Made-Up Names . . . Who'da Thunk?

Naming characters is one of my favorite things about writing. Thorne or Spurge are a few of my villains. Goodwin is a hero. Hope is a sweet little girl. And occasionally, I resort to making up names, like Mrs. Spankum, who loves to give verbal whippings. Think I'm a freak? Nope. Well, maybe. But in reference to making up names, I'm in good company . . .

Made-Up Names Invented by Authors

CORA
James Fenimore Cooper came up with this one for the heroine in the 1826 classic, The Last of the Mohicans

DORA
Way before Dora the Explorer, Charles Dickens penned this name in David Copperfield.

FIONA
William Sharp used this as a pen-name on a series of books on Celtic myths and legends.

HEIDI
Remember that movie about the little girl in the alps? Well, first it was a book, written by Johanna Spyri, and she gets credit for the name.

OLIVIA
Shakespeare. Twelfth Night. 'Nuff said.

PAMELA
Sir Phillip Sidney created the name Pamela for his 1590 poem Arcadia.

WENDY
Can you guess which classic story spawned this common name? J. M. Barrie's play Peter Pan.