(my little brother)
Inspired by the choice from the popular television series Sherlock that my daughter and her husband made for the name for their soon-to-be-born son (and no, they didn’t go with “Sherlock”), I’ve put together a list of baby names from mystery stories with which I’m familiar. Some names, of course, would have to be for brave and adventurous parents, but the lists should have something for most mystery-loving parents.
Girls
Agatha (call her Aggie), for the Queen of Mystery, Agatha Christie, or Ngaio Marsh’s character, Agatha Troy Alleyn
Amelia, for Elizabeth Peters’s Amelia Peabody books
Anne (Beddingfeld), the sleuth in Agatha Christie’s book, The Man in the Brown Suit
Ariadne, for Agatha Christie’s writer-sleuth, Ariadne Oliver
Barb, for Elizabeth George’s detective’s sidekick, Barbara Havers
Bertha (call her Bertie), for Erle Stanley Gardner’s Bertha Cool/Donald Lam stories
Beverly, for Clair Blank’s young detective, Beverly Gray
China, for Susan Wittig Albert’s detective, China Bayles
Cordelia, for P.D. James’s detective in An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
Eileen, for Agatha Christie’s “Bundle” Brent
Emily, for Dorothy Gilman’s Emily Polifax
Emma, (Mrs. Peel) from the mid-1960s television series, The Avengers
Georgiana, for Rhys Bowen’s royal detective, Lady Georgiana
Goldy, for Diane Mott Davidson’s detective, Goldy Bear Schulz
Harriet, for Dorothy Sayers’s, Harriet Vane
Honey, from the 1965/66 tv series, Honey West
Jacqueline, for Elizabeth Peters’s romantically literary detective Jacqueline Kirby
Jemima, for Antonia Fraser’s detective, Jemima Shore
Minette, for author Minette Walters
Nancy, for Carolyn Keene’s iconic Nancy Drew
Nora, from Dashiell Hammett’s Thin Man books
Precious, for Alexander McCall Smith’s detective, Precious Ramotswe
Prudence, aka Tuppence, from Agatha Christie’s Tommy & Tuppence stories
Susan, for the significant other of Spenser, Robert Parker’s detective/enforcer
Tess, for Laura Lippman’s detecive, Tess Monaghan
Vicky, for Elizabeth Peters’s detective, Vicky Bliss
Boys
Adam, for P.D. James’s detective, Adam Dalgliesh
Archie (Goodwin), the sidekick of Rex Stout’s detective, Nero Wolfe
Cadfael, for Ellis Peters’s Brother Cadfael
Charles, for Simon Brett’s detective Charles Paris
Charlie, for Earl Derr Biggers’s detective, Charlie Chan (meant to counter the “Yellow Peril” Asian stereotype of the time)
Dee, for Robert van Gulik’s detective, Judge Dee (hey, the name works for rocker Dee Snider)
Endeavor, for Colin Dexter’s detective Inspector Morse’s first name
Emerson/Ramses, the son of Elizabeth Peters’s detective, Amelia Peabody
Edgar, for Edgar Allan Poe
Ellery, for the (partnership) author Ellery Queen
Gideon, for John Dickson Carr’s detective Gideon Fell
Guido, for Donna Leon’s happily married detective, Guido Brunetti
Jim, for Lilian Jackson Braun’s cat-sitting detective Jim Qwilleran
Per, for Maj Sjöwall’s partner Per Wahlöö
Perry, for Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason, of course
Peter, probably the super-name concerning mysteries, for Dorothy Sayers’s Lord Peter Wimsey, Charlotte MacLeod’s Peter Shandy, Reginald Hill’s Peter Pascoe, and authors Peter Lovesey or Peter Robinson
Pierre, for Hugh Pentecost’s detective, Pierre Chambrun
Reginald, Ruth Rendell’s detective, Reginald Wexford, or for the author Reginald Hill
Robbie, for Colin Dexter’s Robbie Lewis, initially from the Inspector Morse stories
Roderick, for Ngaio Marsh’s detective, Roderick Alleyn
Simon (Templar), for Leslie Charteris’s detective, The Saint
Virgil, for John Ball’s detective, Virgil Tibbs
Walter, for Walter Mosley who writes the Easy Rawlings series
Wilkie, for Wilkie Collins
Valerie Bonham 