Primrose

In The Hunger Games franchise, Primrose Everdeen was the younger sister of Katniss Everdeen. Primrose lived in District 12, and at the age of 12, she was selected as tribute for the 74th Hunger Games. Katniss volunteered to go in her place. Primrose was a natural healer, taking after her mother, who often provided medical care to District 12 residents. Primrose adopted a cat named Buttercup and she had a goat named Lady. When District 12 was bombed following the 75th Hunger Games, Gale helped Primrose and her mother escape to District 13. There, Primrose began formal medical training to become a doctor. She often went by the nickname 'Prim.'

In The Lord of the Rings, Samwise Gangee had a daughter named Primrose.

Primrose is a Middle English word that means 'first rose.' In 2014, 42 girls were named Primrose in the U.S. 

Galadriel

In J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, Galadriel was an elf and the Lady of Lothlórien. Her husband was Lord Celeborn. She was one of the most beautiful and most powerful elves of Middle Earth. Her daughter, Celebrían, was the wife of Elrond, and the mother of Arwen. Galadriel assisted the Fellowship of the Ring after they escaped from the mines of Moria. Frodo offered the One Ring to her, but she refused it, knowing that it would corrupt her.

The name Galadriel was invented by J.R.R. Tolkien. In the books, the name was given to her by her husband, and meant "maiden crowned with a garland of bright radiance." The name has seen some occasional use, but has always hovered at the bottom of the SSA's name database. The last time it appeared was in 2006, when it was given to only 5 girls.

Éomer

Éomer was the son of Éomund, who in turn was the nephew of Théoden, King of Rohan in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Théoden's son, Théodred, died young, making Éomer the heir to the throne of Rohan. His cavalry killed the orcs that had captured Merry and Pippin. He was imprisoned by Wormtongue for allowing Aragorn and his companions go free. When Gandalf restored Théoden, Éomer was released. He fought in the Battle of the Hornburg and the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. He became king when Théoden was killed in the latter battle. He was known as Éomer Éadig, or "the Blessed" because of the prosperity of Rohan during his reign.

Eomer was a legendary King of the Angles. He appears in genealogy of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and in Beowulf. The name means "Horse-famous". The name does not appear in the Social Security Administration's name database.

Arwen

Arwen Undómiel is a character in the Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. A member of the Half-elven in Middle-earth, she is neither elf or man, and must choose which to become. Arwen chooses to give up the immortal life of an elf to marry her love Aragorn.

Arwen is a real name of Welsh origin, which can also be spelled Arwyn. The meaning of the Welsh name is 'muse', but in Tolkien's world, it means 'noble maiden or noble woman'. It can be used for both boys and girls. In 2011, 72 girls were named Arwen, and 20 girls were named Arwyn.

Hal

HAL-9000 was an artificial intelligence from 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke. HAL was short for Heuristically programmed, ALgorithmic computer. Hal was part of the computer in the Discovery One spaceship. HAL began to malfunction, and when the astronauts decided to disconnect his cognitive circuits, HAL decided to kill them. In the sequel, 2010: Odyssey Two, HAL was restarted, and his previous attempt to kill the astronauts was revealed to be due to a conflict in his programming. HAL sacrificed himself to save the astronauts, but was turned into a non-corporeal being by the monolith.

Harold 'Hal' Jordan was one of several humans to become member of the Green Lantern Corps. He was a member of the U.S. Air Force. When Abin Sur, a member of the Greeen Lantern Corps, crash landed in California, the power ring chose Hal Joran as it's replacement officer. He was one of the founding members of the Justice League. 

Hal Yorke was a vampire in the U.K. television series Being Human. He was born in the late 15th century. He went on a bloody rampage for centuries, and gained such an evil reputation that even the Old Ones were afraid of him. In the 20th century he lived with a werewolf named Leo and a ghost named Pearl. After Leo died, Pearl went with him to the afterlife, leaving Hal with another werewolf and ghost, Tom and Annie.

Halfast 'Hal' Gamgee was a Hobbit and a cousin of Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. 

Hal the Archer, and Hal Korwin where minor characters in the Doctor Who television series. 

Hal is typically a nickname for Harold or Henry. As a stand alone name it is not very popular. In 2011, only 15 boys were named Hal.

Merry

In the Doctor Who franchise, Merry Galel was an inhabitant of Akhaten. She was known as the Queen of Years, and was a Sun-singer of the long song. The song was continuously sung by various singers to appease the sleeping Old God. The Doctor's companion, Clara, encountered Merry when she was running away because she feared she would make a mistake. Clara convinced her that she would be able to complete her task and convinced her to return. While Merry was singing, the Old God awoke, and took her as a sacrifice. The Doctor and Clara rescued her and convinced her that she did not need to sacrifice herself to appease the Old God.

Merry was the nickname of Meriadoc Brandybuck in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He was a Hobbit and one of the Fellowship of the Ring. At Gondor, he became a squire to Théoden. He helped Éowyn kill the Witch King of Angmar. He was awarded a knighthood for his bravery. 

Merry Pemberton was a character in the D.C. Comics universe.

Merry is an English name that means 'Happy'. Merry appeared in the SSA's top 1000 names for most years between 1920 and 1969, but hasn't ranked since then. It ranked highest in 1954 when it was #468. In 2011, the name Merry was given to just 15 girls.

March 2013 Roundup

Here's a round up of baby name sites that profiled geeky names in the month of March.

Appellation Mountain took an in-depth look at Éowyn, and some of the character names chosen by Joss Whedon.

Baby Name Pondering talked about Morgana, and listed her favorite names from fantasy movies of the 1980's.

British Baby Names profiled Arthur, which has a ton of geeky references. Arthur Weasley was the patriarch of the Weasley family in the Harry Potter series, Arthur Dent was the main protagonist in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Arthur the Moth was the Tick's sidekick in the comic, The Tick. Arthur Petrelli was a character in the television series, Heroes.  Arthur Penhaligon was the protagonist in The Keys to the Kingdom series. Arthur was an A.I. in The Journeyman Project. And Finally, 2597 Arthur was a main belt asteroid.

Bewitching names examined Equinox.

Nameaholics Anonymous continued their series on Harry Potter names with G is for Gilderoy. 

Waltzing More Than Matilda took an in depth look at Neville. 

Moon or Pepper? I think you can guess that I chose Moon.

Cora

Cora is the name of an evil sorceress in the fantasy television show, Once Upon A Time. She's also known as the Queen of Hearts for her penchant of pulling people's hearts from their chests, including her own. This weeks episode gave us Cora's back story, but I won't go into it here because I don't want to give away any spoilers for those who haven't seen the episode yet. An up to date description of the character can be found here. 

Cora Goodbody was a Hobbit in the Lord of the Rings.

Cora is an acronym for "Computer, Oral Response Activated" in Battlestar Gallactica. In other words, it was the voice of the computer in vipers. It often flirted with Starbuck.

Cora is also the name of an experimental rocket designed by the French. 

Cora is a Greek name that means 'maiden'. Cora was ranked at #15 in 1880, the first year of data available in the U.S. It declined continuously until the late 1980s, when it began to climb back up the charts. In 2011 it ranked at #204.

Éowyn

Éowyn was the niece of King Théoden of Rohan in the Lord of the Rings. She fell in love with Aragorn, but he did not return her affection. She disguised herself as a man so that she could fight in the Rohirrim army. She killed the Witch-King of Angmar with the help of the Hobbit Meriadoc Brandybuck. She was gravely wounded, but recovered in the Houses of Healing. While she was there, she met Faramir, a Steward of Gondor, whom she later married.

Éowyn was invented by J.R.R. Tolkien for the Lord of the Rings. It is based on the Old English for 'Horse Joy'. Eowyn was given to 50 girls in 2011, and the alternate spelling Aeowyn was given to 5 girls the same year.

Bilbo

Bilbo Baggins was the main character of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. He was a minor character in The Lord of the Rings. Bilbo was hired by Gandalf and Thorin to help Thorin and his band of Dwarves to reclaim the dwarves' treasure from the dragon Smaug. Along the way, he discovered the One Ring, which he thought was just an invisibility ring. In the Lord of the Rings, Bilbo left the Shire for Rivendell. Before he left, Gandalf discovered the true nature of the ring and persuaded him to leave it with Frodo. Bilbo lived out the rest of his life in Rivendell, where he wrote his memoir, which became The Hobbit. 

There is also an asteroid named 2991 Bilbo.

I like that you could use the nickname 'Bill', or 'Bo', and ends in 'O' names are very popular right now. Despite these attributes, Bilbo does not appear as a name in the Social Security Administration's name database. Unfortunately the name is too closely associated with the character to be usable as a first name for a child. It could be used as a quirky middle name, or as a name for a beloved pet.

Vala

Vala Mal Doran of Stargate SG-1 was once the host of a Goa'uld symbiote named Qetesh. After being freed by the Tok'ra, she became a planet hopping con artist. She attempted to steal Earth's first starship, Prometheus, but was thwarted by Daniel Jackson. She later sought out Daniel's help and through a piece of Goa'uld technology, became linked to him. Since they could not be apart without either of them dying, Vala stayed at Stargate Command, and eventually reformed enough to become a member of SG-1 herself. She was mother of the Orici, Adria, and in an alternate timeline, became lovers with Daniel Jackson. 

The Valar of Middle Earth are a race of angelic beings. Vala is the singluar form of the name. They are mentioned in The Lord of the Rings, but are mostly dealt with in the second part of The Silmarillion. They are the Powers of Arda (the world). They shaped the world and created beauty to counter the darkness of Melkor, aka Morgoth, from whom all evil in Middle Earth comes.

Vala is also the anglicized name of Völva, a shamanic seeress in Norse mythology. An asteroid, 131 Vala, was named for Völva.

There is a programming language called Vala. 

Vala is also a real name of Germanic origin. It means 'singled out'. According to the Social Security Administration, 13 girls were given the name Vala in 2011.

Théoden/Théodred

Théoden is a character in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. He was the king of Rohan, who was controlled by his chief advisor, Grima a.k.a. Wormtongue. When Gandalf came to Rohan, he revealed Wormtongue for what he was, and Théoden regained his senses. He then fought in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, where he routed the Harad calvary. He was later mortally wounded by one of the Nazgûl.

Théodred is the son of Théoden and Elfhild. He was killed in the First Battle of the Fords of Isen.  

Both versions of this Tolkien name would be a great choice for parents looking for a fresh take on Theodore. In 2011, 10 boys were given the name Theoden.