Top Ten Tuesday-Characters I'd Name My Children After

Thank you, lovely bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish, for hosting this weekly meme that allows me to indulge in my love of all things listy!

This week's prompt is a chance to give some character love.  When my daughter was born in 1994, my then husband and I had a deal.  If the baby was a girl, could name her, but if it was a boy, he could name him.  We each, however, reserved veto power over the other's choices.  And that is the reason my daughter Briana does not have a literary name-I was overruled on Elizabeth (Pride and Prejudice), Morgaine (Mists of Avalon) or Guinevere (also Mists-I was a bit obsessed at the time).  It's probably a good thing in the last two cases that I was vetoed, but I was only 24, so I plead youth.  Now, at the more "mature" age of 41, I've read a lot more, and have many more character to choose from!

1.  Claire-This comes from both The Time Traveler's Wife and Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series.  Both women are  loyal, strong, and loving, which I think are good qualities to hope for in a child.

2.  Henry-From the Time Traveler's Wife.  Again, smart, loving, loyal...and we'll just leave the ultimately doomed thing behind.

3.  Hermione-Ah, if only I lived in Britain or was British myself, I could get away with this one.  Hermione is definitely the best of all of the Harry Potter characters.  Ron is sweet and Harry is noble, but Hermione was the one who ensured that things got done so Harry would still be around to fight Voldemort.

4. Lisbeth-Ok, this is mostly because I thought the name was pretty long before I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  But let's face it, Lisbeth can kick some serious butt, which is not a bad trait to have, at least metaphorically speaking.

5.  Peter-The oldest brother of the Pevensie children from the Narnia series,  Peter was brave and steadfast, unlike Edmund, the moody younger brother.

6.  Lucy-Also from Narnia.  Small but mighty, Lucy was all heart and loyalty.  Susan may have been older, but I don't think she was wiser than little Lucy.

7.  Alex-The Alex Delaware novels was one of the first mystery/thriller series I read, and I have always loved Alex's intelligence and compassion.  Plus he was completely accepting of his gay friend and police officer Milo way back before most authors were comfortable having gay characters in their books.

8.  August-I loved August Boatwright's character from The Secret Life of Bees.  Comfort-everything about her brings comfort and strength.

9.  Sam-After Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings books.  Best.Friend.Ever.

10.  Stargirl-OK, I probably would never actually have the nerve to do such a thing, but the main character of Stargirl and Love, Stargirl is everything I want my daughter to be.  Loving, idealistic, quirky, and completely comfortable with herself.