David Barr Kirtley

Science fiction author and podcaster

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Naming Children After Literary Characters

October 23, 2008 by David Barr Kirtley 3 Comments

I like this staff recommendation card for Roger Zelazny’s The Great Book of Amber from Kepler’s bookstore in Palo Alto:

Roger Zelazny's The Great Book of Amber at Kepler's Bookstore in Palo Alto

And okay, yeah, I’ve considered it too.

I remember one time I actually came across an Amber internet message board where several teenagers had posted and said that their parents had named them after Amber characters. And of course there are a number of kids named after George R. R. Martin characters. I wonder how often this sort of thing happens, and what books have inspired the most kids’ names. It seems like the ultimate compliment for an author to receive — far more so than any award or review or whatever.

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Geeks Guide to the Galaxy

Geeks Guide to the Galaxy

Geek's Guide to the Galaxy is a podcast hosted by author David Barr Kirtley and produced by Lightspeed Magazine editor John Joseph Adams. The show features conversations about fantasy & science … Read more

Comments

  1. Michael Canfield says

    October 25, 2008 at 11:45 am

    I don’t know about books, but I was on a bus a few years ago, and witnessed parents trying to get the attention of their toddler son “Annakin.” Well it’s better than “Boba” I guess.

    Reply
  2. tobias s buckell says

    October 27, 2008 at 2:25 pm

    But isn’t naming a kid Annakin much like naming a kid Adolf? I mean, strictly speaking?

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. David Barr Kirtley : Blog : Mailbag: I Am 8-Bit Sequel, Naming Kids Anakin says:
    October 28, 2008 at 3:07 pm

    […] response to my recent post about naming children after fictional characters, writer buddy Mike Canfield […]

    Reply

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David Barr Kirtley

David Barr Kirtley is the host of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast, for which he’s interviewed over four hundred guests, including George R. R. Martin, Richard Dawkins, Paul Krugman, Simon Pegg, Margaret Atwood, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Ursula K. Le Guin. His short fiction appears in the book Save Me Plz and Other Stories.
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