Helen Baxendale on her daughter’s unique name
Actress Helen Baxendale, 38, recently sat down and discussed the naming of her oldest child, daughter Nell Marmalade, 9.
When I was a child there was a TVprogram and a series of booksabout a really naughty girl calledMarmalade Atkins. I always likedthat name, it seems sweet butmischievous and a bit spiky.
Helen and her husband, David Elliott, are also parents to sons Eric, 6 next month, and Vincent, 15 months.
Source: Metro
Have you ever named your children after characters from television shows or books?
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September 27th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
Children? No.
Pets? Absolutely.
September 27th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Yes! When I was pregnant with my twins, hubby and I used to watch Saved By The Bell. We liked the character Zack Morris…. cute, smart, and full of mischief… so we decided on that name for our son (Zack, but formally Zachary). We also liked the name of another character on the show…. “Tori” and decided to name our daughter Tori (formally Victoria). We used grandparents’ names for middle names, so their names flow nicely. We read all the books on names, searched the internet, but these two names were ones we definitely agreed on.
September 27th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
My 2 year old daughter is named Annabel Lee after the famous Edgar Allen Poe poem of the same name. I was an English and Theater major in college and wanted a dramatic literary name for my daughter. Poe is one of the greatest American writers and one of my favorites.
September 27th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
My oldest Cooper Wyatt(Cooper=town in Alabama, Wyatt=English poet). My one twin, Carter Tate was named after family members, my other twin Catcher Reid is after the book Catcher in the Rye (Reid is close to rye and is a family name) my daughter Hayden Olivia Rose is after the actress Hayden Pantierre, Olivia is from the Shakespeare play Twelfth Night and Rose is from the movie Titanic.
September 27th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
Haha no but i can’t tell you how bad i would love a “ramona” or an “amelia”
Taylor- i LOVE the name Catcher! Ive never thought of it before!! I may steal that someday…
September 27th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
Claudia!! You totally stole my Annabel Lee! Lol. I am also an English Lit major and I absolutely love, love, love the name. Its the loveliest poem ever…
Other literary names I love are Darcy, Scarlett, Laura, Rose, Isabelle and Madeleine.
And secretly I love Fleur and Luna from Harry Potter. Haha.
September 28th, 2007 at 12:35 am
I don’t know about books or TV, but I might name my kid after a video game character. My son may be named Ryu, after the character from Street Fighter.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:28 am
My daughter’s first name, Raina, is the name of a character in the Laurell K. Hamilton Series. Anita Blake: Vampire hunter. It was a werewolf character in it and the first time I heard the name, I fell in love with it.
September 28th, 2007 at 2:09 am
I named my daughter Annika, after the little girl that used to party with Pippi Longstocking.
September 28th, 2007 at 2:51 am
our daughter is named esmerelda for the following reasons: a) the beginning letter is ‘e’ which is after my late father, b) because i loved aunt esmerelda on bewitched, c) after the esme of j.d. salinger’s story and d) after esme squalor of the lemony snicket stories who was named after salinger’s esme also.
September 28th, 2007 at 3:26 am
Both Annabel Lee and Annika are beautiful, beautiful names…Of course this is coming from an avid reader of both Poe&Astrid Lindgren!
I wish I am able to use one of those names some day =]
September 28th, 2007 at 4:45 am
I named my son Mio after a Astrid Lingren book: “Mio, min Mio” which means in swedish Mio, my Mio. Totally my favourite childrens book. I recommend it dearly.
September 28th, 2007 at 4:46 am
I named my daughter Kayla from the character on Days of Our Lives. You wouldn’t believe how many Kayla’s there were/are in her class at school! What was I thinking!
September 28th, 2007 at 5:13 am
My daughter is Tia Mae. Tia from Sister Sister (Tia & Tamara) and Mae after my mum and she was born in May.
September 28th, 2007 at 6:32 am
My oldest daughter is named Samantha after Samantha Brady from Days of our Lives. I just hope my daughter doesn’t have as much drama in her life as Sami Brady has had!! Her middle name is Ariel after the little Mermaid, my little brother Eric picked it. He is, to this day, my 11 year old daughter’s Prince Eric.
Speaking of my little brother he is named after Erik Estrada of Chips fame. I loved Erik Estrada and before anybody starts I was only 5 when my brother was born.
September 28th, 2007 at 7:10 am
Claudia, my husband wanted to name one of our daughters Annabel Lee. I loved the idea, especially since my grandfather’s name was Lee, but I didn’t think it sounded good with our last name.
We named our youngest Lily, partly after a song by a group we like, Pink Martini. Now our daughter thinks that the song was made for her and loves to sing it all the time.
My best friend’s sister was pregnant and her 2 year old wanted to name the baby Aurora after Sleeping Beauty. When they found out it was a boy, the daughter insisted they name him Philip, after the Prince. Mom and dad decided they kind of liked the name and used it when he was born last month.
September 28th, 2007 at 7:22 am
I named my son Richie after Richie Sambora.
I’ve been a fan since I was 12, (I’m now 34)
During my pregnancy I listened to “undiscovered Soul (Richie’s 2nd solo album) and when my son was born whenever he was upset I played that cd and it calmed him down emidiately.
And my son is now 8 and also a big Richie Sambora fan.
I took him to see a Bon Jovi concert last year, and he went nuts
He wants to go whenever they come to our country.
(The Netherlands)
September 28th, 2007 at 7:45 am
My sister is a huge General Hospital fan so she named my niece Elizabeth after the character on the show. If she has anymore children their names are already picked out from characters on the show:
Carly Alexis
Jason Morgan
September 28th, 2007 at 8:01 am
Neither of my girls have names inspired by TV or book characters and I am struggling to think of any TV/book names I particularly like. I do remember the Marmalade Atkins TV show, it was one of my favourites. Sadly the actress who played Marmalade passed away some time ago, a great loss to acting IMHO.
September 28th, 2007 at 8:59 am
I named my son Ezra because when I was a kid, I heard it first from the band, Better Than Ezra, although he’s not named after them, he’s named that because my husbands name is Isaac and I wanted bible names… and then my other son is Eli, and thats just because I liked it, lol
If I ever have a girl, her name is Evangeline Green – Evangeline after the Bad Religion song, (my husband loves them) and Green after Joni Mitchell!! I would just give her the name Joni as a middle name, but thats actually my mom’s name, and we already satisfied using family names for my boys middle names.
I also have a friend whos mom named them after the girls from the Little House books!! Now thats cute!
September 28th, 2007 at 9:46 am
Well – I don’t have kids or plan to, but (apparently) I’m obsessed with other people’s kids! Names are my favorite, so I love to read what the celebs pick!
I have always had the name Gilbert picked if I ever did have a boy. It’s from Anne of Green Gables (Movie and/or book!) Gilbert Andrew I think! And of course, if I ever used Anne – it would have to be spelled with an E!
September 28th, 2007 at 10:27 am
I have always wanted to name a son Brady, from Days of Our Lives.
September 28th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
I’m pregnant at the moment and if we have a girl, she’ll be named Sakura after the girl in the cartoon Naruto.
September 28th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Well I don’t have any kids, but if I ever have sons I love the names Tristan (after Tristan & Isolde, the song Tristan by Patrick Wolf, or a variant of Tristam as in Tristam Shandy), Dorian (as in Dorian Gray) and Beau (after Beau Brummell, though he was a real person not a character). All other names I like (boys and girls) are just names, or family ones I like.
September 28th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
I pushed hard for Holden (Catcher in the Rye) for my second boy. DH didn’t love it and I don’t like the nickname possibility (Hold?) either, so I was easily dissuaded. It’s still in the wings for another boy though.
September 28th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
I named my son Matthew for Matthew Cuthbert of the “Anne” series! That is still my favorite show EVER! I wanted Gilbert as well because I love Gil for short, but it never panned out for me! We also gave all 3 of our children middle names from our families. Faith Louise, Matthew Gregory and Jack Albert. Still love em and would never change em!
September 28th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
I will definately name one of my sons Ephraim after the character on Everwood. Another name I adore is Delia also from Everwood. Other names I like is Holden, Harper, Scout, Elvis and Milo.
September 28th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
I absolutely love the name Aurora for a girl, after Sleeping Beauty (which was one of my favorite movies from my childhood). I also love the name Lily, particularly because it’s the name of Harry’s mother in the Harry Potter series, and I secretly love Hermione too although I know my family would never go for it! lol I also love the name Rhiannon which is an old name from the famous Welsh story the Mabinogion(my family is Welsh). Brianna is another one of my favorites from Edmund Spencer’s 16th century poem “The Faerie Queene” (pronounced Bree-anna).
September 28th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
My son’s name is Hunter. Obviously Hunter was my favorite television show. There was this episode where he delivered a little girl. The mom was so grateful that she named her Hunter. The title of the episode was a little girl named Hunter. I was pregnant at the time and looking for a unique name, so Hunter it was. The only thing is that I didn’t have a girl. Well, Hunter’s a unisex name so there you go.
September 28th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
I have an Oliver after little, mischevious Oliver Twist – plus my grandmas name was Olive
Can’t wait to have my Anabelle 
Shocked to hear about so many – NONE is my area (hope it stays that way!)
September 28th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
I technically took my daughter’s names from horror movies. I heard Sydney when I saw Scream 3 and Addison in Saw 2. I just heard them on camera and thought “oooh!”
September 28th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
I am currently pregnant with our second child, and if it’s a girl, she will be called Addison after Addison Montgomery on Grey’s Anatomy. I heard her name when I started watching the show and I just fell in love with it.
September 28th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
My 11 year old daughter, Charlotte Elise, is named after “Charlotte Sometimes” and “A Letter to Elise” by The Cure. Yep. I love The Cure.
September 29th, 2007 at 7:12 am
i dont have any kids yet, but.. i do have LOTS of potential names. One after a book, one a movie, one a song.
Scout because To Kill a mocking bird is my favourite book. But i dont think my hubby would ever go for it.
Willow (because of the movie Willow, not Buffy). But it would always be associated with Buffy.
Iris after the Goo Goo Dolls song.
Lennon after John Lennon.
But other than that, its more biblical names, or family names. (Seth, Issac, Noah, Gabriel, Joseph or Christopher for boys)(Faith, Elizabeth, Eden, Charlotte, Evelyn or Lily for girls)
Im never gonna have enough babies to use all the names i love, but oh well
September 29th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Well, I don’t have any kids yet, but I plan on using some names from books/movies. But to begin with, my cat’s name is Scout after To Kill A Mockingbird (and she is adorable) which is my favorite book. If we have a boy, I want to name him Jackson Atticus–Jackson is from Steel Magnolias my all time favorite movie, and also my grandfather goes by Jack. Atticus is obviously after the Dad from To Kill A Mockingbird. I would like to name my daughter Grace May, and I also have the name Riley Lynn picked out, but I really just like Grace, it didn’t come from a show or anything, and my Great Grandmother’s middle name was May spelled M-A-Y and I have always liked that since it is my favorite month and we got married in May. Riley is my dad’s first name and I like it for a girl paired with Lynn.
September 30th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Just a point – Helen Baxendale’s daughter is called Nell, not Nelly.