Would you name your child after a famous person/character deliberately?

[TeniBear]

Hi all,

DH and I were discussing names again last night, and we got a bit stuck so we started thinking of TV characters whose names we like. He's a bit of a sci-fi geek and he's pulled me into it a bit, so some of the names were from Doctor Who and Torchwood, etc.

I've always liked Welsh names, so both those shows are pretty good points of reference for that, especially Torchwood that is set in Cardiff. The name we both agreed we loooove is Ianto. Funny thing is, we already picked the name Jack out ages ago as a middle name, so we'd be naming our son after the hottest couple on TV (in my opinion.)

So, all babbling aside (sorry, I tend to do that), would you name your child after a famous person or character on purpose? Especially if they have an uncommon name?

I know there's a thread not too far down from here asking a similar question ("Would you use a name with a stigma?") but I mean deliberately naming them after someone rather than just using a recognisable name in spite of the famous person.

PS - I just looked up "Ianto" on a name meanings site and apparently it's a dirivitive of Ifan, the Welsh version of John... Maybe it should be Ifan Jack then?

[Pandora]

I wanted to name DS1 Aragon but DH said no
I would though, DS2 is Oscar for Oscar Wilde

[LimeSlice]

I would...I'm named after a famous actress, Alexis Smith and in honour of Tsarina Alexandra of Russia, but nobody really ever knows that or asks me about it lol

[Glamourcide]

I definitely would. I'm big into music so looked to my favourite bands/song names for my girls - DD1's name Emily is after the song by From First To Last (check it out, it's a beautiful song - written by the singer for his long-distance girlfriend, but the lyrics worked for my baby girl - 'There's no-one in the world like Emilyyyyy...').
And DD2 very nearly got christened Blair after the character from Gossip Girl, which is one of my favourite shows, but it didn't go with our surname (which starts with R, so it kind if ran together when said out loud, kwim?) so we looked at it for a middle name, but then decided Nicole sounded better (no famous association there, I'm not a Kidman fan at all lol, just liked the name).

I'm also big on Shakespeare, but although Desdemona and Juliet are my favourite characters, I was really taken with the name Ophelia (I fancied shortening it to 'Phil', as people shorten Charlotte to 'Charlie'), but DH told me I was out of my head for even considering such an unusual name

So yes, I definitely would look to my favourite books, movies, music, TV shows etc for inspiration!!

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

I wouldn't go for Ophelia, despite loving it, because it sounds too much like "I'll feel ya."

I did have Jareth on the name list for DS, after David Bowie's Goblin King in Labyrinth. And I suggested if our fourth child was a boy, we could call him Ivor. But with a Welsh accent (I'd been watching Ivor the Engine) so it would be eye-four, and he'd be the fourth child... but DH had already freaked out about more children, let alone three more by then. And I'd already named a computer i4 before after Ivor the Engine.

Oh yes, with the Dr Who link, I suggested Brigadier for DS too.

[wysiwyg]

My DD is sort of so yes think is fine. While I was pregnant we were watching the West Wing, and both liked the nickname CJ as in CJ Craig in the show who we also thought was quite a cool lady - so we decided that daughters initials would be CJ and then worked backwards to the names. In the show she is Claudia Jean (had to look this up on Wiki as is hardly ever mentioned what the CJ stands for) we weren't so keen on that but we went for Cerys (as my mum is Welsh) and then couldn't think of the J so DH said why not just Jay for J and there is apparently a Simpsons episode where Homer spends ages trying to find out what the J stands for but just stands for Jay. Of course all this is so convoluted that it isn't obvious she is named after anyone. (Found out after had decided on this that Pamela Anderson's character in Baywatch was called CJ, and someone in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin which has made MIL hate the nickname CJ - but nevermind I still really like it)