If you’re searching for the best dog names inspired by books, you’ll love our list! When it comes to choosing a name for your new dog, there are a lot of things that people can take inspiration from, such as popular songs.
However, I love to read books, so it only makes sense that I would look towards great pieces of literature and mythology for a dog name. If you are like me and you love to delve in an addictive novel, why not choose your favorite character’s name for your dog?
I’ve put together my list of dogs names that have been inspired by books, in the hopes that you will be inspired as well!
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Top 50 Female Dog Names Inspired by Books
Let’s kick things off with some of my favorite girl dog names inspired by literature! For each one, I gave you the full character name and book that it’s from, then bolded the parts that I think make good dog names.
- Anne Shirley from the “Anne of Green Gables” series by L.M. Montgomery
- Arya Stark from “A Song of Ice and Fire” series by George R.R. Martin
- Becky Sharp from “Vanity Fair” by William Makepeace Thackeray
- Beth March from “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott
- Belle from “Beauty and the Beast” fairy tales and adaptations
- Bathsheba Everdene from “Far from the Madding Crowd” by Thomas Hardy
- Beatrice from “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare
- Bridget Jones from the “Bridget Jones’s Diary” series by Helen Fielding
- Calpurnia from “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee
- Celie from “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker
- Clarice Starling from “The Silence of the Lambs” by Thomas Harris
- Coraline Jones from “Coraline” by Neil Gaiman
- Cosette from “Les Misérables” by Victor Hugo
- Countess Olenska from “The Age of Innocence” by Edith Wharton
- Daenerys Targaryen from the “A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R.R. Martin
- Daisy Buchanan from “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Elizabeth Bennet from “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen
- Emma Woodhouse from “Emma” by Jane Austen
- Eowyn from “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Fern Arable from “Charlotte’s Web” by E.B. White
- Flora Poste from “Cold Comfort Farm” by Stella Gibbons
- Fleur Delacour from the “Harry Potter” series by J.K. Rowling
- Frankie Addams from “The Member of the Wedding” by Carson McCullers
- Hermione Granger from the “Harry Potter” series by J.K. Rowling
- Jane Eyre from “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë
- Jo March from “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott
- Juliet Capulet from Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare
- Katniss Everdeen from “The Hunger Games” trilogy by Suzanne Collins
- Lisbeth Salander from “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson
- Luna Lovegood from the “Harry Potter” series by J.K. Rowling
- Lyra Belacqua from “His Dark Materials” trilogy by Philip Pullman
- Matilda Wormwood from “Matilda” by Roald Dahl
- Primrose Everdeen from “The Hunger Games” trilogy by Suzanne Collins
- Offred from “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood
- Rose Hathaway from the “Vampire Academy” series by Richelle Mead
- Ramona Quimby from the “Ramona” series by Beverly Cleary
- Rosalind “Rosie” Carter from “Love, Rosie” by Cecelia Ahern
- Rowena Ravenclaw from the “Harry Potter” series by J.K. Rowling
- Remy Starr from “This Lullaby” by Sarah Dessen
- Sansa Stark from “Game of Thrones” series George R.R. Martin
- Scarlett O’Hara from “Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell
- Scout Finch from “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee
- Tess Durbeyfield from “Tess of the d’Urbervilles” by Thomas Hardy
- Tris Prior from the “Divergent” series by Veronica Roth
- Tinker Bell from “Peter Pan” by J.M. Barrie
- Temperance Brennan from the “Bones” series by Kathy Reichs
- Tilly Dunnage from “The Dressmaker” by Rosalie Ham
- Ursula Monkton from “The Ocean at the End of the Lane” by Neil Gaiman
- Yvaine from “Stardust” by Neil Gaiman
- Zahra from “The City of Brass” by S.A. Chakraborty
The Top 50 Male Dog Names Inspired by Books
Again, I bolded the parts of the names that I think make the best dog names.
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- Argos from The Odyssey
- Aslan from “The Chronicles of Narnia” series by C.S. Lewis
- Atticus Finch from “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee
- Augustus Waters from “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green
- Bilbo Baggins from “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Captain Ahab from “Moby-Dick” by Herman Melville
- Captain Hook from “Peter Pan” by J.M. Barrie
- Dexter Morgan from the “Dexter” series by Jeff Lindsay
- Don Quixote from “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes
- Dr. John Watson from the Sherlock Holmes series by Arthur Conan Doyle
- Dracula from “Dracula” by Bram Stoker
- Ebenezer Scrooge from “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens
- Edward Cullen from “Twilight” series by Stephenie Meyer
- Frankenstein from “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley
- Frodo Baggins from “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Gandalf from “The Lord of the Rings” series by J.R.R. Tolkien
- George Milton from “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck
- Gregor Samsa from “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka
- Hamlet from “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare
- Hannibal Lector from The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
- Harry Potter from the “Harry Potter” series by J.K. Rowling
- Heathcliff from “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë
- Hercule Poirot from the Hercule Poirot series by Agatha Christie
- Holden Caulfield from “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger
- Ivanhoe from “Ivanhoe” by Sir Walter Scott
- Huckleberry Finn from “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain
- James Bond from the James Bond series by Ian Fleming
- Jay Gatsby from “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Jean Valjean from “Les Misérables” by Victor Hugo
- King Arthur from Arthurian legends and various retellings
- Lennie Small from “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck
- Mr. Darcy from “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen
- Nick Carraway from “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Othello from “Othello” by William Shakespeare
- Paul Atreides from “Dune” by Frank Herbert
- Percy Jackson from the “Percy Jackson & the Olympians” series by Rick Riordan
- Pip from “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens
- Rhett Butler from “Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell
- Richard Sharpe from “Sharpe” series by Bernard Cornwell
- Roland Deschain “The Dark Tower” by Stephen King
- Santiago from “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway
- Scout Finch from “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee
- Sherlock Holmes from the Sherlock Holmes series by Arthur Conan Doyle
- Tarzan from “Tarzan of the Apes” by Edgar Rice Burroughs
- Thomas Covenant from “The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant” by Stephen R. Donaldson
- Thor from Norse Mythology or Marvel Comics, take your pick!
- Tom Joad from “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck
- Tyrion Lannister from “A Song of Ice and Fire” series by George R.R. Martin
- Victor Frankenstein from “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley
- Winston Smith from “1984” by George Orwell
50 Names of Dogs in Literature
Last, but not least, if you want literal literature dog names, here are 50 ideas inspired by canine characters in books.
- Argos from “The Odyssey” by Homer
- Balto from “Balto and the Great Race” by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
- Blue from “Where the Red Fern Grows” by Wilson Rawls
- Buck from “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London
- Clifford from the “Clifford the Big Red Dog” series by Norman Bridwell
- Cujo from “Cujo” by Stephen King
- Fang from the “Harry Potter” series by J.K. Rowling
- Gaspode from the “Discworld” series by Terry Pratchett
- Ghost from “Game of Thrones”
- Gromit from the “Wallace & Gromit” series by Nick Park
- Hachiko from “Hachiko: A Dog’s Story” by Pamela S. Turner
- Hooch from “Turner & Hooch” by Dennis Shryack
- Lad from “Lad, A Dog” by Albert Payson Terhune
- Lassie from the “Lassie” series by Eric Knight
- Marley from “Marley & Me” by John Grogan
- Max from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” by Dr. Seuss
- Nana from “Peter Pan” by J.M. Barrie
- Odie from the “Garfield” comic strip by Jim Davis
- Pongo from “The Hundred and One Dalmatians” by Dodie Smith
- Perdita from “The Hundred and One Dalmatians” by Dodie Smith
- Pluto from various Disney stories and comics
- Perro from “The House of the Spirits” by Isabel Allende
- Patrasche from “A Dog of Flanders” by Ouida
- Pepper from “The Incredible Journey” by Sheila Burnford
- Prince from “The Incredible Journey” by Sheila Burnford
- Pilot from “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë
- Polynesia from the “Doctor Dolittle” series by Hugh Lofting
- Patch from “101 Dalmatians” by Dodie Smith (also known as “Patch”)
- Ribsy from the “Henry Huggins” series by Beverly Cleary
- Shadow from “Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey” by Sheila Burnford
- Sable from “The Incredible Journey” by Sheila Burnford
- Slinky from “Toy Story” by Disney Pixar (Slinky Dog)
- Shiloh from “Shiloh” by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
- Sirius Black from the “Harry Potter” series by J.K. Rowling
- Skip from “My Dog Skip” by Willie Morris
- Snoopy from the “Peanuts” comic strip by Charles M. Schulz
- Sounder from “Sounder” by William H. Armstrong
- Tock from “The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Juster
- Toto from “The Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum
- Tramp from “Lady and the Tramp” by Ward Greene (adapted into a Disney animated film)
- Toby from “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle” by David Wroblewski
- Tock from “The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Juster
- Tracker from “Where the Red Fern Grows” by Wilson Rawls
- Tawny from “The Incredible Journey” by Sheila Burnford
- Titus from “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London
- Tug from “A Dog’s Purpose” by W. Bruce Cameron
- White Fang from “White Fang” by Jack London
- Winn-Dixie from “Because of Winn-Dixie” by Kate DiCamillo
- Zero from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” by Tim Burton (Zero is a ghost dog character)
- Zeus from “Dog Man” series by Dav Pilkey (Zeus is a robot dog)