Wish the top 20 names had a more Elizabethan ring to them? Well, wish no more!
I did my best to match each of the most popular baby girl names with similar-sounding names from Shakespeare:
| Modern Names | Shakespearean Names |
|---|---|
| Emily |
Emilia, Othello; Winter’s Tale; Two Noble Kinsmen Aemelia, Comedy of Errors Hermione, Winter’s Tale |
| Isabella |
Isabella, Measure for Measure Dionyza, Pericles, Prince of Tyre Ursula, Much Ado About Nothing Volumnia, Coriolanus |
| Emma | Anne, Merry Wives of Windsor; Henry VIII; Richard III |
| Ava |
Viola, Twelfth Night Valeria, Coriolanus |
| Madison |
Miranda, The Tempest Rosaline, Love’s Labor’s Lost; Romeo and Juliet Regan, King Lear |
| Sophia |
Phebe, As You Like It Bianca, Othello; Taming of the Shrew Julia, Two Gentlemen of Verona |
| Olivia |
Olivia, Twelfth Night Octavia, Antony and Cleopatra Ophelia, Hamlet Lavinia, Titus Andronicus |
| Abigail |
Imogen, Cymbeline Agrippa, Antony and Cleopatra; Coriolanus Margaret, Much Ado About Nothing |
| Hannah |
Helena, All’s Well That Ends Well; Midsummer Night’s Dream Hermia, Midsummer Night’s Dream Helen, Troilus and Cressida; Cymbeline |
| Elizabeth |
Elizabeth, Henry VI; Richard III Eleanor, Henry VI; King John |
| Addison |
Adriana, Comedy of Errors Diana, All’s Well That Ends Well; Pericles, Prince of Tyre Desdemona, Othello Rosalind, As You Like It |
| Samantha |
Tamora, Titus Andronicus Katherina, Taming of the Shrew Paulina, Winter’s Tale |
| Ashley |
Audrey, As You Like It Portia, Merchant of Venice; Julius Caesar Luciana, Comedy of Errors |
| Alyssa |
Nerissa, Merchant of Venice Jessica, Merchant of Venice Cressida, Troilus and Cressida |
| Mia |
Maria, Twelfth Night; Love’s Labor’s Lost Marina, Pericles, Prince of Tyre Mariana, All’s Well That Ends Well; Measure for Measure |
| Chloe |
Hero, Much Ado About Nothing Cordelia, King Lear Cleopatra, Antony and Cleopatra |
| Natalie |
Nell, Henry IV; Henry V; Merry Wives of Windsor Juliet, Romeo and Juliet Perdita, Winter’s Tale Lucetta, Two Gentlemen of Verona |
| Sarah |
Silvia, Two Gentlemen of Verona Celia, As You Like It |
| Alexis |
Alice, Henry V; Merry Wives of Windsor Thaisa, Pericles, Prince of Tyre Beatrice, Much Ado About Nothing |
| Grace |
Blanche, King John Gertrude, Hamlet |
These are by no means equivalents, of course. Some of my “matches” don’t match at all. But I did as well as I could using about three-quarters of all the female characters mentioned by Shakespeare.
And, if you were curious about the names Dionyza and Thaisa, as I was, they seem to be based on Dionysus and Thaïs.