by Linda Rosenkrantz

　　Every TV season or so we scan the video landscape to see if any particularly interesting character names have popped up.  And each time it becomes more and more daunting as the number of new and newish shows on network, cable and streaming platforms has gone through the roof.  But we try.

　　This year it was nice to see so many Namberryesque names appearing—Camille, Celeste, Elsa, Hermione, Lavinia, Maeve, Marisol, Nova, Prudence, Trixie and Thea, for example. Also, as you’ll see below, a lot of scriptwriters have picked up on the boy-name-for-girls trend.

　　Focusing on the girl names, here are almost two dozen of the most intriguing TV character names.

　　ADORA— on Sharp Objects, an ironic name for the far from adorable mother character played by Patricia Clarkson. But it could make a straighforwardly loving name for your little girl.

　　AMABELLA—the name of the young daughter of the Laura Dern-Renata character in Big Little Lies, was stated clearly in the original novel that this is NOT a misspelling of Anabella.

　　BERTIE—And another boyish nickname name joins Frankie and Charlie and Sam. This one is on the Judd Apatow series Love.

　　BLUE—On The Conners Juliette Lewis plays the new girlfriend of David, whose ex-wife Darlene has referred to as ‘a crayon’. Blue, as in Blue Ivy Carter, has become a cool gender-neutral name, in both first and middle place.

　　CHARLOTTA—One of the two tough protagonists on Weird City, she is played by Asian rapper-actress (Crazy Rich Asians) Awkwafina, born Nora Lum. Charlotta is actually a Swedish variation of Charlotte and appears in Anne of Green Gables.

　　CRUZ—A female character on the Starz series Vida. Although many of us associate the name with the Beckham boy, Cruz, meaning cross, is used for both girls and boys and is a common surname as well in Hispanic cultures.

　　DELT—Weird City is a weird city with weird character names, many of them with a single syllable. Delt (not short for Delta, is a gym trainer played by Rosario Dawson. Her co-characters include Liquia (Laverne Cox), Mulia, Jathryn (Sara Gilbert) and Glail.

　　DUKE—On Better Things, creator-star Pamela Adlon is named Sam and her three daughters are Max, Frankie and Duke. Do you sense a theme? (all 4 shown)

　　GUINEVERE was a main character on the first season of You, who was more often called by her last name, Beck. The name of the beautiful Queen of Camelot has come to be seen as less formidable by some contemporary parents.

　　HARRIS—The sarcastic teenaged daughter of Darlene and granddaughter of Roseanne on The Conners was given Roseanne’s maiden name as a honorific.

　　KIP—The BBC drama series Collateral, co-produced by Netflix, stars Carey Mulligan as a London detective inspector named Kip. Kip is a traditional nickname for Christopher, like Kit, but has also been used on its own.

　　MAZIKEEN—This comic book character who first appeared in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, a child of Lilith and fearsome warrior, is brought to life on the show Lucifer. She’s also known by her nickname Maze.

　　MURPHY—The CW show In the Dark, features blind heroine Murphy Mason—taking a page from the Murphy Brown scriptbook. The actress who plays her is named Perry.

　　NOMI—On the Black-ish spinoff Grown-ish, which deals frankly with issues of sexuality, Nomi is Zoey’s free-spirited friend.

　　PEACH—Peach Anais Salinger was Guinevere Beck’s bff in the first season of You. Could Peach join Clementine and Plum in the fruit bowl?

　　PRAIRIE—On The OA, Prairie Johnson, played by Brit Marling, was born Nina Azarov, and then becomes the OA—or Original Angel. Her adoptive mother named her Prairie because her blue eyes reminded her of Prairie skies. Prairie definitely has possibilities as an evocative nature name; Thomas Pynchon used it for a character in Vineland.

　　RAINBOW—Over five seasons, Tracee Ellis Ross has brought some gravitas to her once hippieish name, as Dr. Rainbow Johnson.

　　SHIV—It’s actually short for Siobhan, worn by the child on the satirical HBO comedy-drama, Succession.

　　SHULI—The she-is-everywhere Wanda Sykes plays a record company exec named Shuli on the Comedy Central series The Other Two.

　　SUTTON—The magazine publishing series The Bold Type borrows the first name of Sutton Foster, star of the hit publishing show Younger, and makes it more widely accessible.

　　TULIP—This neglected flower name pops up in the comic book-based series Preacher. Spoiler alert—this Tulip’s real name is actually Priscilla–Jean Henrietta O’Hare.

　　TWYLA—The innocent waitress character on Schitt’s Creek is played by the real daughter and sister of the show’s creators. The name has long been associated with dancer/choreographer Twyla Tharp. The SC cast list includes another boyish nickname name, STEVIE.

　　VANYA—No longer just an uncle name, Vanya is the character played by Ellen Page in The Umbrella Academy.

　　Would you add any to this list?