Literary Feminists To Inspire Your Baby Name

Is there any better name for a bookworm's baby? Sure, Roald Dahl's stories can get pretty weird, but he knew how to write sharp, book-loving girls.

Yeah, I know it's a bit on the nose. What can I say? Hermione Granger is the patron saint of smart, merciless women. And yes, it's an odd name right now, but just wait twenty years, and I guarantee we'll be seeing college campuses full of Hermiones.

Mr. Rochester's kind of the worst, but Jane is a stone cold badass from day one. She's intelligent, passionate, and refuses to put up with anyone's B.S. (you'd better believe she's going to walk out on you if you have a secret wife hidden in the attic).

Celie is oppressed and abused by men for most of her life. But she comes into her own, finds love and support in the women around her, and saves herself from a life of despair like the incredible feminist icon she is.

Jo March is the reckless, creative, obnoxious girl that we should all aspire to be. She's a total mess, she refuses to care about gender norms, and she reads voraciously. What more could you want for your baby?

The mythical Lilith demanded that she be treated the same as men, and so she was banished to become the mother of demons and monsters. Octavia Butler's Lilith lives in a post-apocalyptic world, and she becomes the mother of a new era of humanity. Either way, it's a beautiful name with a fiercely feminist history.

There are so many tough, smart, and cross-dressing ladies from Shakespeare. Rosalind, Imogen, and Viola are all beautiful names... but when it comes to wickedly intelligent, sarcastic women, Beatrice is the winner by a long shot.

"Meg" is the perfect nickname for any future mathematicians out there. Meg Murray from A Wrinkle in Time might be a little awkward in school, but she's a math whiz with a big heart, and that's what matters most on a space adventure.

You can keep your Daeneryses, your Khaleesis, and even your Aryas. I maintain that Brienne of Tarth has one of the most beautiful names in A Song of Ice and Fire. She's also one of the kindest, most loyal, most gender non-conforming characters in the books, and she can still kill you with a sword in no time flat.

If you suspect your future child will have a mechanical mind, consider "Violet." True, Violet Baudelaire from A Series of Unfortunate Events lives a rather unfortunate life, but her inventions and quick-thinking save the day time and time again.

Firstly, "Lyra" is a beautiful name that comes from a constellation. Secondly, Lyra is a scrappy little girl and a brilliant liar who's trying to save the universe, and thirdly (spoiler alert), she kind of overcomes death and destroys God (but in a nice way... read the books). Sounds like the perfect name to me.

Sometimes you just want to dress up in men's clothes and be a hardcore lady knight in a fantasy world. "Alanna" is the perfect tribute to women warriors, without being an overtly fantastical name.

"Janie" might just be a slight variation on "Jane," but it's a far more unique name, and adorable to boot. Janie Crawford from Their Eyes Were Watching God overcomes traditional roles for women on her journey towards self-discovery. She makes it through three marriages, emerging as a self-possessed woman in her own right.