10 Literary Heroes With Names that Are Weirder Than North West

Less than a month out of the womb and the female spawn of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West has already earned her own individual fame, capturing the hearts and minds of America with her, er, unique name. It’s more inspirational than directional, a source told TMZ.  The name means “highest power,” says North’s grandmother, Kris Jenner. The name is proof that the fabric of society is unraveling, says Twitter. But what Twitter might not realize is that some of our favorite literary heroes have equally annoying names. Below is a list that proves you can still achieve greatness, even with a bizzaro moniker. All may not be lost for the tiniest Kardashian…so long as she stays away from reality TV.
1. Bartholomew Cubbins, from Dr. Seuss’s The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Bartholomew’s name may well be inspired by one of Jesus’ Apostles, but it’s my theory that the kid is smarter and more mature than most adults simply from having to endure lifelong confusion over the spelling of his name.
2. Atticus Finch, from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee pulled off the impressive feat of making a guy named Atticus a hero for the ages. The name even withstood the brief period in which members of ubiquitous 90s band Blink-182 sullied it to launch a skate-clothing company.
3.Phineas, from John Knowles’s A Separate Peace. A brief history of the name Phineas: Greek king; literary hero; biblical warrior; railroad freak-accident survivor; son of Julia Roberts.
4. Moll Flanders, from Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders. Famous from the 1700s on, even though her name is one letter shy of the word “mold.”
5. Artemis Fowl, from Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl. This fictional teenaged criminal mastermind is the face of a successful eight-book series, despite sharing his name with It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia‘s most terrifying character. (And with a Greek goddess, of course.)
6. Flossie Bobbsey, from Laura Lee Hope’s The Bobbsey Twins. Any person, real or fictional, who survives being named after a dental product has earned a place in history.
8. Gulliver, from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. His image lives on in unoriginal political cartoons published with stunning regularity in newspapers across the country.
9. Leopold Bloom, from James Joyce’s Ulysses. Despite being forever associated with an affinity for “grilled mutton kidneys which gave to his palate a fine tang of faintly scented urine,” the name Leopold has lived on in Pink Floyd songs and Mel Brooks musicals.
10. Sherlock Holmes, from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series. Lives on in the guise of oddly named fellow traveler Benedict Cumberbatch.
What’s your favorite lit-inspired name?