Allison Burris

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature from The Broke and the Bookish.

This week’s topic is all about character names that you’d incorporate in your own life–whether you’d choose them for a child or a pet or an inanimate object.

Currently I don’t have a pet–Paul didn’t grow up with them and he doesn’t crave a fluffy friend. If we ever adopt a pet in the future, it’s sure to be a cat, so these are fictional character names I’d choose:

• No One (from A Song of Ice and Fire) — because a cat is no one.

• Crookshanks (from Harry Potter) — if it’s good enough for Hermione it’s good enough for me.

• Margarita (from The Master and Margarita) — I just love this name and this book.

• Quentin (from The Magicians) — this name is perhaps too odd to foist on a child (though I really like it), but it’s just right for a cat.

• Nora (from A Doll’s House) — Another great name for a cat. The character, poor Victorian lady, is nicknamed things like sparrow and squirrel by a husband who underestimates her spirit and agency. I think cats can be misleading as well.

• Beatrice or Benedick (from Much Ado About Nothing) — Shakespeare is rife with great names for pets, and this play has tons: Ursula, Don Jon, Hero, and Claudio for instance. But the main characters are my favorite.

• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (from Hamlet) — Perfect if you have two cats that are sweet but not quite as knowing as cats usually are. But you need two or it doesn’t  work very well.

• Tik-Tok (from The Wizard of Oz books) — I’m not sure a wind up mechanical man says much about a cat, but it’s a fun name.

What character would you name a pet after? Let me know in the comments!