Chaos Walking (YA Lit naming)

So in a refreshing change of pace from all the Kat-- names (Katniss from Hunger Games, Katsa from Graceling), I just read The Knife of Never Letting Go, the first in the Chaos Walking series, and the 2 main characters are teenagers named Todd and Viola.

The setting is sometime in the future...it's not exactly clear what year, and a lot of other names are pretty average (Ben, Cillian) but some are unusual, (Wulf).

I don't know any Todds or Violas that are teenagers, but their names seemed to fit.

Have any of you read other YA books recently with unusually named main characters?

By Anne with an E
Thu, 04/12/2012 - 10:43am

Replies

1
By ladyphlogiston
April 12, 2012 1:39 PM

there's Artemis (a guy) and Miranda from the Artemis Fowl books.  I believe Artemis gets siblngs in the most recent book, too - they get named Beckett and Myles, according to wikipedia.  Seems rather a style leap from Artemis, but I guess his parents' tastes are allowed to change in the 15 years or so between pregnancies.

2
By Anne with an E
April 15, 2012 5:20 PM

I'm surprised that Artemis is a guy! I've never read any of those, but I've seen them in stores, and just assumed that Artemis Fowl was a girl.

3
By Karyn
April 15, 2012 6:01 PM

Seriously? See what you learn here!

4
By ladyphlogiston
April 16, 2012 10:13 AM

Yeah, he is a guy.  He actually has a whole speech about it in one book - the bad guys snarks "isn't that a girl's name?" and he talks about how once in a while there's a male who is such a good hunter that he gets to use the name anyway and that's why he caught the bad guy.  Or something.  Probably complete nonsense, but it sounds awesome.

And despite the main character being a guy, the series is not deficient in awesome heroic ladies.  So that's cool.

5
By Elizabeth T.
April 13, 2012 1:29 PM

I don't know that I would classify these names as "unusual," but the main characters in the Fablehaven series are siblings named Kendra and Seth.

6
By Anne with an E
April 15, 2012 5:22 PM

Well, I think they're both Biblical right? Or am I wrong about Kendra?

7
By Anne with an E
April 15, 2012 5:24 PM

Never mind. I was thinking Kendra was Jemima's sister (one of Job's daughters) - but they were named Jemima, Kezia, and Keren-Happuch. Now there's a name that I don't expect to see in literature anytime soon...

9
By Esther E.
April 17, 2012 3:55 PM

I know a girl named Kezia with the accent on the first syllable.

10
By Helsin
April 14, 2012 5:30 PM

From Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series:

Tally
Shay
Zane
Sussy
Az
Croy
Peris
Ho

I like the names because they don't sound too strange but unfamiliar enough to have that scifi vibe...

11
By Anne with an E
April 15, 2012 5:21 PM

Funny, since I'm from Tucson, I can't get past Az being a state abbreviation. :)

12
By A Rose
April 18, 2012 9:34 PM

I loved those books in middle school! You can't forget the weird names from their society: Andrew Simpson Smith and David.

13
By A Rose
April 18, 2012 9:35 PM

Just wanted to say that I know a teenager named Todd. No teen Violas, but I know a teenaged Violet, so that's close!

14
By Guest (not verified)
June 4, 2012 5:15 PM

Anyone read Sarah Dessen?  The names she chooses are more current/future trends, but some interesting ones too.   in Along For the Ride, the main character is named Auden, and her father names her new half-sister Thisbe, even though the mother wanted something else.  Some VERY interesting naming discussions in that book.