Writers Have the Most Fun

As much as I prefer established or historical names for my own kids, I do have to feel bad for parents brave enough to invent names for their children. It takes a bit of guts and confidence, especially if the name doesn't fit into any current trends or patterns, and they're likely to take a lot of crap for it.
When a writer does it, though, it somehow adds credibility to a name. A created name is okay, as long as someone else created it?

Boys:

• Cedric (SED-rik)--Ivanhoe, Sir Walter Scott
• Figaro (FIH-gar-oh)--"The Barber of Seville", Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais
• Orville (OHR-vil)--"Evelina", Fanny Burney
• Percival (PUR-si-val)--"Perceval, the Story of the Grail", Chrétien de Troyes

Girls:

• Amanda (ah-MAN-dah)--"Love's Last Shift", Colley Cibber
• Arline (ahr-LEEN)--"The Bohemian Girl", Michael William Balfe
• Ayla (AY-lah)--Clan of the Cave Bear, Jean M. Auel
• Cora (COHR-ah)--The Last of the Mohicans, James Fenimore Cooper
• Haidee (HAY-dee)--"Don Juan"; Byron, Lord Tennyson
• Imogen (IM-o-jen)--"Cymbeline", Shakespeare. A two-fer! Shakespeare originally wrote Innogen (Gaelic, "maiden"), but it was misprinted.
• Janice (JAN-is)--Janice Meredith, Paul Leicester Ford
• Jessica (JESS-ih-kah)--"The Merchant of Venice", Shakespeare
• Loredana (loh-reh-DAH-nah)--Mattea, George Sand
• Lorna (LOHR-nah)--Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmoor
• Lucinda (loo-SIN-dah)--Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes
• Melinda (mel-IN-dah)--"The Recruiting Officer", George Farquhar
• Miranda (meer-AN-dah)--"The Tempest", Shakespeare
• Myra (MYE-rah)--"Myra"; Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke
• Nerissa (nehr-ISS-ah)--"The Merchant of Venice", Shakespeare
• Norma (NOHR-mah)--"Norma", Felice Romani
• Nydia (NID-ee-ah)--The Last Days of Pompeii, Edward Bulwer-Lytton
• Olivia (oh-LIV-ee-ah)--"The Twelfth Night", Shakespeare
• Ophelia (oh-FEE-lee-ah)--"Arcadia", Jacopo Sannazaro
• Pamela (PAM-el-ah)--"Arcadia", Sir Philip Sidney
• Perdita (pur-DEE-tah)--"The Winter's Tale", Shakespeare
• Stella (STEL-lah)--Astrophel and Stella, Sir Philip Sidney
• Vanessa (van-ES-sah)--"Cadenus and Vanessa", Jonathan Swift
• Wendy (WEN-dee)--"Peter Pan", J. M. Barrie