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The following is a list of names known to have been invented by specific people, poets, playwrights, etc.
Name |
When? |
By Whom and in What? |
Christabel |
15th century |
Medieval romances |
Melissa |
15th century |
Italian poets |
Stella |
1590 |
Sir Philip Sidney |
Pamela |
1590 |
Sir Philip Sidney |
Adriana |
1592 |
William Shakespeare, in The Comedy of Errors |
Jessica |
1596 |
William Shakespeare, in The Merchant of Venice |
Olivia |
1599 |
William Shakespeare, in Twelth Night |
Viola |
1599 |
William Shakespeare, in Twelth Night |
Brilliana |
1600 |
Sir Edward Conway, Governor of Brill, for his daughter |
Regan (possibly) |
1605 |
William Shakespeare in King Lear |
Perdita |
1610 |
William Shakespeare, in A Winters Tale |
Miranda |
1610 |
William Shakespeare, in The Tempest |
Zoraida (possibly) |
1610 |
Miguel Cervantes in Don Quixote |
Lucinda |
1610 |
Miguel Cervantes in Don Quixote |
Myra |
17th century |
Fulke Grenville, Lord Brooke |
Belinda |
1689 |
Henry Purcell and Nahum Tate in Dido and Aeneas |
Araminta |
1695 |
Sir John Vanbruch in The Confederacy |
Berinthia |
1696 |
Colley Cibbers Loves Last Shift |
Dorinda |
1707 |
George Farquhar in The Beaux Stratagem |
Malvina |
18 century |
James MacPherson |
Vanessa |
18 century |
Jonathan Swift, as a nickname for a friend |
Orville |
1778 |
Fanny Burney in Evelina |
Haidee |
1819-1824 |
Lord Byron in Don Juan |
Evangeline (possibly) |
1847 |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in Evangeline |
Thelma |
1886 |
Marie Corelli in Thelma: a society novel |
Melba |
1887 |
Pseudonym of Nellie Melba (1861-1931), an Australian opera singer. |
Dorian |
1890 |
Oscar Wilde in The Picture of Dorian Gray |
Gloria |
1898 |
George Bernard Shaw in You Never Can Tell |
Janice |
1899 |
Paul Leicester Ford in Janice Meredith |
Wendy |
1904 |
James Barry in Peter Pan |