Find the most unique literary girl names from books for your little one. This comprehensive list includes everything from authors’ names to characters from children’s books, classic books, modern books, Shakespeare, and Harry Potter. These literary baby names are perfect for a future bookworm, so let’s get literary!
Literary Girl Names That Show Your Love of Books
NOTE
The focus of these baby girl names from literature is on the first name of the book characters, but occasionally, I share a last name that will work well to give your baby’s first name meaning that is literary.
Names of Famous Authors
Agatha (Agatha Christie)
Beverly (Beverly Cleary)
Brit (Bennett)
Colleen (Hoover)
Daphne (Daphne du Maurier)
Elin (Hilderbrand)
Emily (Emily Dickinson)
Flannery (Flannery O’Connor)
Harper (Harper Lee)
Isabel (Isabel Allende)
Jane (Jane Austen)
Jhumpa (Jhumpa Lahiri)
Laura (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
Louisa (Louisa May Alcott)
Maya (Maya Angelou)
Nora (Roberts)
Sylvia (Sylvia Plath)
Tessa (Bailey)
Virginia (Virginia Woolf)
Willa (Willa Cather)
Zadie (Smith)
Zora (Zora Neale Hurston)
Girl Names From Books
Fictional Characters from Children’s Books
Addy (American Girl series)
Alice (Alice in Wonderland)
Amelia (Amelia Bedelia)
Anne (Anne of Green Gables)
Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)
Beezus (Ramona Quimby series)
Belle (Beauty and the Beast)
Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty)
Charlotte (Charlotte’s Web)
Claudia (Baby-Sitters Club series)
Coraline (Coraline)
Dawn (Baby-Sitters Club series)
Dorothy (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)
Ella (Ella, Enchanted)
Eloise (Eloise book series)
Felicity (American Girl series)
Gretel (Hansel and Gretel)
Harriet (Harriet the Spy)
Heidi (Heidi)
Jessi / Jessica (Baby-Sitters Club series)
Josefina (American Girl series)
Julie (Julie of the Wolves)
Kirsten (American Girl series)
Kristy (Baby-Sitters Club series)
Lucy (The Chronicles of Narnia)
Madeline (Madeline books)
Mallory (Baby-Sitters Club series)
Margaret (Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret)
Mary (Mary Poppins)
Mary Ann (Baby-Sitters Club series)
Matilda (Matilda by Roald Dahl)
Molly (American Girl series)
Nancy (Nancy Drew novel series)
Pippi (Pippi Longstocking)
Ramona (Ramona Quimby series)
Samantha (American Girl series)
Sara (A Little Princess)
Sophie (The BFG)
Stacy (Baby-Sitters Club series)
Stuart (Stuart Little)
Violet (A Series of Unfortunate Events)
Wendy (Peter Pan)
Fictional Characters from Classic Literature
Amy (Little Women)
Anna (Anna Karenina)
Annabel (Annabel Lee)
Antonia (My Antonia)
Beloved (Beloved)
Beth (Little Women)
Brett (The Sun Also Rises)
Calliope (Greek muse)
Catherine (Wuthering Heights)
Celie (The Color Purple)
Clarissa (Mrs. Dalloway)
Cosette (Les Miserables)
Daisy (The Great Gatsby)
Dido (Virgil’s Aeneid)
Dorrit (Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens)
Elinor (Sense & Sensibility)
Eliza (Pygmalion)
Elizabeth (Pride & Prejudice)
Ellen (Wuthering Heights)
Emma (Emma)
Esmeralda (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
Estella (Great Expectations)
Francie (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)
Gwen (The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde)
Holly (Breakfast at Tiffany’s)
Janie (Their Eyes Were Watching God)
Josephine (“Jo”) (Little Women)
Marianne (Sense & Sensibility)
Meg / Megan (Little Women)
Natasha (War and Peace)
Nelly (Wuthering Heights)
Pecola (The Bluest Eye)
Phoebe (The Catcher in the Rye)
Rebecca (Rebecca)
Scarlett (Gone With the Wind)
Scout (To Kill a Mockingbird)
Stella (A Streetcar Named Desire)
Sula (Sula)
Zooey (Franny and Zooey)
Fictional Characters by Shakespeare
Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing)
Bianca (The Taming of the Shrew)
Celia (As You Like It)
Cordelia (King Lear)
Cressida (Troilus and Cressida)
Dion (The Winter’s Tale)
Emilia (Othello)
Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
Imogen (King in Cymbeline)
Julia (The Two Gentlemen of Verona)
Juliet (Romeo & Juliet)
Juno (The Tempest)
Katherina (The Taming of the Shrew)
Luciana (The Comedy of Errors)
Miranda (The Tempest)
Olivia (Twelfth Night)
Ophelia (Hamlet)
Portia (The Merchant of Venice)
Regan (King Lear)
Rosalind (As You Like It)
Tamora (Titus Andronicus)
Viola (Twelfth Night)
Fictional Characters from Modern Books
Allie (The Notebook)
Angela (Angela’s Ashes)
Arya (A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) series)
Bella (Twilight saga)
Bridget (Bridget Jones’ Diary)
Briony (Atonement)
Carrie (Carrie)
Cersei (A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) series)
Clare (The Time Traveler’s Wife)
Eleanor (Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine)
Elena (My Brilliant Friend)
Evelyn (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo)
Feyre (ACOTAR)
Hazel (The Fault in Our Stars)
Katniss (The Hunger Games books)
Kya (Where the Crawdads Sing)
Laila (A Thousand Splendid Suns)
Lara Jean (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before)
Liesel (The Book Thief)
Lila (My Brilliant Friend)
Lisbeth (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo)
Lyra (His Dark Materials trilogy)
Maeve (The Dutch House)
Mia (Little Fires Everywhere)
Mira (Fourth Wing)
Morrigan (ACOMAF)
Nesta (ACOTAR)
Olive (Olive Kitteridge)
Pearl (Little Fires Everywhere)
Primrose (The Hunger Games books)
Rhiannon (Fourth Wing)
Starr (The Hate U Give)
Literary Girl Names from Harry Potter Books
Bellatrix (Bellatrix Lestrange)
Ginny (Ginny Weasley)
Hermione (Hermione Granger)
Lily (Lily Potter)
Luna (Luna Lovegood)
Minerva / Minnie (Professor McGonagall)
Related Literary Name Posts
remember, it’s a good day to read a book. – jules
This helped sooooo much I’m writing a story and now have names for all my girl characters!
Love it!!