Katniss

English botanical and literary name

The Hunger Games was published on September 14, 2008, introducing the world to indelible heroine Katniss Everdeen and her unique botanical name, taken from an edible aquatic plant. Since then, Katniss has been used for a handful of baby girls, specifically eight last year. Katniss is one of the most recognizable modern names taken from books, but it may be too closely tied to its fictional inspiration to cross over to widespread human use.

Author Suzanne Collins said about naming her heroine: "[Katniss Everdeen's] name came later, while I was researching survival training and specifically edible plants. In one of my books, I found the arrowhead plant, and the more I read about it, the more it seemed to reflect her. Its Latin name has the same roots as Sagittarius, the archer. The edible tuber roots she could gather, the arrowhead-shaped leaves were her defense, and the little white blossoms kept it in the tradition of flower names, like Rue and Primrose. I looked at the list of alternative names for it. Swamp Potato. Duck Potato. Katniss easily won the day."