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Tuesday, June 3, 2014

How Far Will You Go For Middle Grade? by Joy McCullough-Carranza



Recently I encountered a child named Anakin – a girl, in fact, and I mused what rabid Star Wars fans her parents must be to give their child this name. (Although, Star Wars associations aside, I actually think it’s quite a pretty name.) But then I realized that if my son had been a girl, I totally would have lobbied for the name Hermione. I really would have. I don’t think I would have won, but I would have had my arguments lined up. The name actually comes from A Winter’s Tale, which would go nicely with our other daughter, whose name is Shakespearean.

But let’s be honest—I really would have been naming her after Hermione Granger.

It got me thinking about how memorable a character must be, how strong a love for a book or a film, to name one’s progeny after this made up being. What an effect those authors or filmmakers have had, to inspire the names of actual people in the world. It made me wonder if there’s been a boom of Harrys or Percys over the last decade. If children were named Matilda or Harriet or Lucy because of a parent’s love for a book.


We’re coming up on our one year anniversary of getting our dog. I lobbied to name her
Luna, because she is white and strawberry, with these giant, unnerving blue eyes, and frankly, she’s kind of spacey. But my daughter was heavily into a Greek mythology phase at the time – we read Anne Ursu’s Cronus Chronicles, Kate O’Hearn’s Pegasus series, and the Percy Jackson books – and ended up naming the dog Athena. We agreed begrudgingly that this might be a good fit, since she is an Australian Shepherd, and they are supposed to be very smart. Emphasis on supposed to be. (Our previous dog, who I’d had for thirteen years, was named Owen, for John Irving’s adult novel A Prayer for Owen Meany.)


And also under the heading of permanent life choices inspired by books, I love this collection of tattoos inspired by children’s books. I especially love the Ramona and Matilda ones! I have two literary tattoos myself, though they are not middle grade. (I am planning a Harry Potter tattoo, though. Shh.)


So have any middle grade books or characters inspired you to make a permanent life choice? Name a child or a pet? Burn something into your skin? Choose a spouse based on a shared love of Roald Dahl?

What lengths will you go to for middle grade?

20 comments:

  1. I have the opposite issue. My daughter is named Jasmine, but as she was growing up, we made it clear to people that she was NOT named after a certain singing princess. She was named after the flower and she learned to identify it at a very young age :)

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    1. Jasmine is a beautiful name! But I can imagine the misunderstandings. I have a character named Elsa in my WIP, which I started before Frozen came out, but now I'm thinking I might need to change it!

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  2. I didn't name any of my kids after characters - although I was tempted by Arwen (but I like her name better than her character). But the names Isabella and Jacob have been among the most popular ever since Twilight debuted, and Lily (a side name from Harry Potter) has been up there too.

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    1. Ooh good point. YA is fun to consider too. I bet there'll be an explosion of Hazels & Gus's. Probably not Katniss's, though I do know someone with a cat named Catniss. :-)

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  3. Well, I planted a hedge of Rosa Mundi in honor of the first MG book I wrote, which featured the flower. The book didn't get published, but the hedge is just about to bloom, so it proved a good decision!

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    1. I love that idea! What a wonderful way to celebrate a writing achievement. If I weren't such a terrible gardener, I might consider it!

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  4. My friend just named his daughter Arya, and I must admit - I'm jealous.

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    1. Game of Thrones. Not very MG, but still fandom.

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    2. I have to agree, Matt. Arya is an amazing name. Jealousy.

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  5. I had a dog in middle school named Bilbo Baggins...and a classmate named Rip Van Winkle!!! Not truly middle grade, but I couldn't resist.

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    1. Ha, love it! Bilbo is a great dog name.

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    2. Rip Van Winkle? Seriously?!

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    3. I'm totally serious. His little brother had a very average name. But Rip was Rip with the middle name Van.

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  6. We named one of our sons Ransom - bookish if not middle-grade. And Sirius was at the top of our list - if we ever have another boy, we might still use it. ;)

    I love those tattoos!

    I have a friend who named her daughter Luna, which I think is such a pretty name even without HP.

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    1. Ooooh, Sirius! Well now you HAVE to have another. :-) And sort of MG-ish, I know all three of your boys have middle names for mythological creatures, which is very cool.

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  7. Interesting post. We named our daughters after relatives, but out daughters named their goldfish after the mermaid Ariel, and after Roald Dahl's Matilda.
    Deb@ http://debioneille.blogspot.com

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  8. We named one dog Snoopy (a poodle, but not sure why we picked this one) and our second Cupid (cause he brought so much love)

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  9. Our Chocolate Lab is named after her smart and beautiful Disney namesake, Belle.

    My best pet as a kid was our Australian/Blue Heeler mix, Tiger. I taught her how to climb up into our tree house with me. I still get sad when I think of her getting hit by the UPS truck.

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  10. I don't think I've ever named anyone/anything after any fictional character. Is that sad or what!

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Thanks for adding to the mayhem!