Top Ten Tueday: Unusual Character Names

 
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at The Broke & The Bookish. Each week they host a different top ten topic. This weeks is:


Top Ten Unusual Character Names

Now I can probably think of a list as tall as I am so I will just think of the first ones that pop into my head!



Forbidden
1. Maya & Lochan

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma is filled with unusual character names. But the main leads are called Maya and Lochan, which at first I wasn't too sure about but then starting to fall in love with. Lochan was definitely a name I had never come across before.



Noughts and Crosses 
2. Persephone (Sephy)

When I first came across this name when I was about ten in Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman I instantly loved it. It was very unusual to me and I also adored the shortening of it to Sephy. I ended up naming my cat after the character as well.

Here is the cat, proving fruit bowls aren't just for fruit.



Northern Lights (His Dark Materials, #1) 
3. Lyra & Pantalaimon

From the wonderful Northern Lights by Philip Pullman, this book made me fall in love with the name Lyra. When I first read the book, about age 10, I told my mum that that's what I wanted to call my daughter if I had one. I eventually settled for naming my Mass Effect character it! Panatalaimon, I heard that name and instantly adored it - so unusual and who doesn't want their own Pan?



Matched (Matched, #1)
4. Cassia, Ky & Xander

 Matched by Ally Condie is full of unusual and interesting names, the three main characters all have unusual names that I really quite liked.



Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter, #1) 
5. Hermione Granger

When I first read HP1 I was about seven or eight and had never come across the name Hermione before. Well I could not for the life of me figure out how I was supposed to pronounce it so I had to ask my thirteen year old sister.


Divergent (Divergent, #1)


 6. Four

So yes technically Four is just a nickname for a character in Divergent by Veronica Roth but I actually really came to love the name Four. As far as I am concerned, Four is always going to be Four to me. 



The Sight

7. Larka & Fell

The names of two wolves in The Sight, Larka is a white wolf and Fell a black one. This book, still to this very day, makes me want to get a pure black German Shepherd and pure white German Shepherd and name them after those two.


These Broken Stars (Starbound, #1)
8. Tarver

This was a name I came across recently in These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner and I really liked the sound of it.





A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)9. Daenerys Targaryen

Game of Thrones is full to the brim of strange and unusual character names. But I have quite a soft spot for Daenerys, I mean, the girls got dragons!


10. Tyrion Lannister

I adore Tyrion, he is such an amazing character in these books and has so many hilarious, witty moments.



So that's just a few. Leave a link to your own TTT so I can kick myself over the ones I forgot!



Last week on the blog:

My Wednesday WWW.
My review of How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff.
 My weeks book haul.
 My Feature & Follow Friday.
My Liebster award post.
My review of Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman.
My Musing for Monday.


Thanks also to Spiced Latte Reads & Pages of Comfort for following me!


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82 comments:

  1. yaescapefromreality22 October 2013 at 16:01

    Some great names! Harry Potter and Game of Thrones definitely have some of the strangest names. Sephy...how cute that you named your cat that. Great list! ~Pam

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm22 October 2013 at 19:28

      The worst thing is we named her Persephone, but it's just too unbelievably long! So she just gets called Sephy, so very much like the character. Game of Thrones is full of them, I love it. Thanks for checking out my post.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous22 October 2013 at 16:13

    Four is a wonderful name. I love the explanation behind it as well.

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  3. Anonymous22 October 2013 at 16:17

    Four! ^_^ no words needed. I loved that you named your cat Sephy... I do actually think Persephone is a beautiful name, as well as Hermione. Thanks for dropping by my Top Ten Tuesday list.

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm22 October 2013 at 19:32

      We named her Persephone, but very much like the character, it's just easier to call her Sephy! Who doesn't love Four? =D

      Delete
  4. beccabooklover22 October 2013 at 16:26

    Great list! Hermione and Daenerys both make my lists as they're just such beautiful names. I love Lyra too and Persephone is just such a wonderful name too! I read These Broken Stars not too long ago and loved it and although it isn't unusual I loved the name Lilac, just so pretty!

    New follower :) (you had me at the mention of Mass Effect!)

    Becca @ Lost in Thought
    http://lostinthought-becca.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/top-ten-unusual-character-names-i-love.html

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm22 October 2013 at 19:38

      Glad to find another Mass Effect fan! Commander Shepard all the way. I really enjoyed These Broken Stars and I agree, Lilac was such a pretty name! Thanks for checking out my blog and following, will definitely be following back.

      Delete
  5. Debra Hawkins22 October 2013 at 16:42

    Hermoine was on my list too! I love a lot of this names. Beautiful!

    Thanks for stopping by my TTT

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm22 October 2013 at 19:39

      Thanks a lot for checking my list! I have loved seeing all the unusual names and finding new ones to adore!

      Delete
  6. BrigitteWhoa22 October 2013 at 16:42

    Great picks! Thanks for stopping by my TTT. :)

    New follower!

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm22 October 2013 at 19:40

      You're welcome, I've loved finding new and unusual names to fall in love with!

      Delete
  7. Christina22 October 2013 at 17:00

    Yay, I had Lyra on my list as well. Good list!

    my ttt

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  8. Spiced Latte22 October 2013 at 17:11

    Great picks, those are awesome! Thanks for stopping by my blog

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm22 October 2013 at 19:42

      Thanks, and you're very welcome. Have loved finding new and unusual names to love.

      Delete
  9. kimberlybuggie22 October 2013 at 17:30

    I love that his name is Four. It's so unique and perfect for his character. I really love all the names in Game of Thrones books. I mean, you can't go wrong with any of them. I wonder how long it took GRR Martin to come up with all of them... :)
    My TTT

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm22 October 2013 at 19:43

      I know, Game of Thrones is so full of them it was hard to pick. Sansa & Arya are two other names I really love and also Cersei! I don't even want to think how long it took him to think of them all, he is a naming genius.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous22 October 2013 at 17:33

    I can't believe I forgot Hermione and Daenerys! They're two of my all-time favorite female characters anyway, so the fact that they have such gorgeous, unusual names is a great bonus.
    I loved this list; it's introduced me to several new books I'll have to check out as well. :)

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm22 October 2013 at 19:46

      I feel the exact same about those two, two of my favourite female characters as well! I hope you do check them out, they are all really great!

      Delete
  11. Alyssa Hamilton (Swept Away By Books)22 October 2013 at 18:43

    LOVED the name Tarver and it fit the book so well! And as much as I didn't like the Matched series, i really liked the names.

    Thanks for stopping by Swept Away By Books!

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm22 October 2013 at 19:47

      Such a great name! Even if for a lot of the book I thought of them as Rose and Jack from the Titanic.

      Delete
  12. Chanzie22 October 2013 at 19:10

    Wow some great name choices on your list :)

    Thank you for stopping by my Top Ten Tuesday.

    Chanzie @ Mean Who You Are.

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  13. Ula22 October 2013 at 19:22

    Lyra and Pantalaimon almost made my list, I think they'd be in top 20 :)
    Lovely picks!

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm22 October 2013 at 19:48

      I adore the His Dark Materials books so I had to include these two, think Lyra might be one of my all time favourite names ever.

      Delete
  14. Mary H22 October 2013 at 19:42

    Aw, I loved Lyra & Pan! The Golden Compass is such a lovely book. I came so close to putting Hermione on my list too. Great list!

    Mary @ Mary Had a Little Book Blog
    My TTT

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm22 October 2013 at 19:48

      I know, such amazing characters for such an amazing book. Lyra quickly became my all time favourite name after that.

      Delete
  15. Jessica @ a GREAT read22 October 2013 at 19:49

    Wow! Lots of new to me names! Except for Hermione and Four! I chose Four too!


    Here's my Tuesday Post

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower :)

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm23 October 2013 at 13:18

      I saw a lot of people chose Four, great name for a geat character.

      Delete
  16. Michelle22 October 2013 at 20:09

    Those are some really different names. Many I have NEVER heard of before! I really like the name Sephy... very cool, esp for a pet's name :) Lyra is super pretty too.

    Thanks for stopping by My TTT

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm22 October 2013 at 21:00

      You're welcome, thanks for checking mine out too! I've found so many new and unusual names through this.

      Delete
  17. Anonymous22 October 2013 at 20:47

    Great list! Cassia made my list too. I completely forgot about Game of Thrones. Pretty much every character's name on there is "unusual".

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm22 October 2013 at 21:02

      I know GOTs is filled with them! I love so many it was hard to choose.

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  18. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm22 October 2013 at 21:01

    Thanks, I really did struggle to narrow it down so I decided the first ten that popped into my head would be the first ten I used.

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  19. Anonymous22 October 2013 at 21:56

    Oooh I almost went for Lyra! And Persephone is such a great one too, Ioved that character!

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm22 October 2013 at 23:01

      I've loved Lyra since I first heard it, Noughts & Crosses and His Dark Materials are two of my all time favourite book series so I knew I had to include them.

      Delete
  20. j22 October 2013 at 22:36

    Great list! Xander is such a cool name!

    Thank you for checking out my TTT!
    Karla @ Silver Readings

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  21. Liesel K. Hill22 October 2013 at 23:05

    Great list! Love the Game of Thrones names! Hermione almost made my list, but I went with a different HP name. And I'm kicking myself for forgetting to put Four on my list. Love Divergent! :D Thanks for visiting my post! Happy Tuesday!

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm22 October 2013 at 23:58

      Thanks! The amount of HP names you can pick is unbelievable, I picked Hermione as it was the one name that really stuck with me.

      Delete
  22. Aly22 October 2013 at 23:11

    I'd argue that Four's nickname because his name. It's the name that he chose for himself and it representative of what he wanted to present about himself. I went with Tris though, for the same reason :)

    Thanks for stopping by!
    Aly @ My Heart Hearts Books

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm23 October 2013 at 00:01

      I guess, but he would rather Tris call him by his real name and then he is known by that from then onwards - which really bugged me for some unknown reason.

      Delete
  23. Jess (Gone with the Words)22 October 2013 at 23:15

    I really like Ky! Though I like it spelled "Kai" better. Also Daenerys and Tyrion are awesome. :D Great list!!

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm22 October 2013 at 23:53

      I also prefer it spelt Kai, not sure why the K Y spelling bothers me so much but it does. Love the way the name sounds though. Thanks for checking out my post.

      Delete
  24. Cayce23 October 2013 at 01:06

    Daenerys Targaryen! <3 I have yet to read the books, but love her character in the tv series. I also like the names Tyrion and Lochan :)

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm23 October 2013 at 02:06

      I absolutely love her in the TV show as well, the girl has dragons! Lochan really grew on me, I love it now and he is such a great character as well.

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  25. Unknown23 October 2013 at 01:37

    I had never heard of Persephone being shortened to Sephy, but I love it!

    Thanks for stopping by my top ten! :D

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm23 October 2013 at 02:07

      I really liked the shortening, helps for the cat too - Persephone just ended up being way too long! Thanks for checking mine out too =D

      Delete
  26. Lauren23 October 2013 at 02:03

    Oh, I really like the names Maya and Larka! I also really enjoy the names in GOT... they are all so different and sounds musical and pretty :D Great list!

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm23 October 2013 at 02:08

      George R. R. Martin is like a character naming genius! Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  27. Maggie @ Just a Couple More Pages23 October 2013 at 02:04

    I love the name Four, I think it's such a cool sounding nickname regardless of meaning, but once we found out the meaning it was even better. And I hate the name Tobias so it works out well that he goes by Four :)

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm23 October 2013 at 02:11

      I don't even know if I hate the name Tobias, I think I just hated it for Four! Once Tris starts calling him Tobias all the time instead of Four it really started to bug me.

      Delete
  28. Unknown23 October 2013 at 02:13

    Panta-what now?

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm23 October 2013 at 03:22

      Ha I know, he's referred to as Pan most of the time. I should probably point out he is not a human being, so no parents are to blame for that one!

      Delete
  29. Anya @ On Starships and Dragonwings23 October 2013 at 03:31

    Oh Tyrion, such an amazing character! I have to admit that I wasn't a fan of Tarver's name because my brain had a hard time pronouncing it correctly, haha, I kept reading Traver to myself D:

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm23 October 2013 at 13:20

      I absolutely hate when that happens to me in books, then I have to keep saying it over again because I mess up; makes reading the book kind of feel like work. Usually I give up and pronounce it how I want to =D

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  30. The Reading Date23 October 2013 at 04:38

    Ooh Maya and Lochan are good ones! I'd name a daughter Maya. I like Persephone too, but not the nicknames, so I guess that would be problematic. Great picks!

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm23 October 2013 at 13:24

      Maya would definitely be a good one for a daughter, it's really pretty and simple. Persephone was good for the cat but wouldn't give it to my daughter either. Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  31. Unknown23 October 2013 at 05:22

    Game of Thrones has some brilliant names! :D
    My sister is terrible at pronunciation from books. She was talking about some character named Carl-is-lay ... turns out she was talking about Carlisle from Twilight!

    Kate @ whYAnot

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm23 October 2013 at 13:37

      Yes, George R. R. Martin is quite obviously a character naming genius! Ha that's brilliant, I think I'm getting better at names. But now authors seem to be coming up with more and more strange, unique names and I struggle with some of the more crazy ones. Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  32. Debbie's World of Books23 October 2013 at 06:00

    I like the name Persephone but would hate to be nicknamed Sephy. lol. Thanks for stopping by.

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm23 October 2013 at 13:30

      I felt that at the start but I came to love the nickname after reading the book, think it was more to do with the character than anything though. I think Persephone/Sephy works for my cat but I wouldn't name my child it. Thanks for checking mine out.

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  33. Sandra23 October 2013 at 09:27

    Your cat! I really love that you've named your cat after Persephone! Thanks for stopping by at my blog :D

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm23 October 2013 at 13:39

      You're welcome, I've loved seeing all the unusual names I've never come across before. When we got her I was obsessed with the book, but it really suits her =D

      Delete
  34. Petra23 October 2013 at 09:46

    Great picks! I especially love the names Hermione, Lochan and Lyra. And your cat is so cute! <3
    Thanks for stopping by my TTT! :)

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm23 October 2013 at 13:40

      Thanks, Lochan was one I really came to love and it was one I'd never encountered before. Thanks for checking mine out too =D

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  35. Ashley23 October 2013 at 13:44

    I love the name Persephone. Noughts & Crosses has been on my TBR for way too long! Also, George R.R. Martin has way too many awesome names in his books.

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm23 October 2013 at 13:50

      Way too many, he is like a character naming genius! Noughts & Crosses is one of my all time favourite series, so I'd really recommend.

      Delete
  36. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm23 October 2013 at 13:49

    I know, she picks the things that are way too small for her and then just shoves herself in, I don't even see how it's comfy for her! I'm glad someone else prefers Four! Thanks for checking out my post =D

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  37. Teresa Mary Rose23 October 2013 at 14:23

    LMAO I had the same problem with Hermione, I pronounced it wrong for a very long time. Great list!

    Teresa @ Readers Live A Thousand Lives

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm23 October 2013 at 18:30

      It seems like quite a lot of people had that problem lol! Makes me feel much less stupid knowing I was not alone.

      Delete
  38. Book Lady's Reviews23 October 2013 at 16:19

    Great list!The name Persephone is one of my favorites!Thanks for stopping by my TTT.Happy Reading!!

    Elena @ Book Lady's Reviews

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm23 October 2013 at 18:31

      It's such a pretty name! Thanks for checking mine out too =D

      Delete
  39. Anonymous23 October 2013 at 21:00

    Daenerys is my favorite name from Game of Thrones series! And I also LOVE Four! GREAT list! And thanks for visiting my TTT earlier!

    -Marianne @ Boricuan Bookworms

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm24 October 2013 at 21:42

      You're welcome, I love Daenerys - great name and great character! How can you not love Four!?! Thanks for stopping by my blog =D

      Delete
  40. Anonymous23 October 2013 at 22:49

    Ooh, I love, love, love the name Persephone- I actually wrote/am writing a character by that name. Lyra and Pan are so wonderful- their stories and names are excellent! I only read the series last year, but I'm very much ready to go back into that world.
    Daenerys is such a wickedly wonderful name, too! I haven't read/watched the series, but I know she's my favourite! ( :

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm24 October 2013 at 21:43

      She is rather amazing, I mean, the girl has dragons!!! Persephone is a really great name, and so unusual too. His Dark Materials is such an amazing series, such a great world to get lost in too.

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  41. Isa24 October 2013 at 15:07

    Persephone is a really pretty name and your cat is adorable! Pantalaimon and Tarver are very unique as well.

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm24 October 2013 at 21:43

      Yes very unique and ones I hadn't encountered before I read those books. Thanks, she is very cute!

      Delete
  42. Litza27 October 2013 at 23:00

    There are some fabulous names on this list! It makes me want to add even more books to my reading pile. Thanks for sharing your fantastic list and also for stopping by my blog, too! :)

    Litza @ She Dreams in Fiction

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    1. Charnell @ Reviews from a Bookworm28 October 2013 at 13:28

      The reading piles are never ending, mine is 100x worse since I started blogging! Thanks so much for stopping by.

      Delete

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