

7. Asena (name of a legendary she-wolf – Mongolian mythology) as you have gathered, I like my Eastern tales. This one comes from a very little-known myth of the people of the Steppes, when they were hunted down to the brink of extinction, until one lame man from the tribe escaped, was taken in by a she-wolf, who went onto bear his bloodline once more.

8. Rem (Deathnote) … ok it’s not literary, it’s manga, but I love this series so MUCH! Rem is a shinigami (demon-spirit), and I think the name sounds too cool to pass it by. This is believe it or not a female character, but looking at her always made me think ‘you’re a guy’. So Rem would be for a boy.

9. Minerva (Harry Potter) I’ve always like this name. Minerva was a goddess of chastity, the hunt and other things. She comes second in line after Diana or Artemis.

10. Edmund (Count of Monte Cristo) Great character, great name, great plot. Though a little out of date for today’s times.

So, that’s my list. I wonder what you think of it, or if you have any of your own that you would like to share.

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