The 60 Baby Names William Shakespeare Already Came Up With For You

By Kate Schweitzer

Updated on 2/24/2016 at 4:07 PM

Corbis Images
Corbis Images

"What's in a name?" That very question, asked thousands of times over by expectant parents poring over baby name books, was actually penned by a very prophetic playwright. And although William Shakespeare went on to write in Romeo and Juliet that names are really quite meaningless (for, "that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet"), he certainly had a way for picking them.

In more than 30 plays, he's invented and chosen monikers that are, to this day, beautiful, unique, and instant classics. If you find yourself inspired by the Bard's work, why not consult it when naming your little one? Sure, the names Othello or Hamlet, title characters in two of Shakespeare's eponymous tragedies, might not be the most popular of choices, but we promise that each one has a prominent place in literary history.

Girls

  1. Adriana (The Comedy of Errors)
  2. Audrey (As You Like It)
  3. Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing)
  4. Bianca (The Taming of the Shrew, Othello)
  5. Celia (As You Like It)
  6. Cordelia (King Lear)
  7. Cressida (Troilus and Cressida)
  8. Emilia (The Comedy of Errors, The Winter's Tale, Othello)
  9. Gertrude (Hamlet)
  10. Helena (A Midsummer Night's Dream)
  11. Hermione (The Winter's Tale)
  12. Imogen (Cymbeline)
  13. Iris (The Tempest)
  14. Isidore (Timon of Athens)
  15. Juliet (Romeo and Juliet, Measure For Measure)
  16. Juno (The Tempest)
  17. Leonine (Pericles)
  18. Luciana (The Comedy of Errors)
  19. Marina (Pericles)
  20. Miranda (The Tempest)
  21. Octavia (Antony and Cleopatra)
  22. Ophelia (Hamlet)
  23. Phoebe (As You Like It)
  24. Portia (The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar)
  25. Regan (King Lear)
  26. Rosalind (As You Like It)
  27. Titania (A Midsummer Night's Dream)
  28. Ursula (Much Ado About Nothing)
  29. Valeria (Coriolanus)
  30. Viola (Twelfth Night)

Boys

  1. Adrian (Coriolanus, The Tempest)
  2. Ajax (Troilus and Cressida)
  3. Balthasar (The Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing)
  4. Bartholomew (The Taming of the Shrew)
  5. Benvolio (Romeo and Juliet)
  6. Cassio (Othello)
  7. Cato (Julius Caesar)
  8. Cicero (Julius Caesar)
  9. Claudio (Much Ado About Nothing, Measure For Measure)
  10. Curtis (The Taming of the Shrew)
  11. Demetrius (A Midsummer Night's Dream, Titus Andronicus, Antony and Cleopatra)
  12. Duncan (Macbeth)
  13. Fenton (The Merry Wives of Windsor)
  14. Hamlet (Hamlet)
  15. Hero (Much Ado About Nothing)
  16. Lance (The Two Gentlemen of Verona)
  17. Lennox (Macbeth)
  18. Morgan (Cymbeline)
  19. Oliver (As You Like It)
  20. Orlando (As You Like It)
  21. Othello (Othello)
  22. Paris (Romeo and Juliet, Troilus and Cressida)
  23. Philo (Antony and Cleopatra)
  24. Puck (A Midsummer Night's Dream)
  25. Roderigo (Othello)
  26. Romeo (Romeo and Juliet)
  27. Sebastian (The Tempest, Twelfth Night, The Two Gentlemen of Verona)
  28. Toby (Twelfth Night)
  29. Usher (Coriolanus)
  30. Vincentio (Measure For Measure, The Taming of the Shrew)