April 23, 2015

What's In a Name?

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

My name is derived from a German word meaning 'whole' or 'universal.' For at least 2002-2013, it was in the top five names for baby girls. When my parents named me, it was a bit old-fashioned and not very popular. I was named after a paternal great-grandmother and my parents didn't anticipate the major increase in popularity of my name.

I could find only 5 characters who shared my name. Incidentally, they're all in books I liked.

One of the first literary Emmas I discovered is from Heather Vogel Frederick's The Mother-Daughter Book Club series. Her name is incidentally one of the things that first drew me to the series. Unlike me, this Emma is named after Jane Austen's Emma. (I'm, in part, named after Emma Thompson, who starred as Elinor in 1995's Sense and Sensibility movie adaptation.)

Jane Austen's Emma is another favorite of mine. I've seen the Gwyneth Paltrow movie adaptation (not a big fan), loved the Emma Approved web-series, enjoyed Clueless, and still need to see the 2008 mini-series adaptation.

I got to read this book last summer for review, and I got very excited when I learned the female protagonist's name. Not in the Script by Amy Finnegan has an Emma!

A more recent read with an Emma is You Are Here by Jennifer E. Smith. I've finally read all of her YA titles and this one is one of my favorites. 

And then there's a book I read almost 2 years ago. The main character isn't an Emma, but her best friend is. 
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Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone

So do you know of any other YA books featuring Emmas? I'd love to read them! Or what books have you read with main characters/secondary characters with your name? Isn't it fun to find books where characters share your name?

3 comments:

  1. I can't think of any other books featuring Emmas, but if I remember one I'll let you know.
    Oddly, although my name (Sarah) was one of the most popular baby names for quite a while, I've only found one major character who shares it (and she's in a kids' series- Sarah Jane from the Three Cousins Detective Club). It kind of makes me sad that there's no characters with my name . . . but then again, as there's a lot of actual people who do share it, maybe it's for the best.

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  2. Blind by Rachel DeWoskin and A Breath of Frost by Alyxandra Harvey both have Emma characters as well!

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  3. My name is shared with the one and only Kat Bishop, and I absolutely love her! (BTW She spells it with a K too)

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