Choosing a name for your baby is no easy task. There are so many factors to consider: Will the name have a special meaning? Will it honor your family values and traditions? And most important, will your baby embrace it 25 years from now? If you’re a writer or remotely interested in literature, perhaps you’ve considered naming your baby after a great writer.

I named my son “Stephen” after my husband, but I have to admit that it’s cool he has the same first name as one of America’s greatest living novelist (Stephen King). Naming my kid Stephen was a no-brainer for me, but if I had to do it over again, naming him after an influential and highly respected novelist would be high on my list. How about you?


To help you feel connected to late writers (and current favorites), name your baby one of these writer-inspired names:

Here are top baby girl names inspired by writers:

  1. Toni (Morrison)
  2. Jane (Austen)
  3. Harper (Lee)
  4. Maya (Angelou)
  5. Alice (Walker)
  6. Sylvia (Plath)
  7. Zora (Neale Hurston)
  8. Isabel (Allende)
  9. Virginia (Woolf)
  10. Anne (Tyler)
  11. Judy (Blume)
  12. Zadie (Smith)
  13. Marilynne (Robinson)
  14. Rachel (Kushner)

Here are top baby boys names inspired by writers:

    1. (George) Orwell
    2. (J.R.R.) Tolkien
    3. William (Shakespeare)
    4. (Dan) Brown
    5. (George R.R.) Martin
    6. Homer
    7. Charles (Dickens)
    8. (Arthur Conan) Doyle
    9. (Albert) Camus
    10. (James) Baldwin
    11. Stephen (King)
    12. Thomas (Pynchon)
    13. Cormac (McCarthy)
    14. (Percival) Everett