Top Ten Tuesday: Ten of our favorite character names from books

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

CJ's Selections

I'm a linguistics nut, so of course that translates to names! I hate when names aren't consistent in a world, but I love clever ones that aren't too absurd.

1.	Truthwitch / Susan Dennard - Safiya I love this name. Such a graceful variation on Sophia. Rolls off the tongue. I think it might actually be Arabic or Persian originally? In which case it's probably not related to the Greek except by sound.
2.	Song of the Lioness / Tamora Pierce - Alanna I've always loved this name. Pretty sure I wanted my parents to change mine at one point. I finally did meet a friend called Alana in later life, although she spells it differently--but the character was the impetus for her friendship with her now-spouse, so that's pretty cool.
3.	Wild Magic / Tamora Pierce - Numair Salmalin Tamora gets another win. His whole name is epic and magical and rolls off the tongue. Although apparently I've been pronouncing it wrong, if the audiobooks are any measure.
4.	Dark Lord of Derkholm / Diana Wynne Jones - Deucalion This was a dragon, and I loved this name so much that I totally stole it for a dragon character in one of my books. Gimme a break, I was 9. I have since given the character a much less purloined moniker.
5.	The Wrath and the Dawn / Renee Ahdieh - Sharzad I'll pick the spelling from my favorite retelling, but I love this name in general. There's something mystical but also grounded about it. Strong, like the queen to whom it was given.

C.J.'s Selections

Whitley has zero interest in character names so you're getting extra me today.

1.	All the Bright Places / Jennifer Niven - Finch I've loved this name/nickname since before my beloved Theo came along, but his attachment to the name made me love it all the more. It's so cheeky and sly.
2.	Golden Son / Pierce Brown - Victra It's a play on the Roman Victoria, but the shortening takes the elegant Latinate title and makes it sharper, harsher, pointier. Sort of like its owner.
3.	Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Lewis Carroll - Alice I've adored this name for years because of the most obvious incarnation of it, and I'll find a thousand ways to use it, mark you me.
4.	Le Morte D'Arthur / Thomas Malory - Mordred Another classic. Mordred just sounds as evil as he is, only the name doesn't actually mean anything evil, it's just really cleverly chosen. I also love the French (?) version, Medraut.
5.	Children of Blood and Bone / Tomi Adeyemi - Zelie So freaking pretty. It fits her character so well too, somehow both lovely and fierce at the same time, with those gorgeous open vowels that roll delightfully off the tongue.