Books
12 Baby Names Inspired By Amazing Female Poets
As a writer, I get to be obsessed with names. All the the characters in my fiction have names that I either wish I had, wanted to name my dog, or might one day name my children. A name holds a certain power and energy, and yet for us, we only get one. We can change our clothes, move into different homes, have different jobs, change the way we look, cut our hair and live in another continent — but we only get one name.
I am always going to be Kaitlyn doing this, or Kaitlyn doing that. All of this is to say, my obsession with baby names is not indicative of me being baby crazy. I have no plans of having one any time soon, nonetheless, I can never get enough name inspiration. I imagine when it comes time to actually name a living breathing child, off the page, I'll have a mental breakdown over which name to pick. I'd have to have about 48 child and or pets in order to satisfy all of my name dreams.
Until then, here's another list of names. Personally, I love names that are inspired by people or places or things. I think a name deserves a story and should make someone feel connected to something that already exists when they come into the world. That way their name acts as an invisible mentor, a spiritual guide that says "you are linked to this" and therefore you are. Here are a few of my favorite names inspired by incredible poets:
Sylvia
Origin: Latin-American, meaning from the forest.
"Remember, remember, this is now, and now, and now. Live it, feel it, cling to it. I want to become acutely aware of all I’ve taken for granted." - Sylvia Plath
Maya
Origin: Arabic, meaning princess.
"It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me. " - Maya Angelou
Alice
Origin: English, meaning truthful and nobel.
"My desireis always the same; wherever Lifedeposits me:I want to stick my toe& soon my whole bodyinto the water." - Alice Walker
Adrienne
Origin: French, meaning dark and rich.
"Our whole life a translationthe permissible fibs
and now a knot of lieseating at itself to get undone
Words bitten thru words" - Adrienne Rich
Margaret
Origin: Latin-American, meaning a pearl.
"O again and again in wonderand pain, a breath, a fingergrip on a cliffside. You canhold on or let go." - Margaret Atwood
Louise
Origin: French, meaning a female warrior.
"After the first cries,Doesn't joy, like fear, make no sound?" - Louise Gluck
Dorothy
Origin: English, meaning a gift from God.
"Because your eyes are slant and slow,
Because your hair is sweet to touch,
My heart is high again; but oh,
I doubt if this will get me much."- Dorothy Parker
Patti
Origin: English, meaning from the town of the warriors.
"In love and crime
all things move in sevens. seven compartments
in the heart. the seven elaborate temptations." - Patti Smith
Penelope
Origin: Grecian, meaning a dream-weaver.
''However, no two people see the external world in exactly the same way. To every separate person a thing is what he thinks it is—in other words, not a thing, but a think.'' - Penelope Fitzgerald
Gertrude
Origin: German, meaning adored warrior.
"A piece of separate outstanding rushing is so blind with open delicacy." - Gertrude Stein
Lucie
Origin: Italian, meaning full of light.
"No making small contusions on the page
But saying nothing no one has not said before." - Lucie Brock-Broido
Eliza
Origin: French, meaning pleasurable.
"And these wild flowers will hold mine fast,Till love, and life, and all be past;" - Eliza Cook
