The Weirder; The Better - YA Names

I’m so sorry if you know people with these names, I’m not trying to be offensive in any way. 

I like to think that I’ve heard many names in my lifetime. The names I've heard come from quite a variety of cultures and when I was younger I collected baby names (don’t ask).

Some of my favourite are the more common names:

Girls

Maria

Lila / Laila

Diana

Giselle

Eliza

Cassia

Alexandra / Alexa

I like names that end in A apparently. I especially love these names because they sound nice but also because they can be translated to different languages and have unique and beautiful pronunciations.

Boys

Adam

Alex / Alexander

Dimitri 

Will 

James 

All I could think of was Four because I have Insurgent out for a reread but I did manage to capture some of my favourites. Interestingly enough there are no A's in the end of these ones (not interesting at all.. I know).

Now why am I thinking of names? Well I’ve recently come noticed a lack of ‘normal’ names in books. I define normal as something that would be found in large numbers in any of our daily lives. Like names up on the top of the baby names of the year list. 

I’m fine with most of the name, they are interesting and the authors have obviously thought deeply about them. For example, Beatrice and Tobias from the Divergent series are names we would expect Abnegation's children to have and they change their names once they become Dauntless to match their surroundings. 

But as I read some synopsis’ I find names that make me laugh. Note, a lot of the names I’m referring to come from NA books. I'm not going to mention the books but here are some names as I found them from the synopsis'.

RIDGE

All I can think of is falling off the ridge. I don’t want to call my boyfriend Ridge it’s just so brooding and edgy and no thanks. One can be a bad boy without having it predetermined by their mother.

DARLA

Was that an abbreviation from Darling? Meh.

HUNTER

So manly, I'm 18, have a busted up 4 wheel drive and my name is my status symbol. So sexy.

CLIFF

"Just jump of that cliff, will ya?" -.- I don't recommend using a name for your child if it can be used in a pro-suicide context.

MILES 

So should Canadians and the rest of the Metric world start naming their boys Kilometre? Centimetre?

WEST

How about East?

RAFE 

I'm a bad boy and I wear leather.. Oh yeah.
Araby

KATNISS/GALE/PEETA/PRIM

Very unique to the series but hecka weird.

GRACE/FAITH

Why do these names always belong to a pastors daughter in YA?

I can never understand why authors often go to the ends of the world to find all these names. They sure are fun to read about though and compile into lists!

What's Your Favourite? Do You Have Anymore to Add to the List?

-Mari & P.E.