I actually think the HP reference has helped rehabilitate
Hermione as a "good" name rather than a "weird and borderline ugly" name. That Herm- at the beginning is not a real winner in terms of sounds, and the pronunciation is a bit tricky, and I think if it had remained a lesser-known literary and classical reference, meeting a
Hermione would leave many people wondering what her parents were smoking to pick such an ungainly monkier. But now
Hermione is a byname for wisdom, bravery and goodheartedness. What's not to like about that?? Some people have an irrational hate for HP, so you might have to give them your "plebian fool!" argument to win their respect, but otherwise I think you'd be ok. Yeah, a passing stranger might think you're Potter-crazy, but all you have to say is that it's for the Shakespeare character, and there you go. Also don't name any siblings any other names used in HP. That's the one drawback I guess, if you want to distance yourself from the books.
I like
Hermione Poppy and
Hermione Violet. Those both have lovely imagery to them.
You could also hype up the literary reference by looking at combos like:
Hermione Jessica (I like the understatedness of this)
Hermione ImogeneHermione HelenaHermione CharmianHermione CordeliaHermione PortiaHermione ViolaHermione JulietHermione OpheliaHermione NerissaHermione KatherinaHermione Rosalind (my favourite I think)
This message was edited 6/17/2011, 2:10 PM