This page lists 56 literary boy names that start with S, running from “Sam” to “Skimpole”. The names come from classic novels, plays, epics, and modern fantasy, and they range from familiar picks like “Sebastian” and “Simon” to rare finds like “Steerpike” and “Swithin”. You can use the list to name a baby, a character in your own story, or a pet, or simply to find your next favorite book.

Literary boy names are male names taken from characters, authors, or places in books, plays, and poems. Many have been popular for centuries, and “Sawyer” went from Mark Twain’s famous Tom to a common first name today.

Below you’ll find the table with the name, origin, pronunciation, meaning, and description of each entry.

Name: The name itself, listed in alphabetical order, so you can scan quickly and spot the ones that catch your eye.

Origin: The language or culture each name comes from, which helps you see its roots and find names that fit your heritage or taste.

Pronunciation: A simple phonetic guide, with stressed syllables in capital letters, so you can say each name with confidence, even the unusual ones.

Meaning: What the name originally meant, which is useful if you want a name with a special message or a story behind it.

Description: A short note on the book, author, or character linked to each name, so you know exactly where it comes from and why it matters.

Literary boy names

NameOriginPronunciationMeaning
SamHebrewSAM“God has heard”
SamwiseOld EnglishSAM-wize“Half-wise”
SantiagoSpanishsan-tee-AH-go“Saint James”
SebastianGreek/Latinseh-BAS-chun“Venerable” or “revered”
SherlockOld EnglishSHUR-lock“Fair-haired”
SidneyOld EnglishSID-nee“Wide island” or “Saint-Denis”
SilasLatinSY-less“Of the forest”
SimonHebrewSY-mun“He has heard”
SiriusLatin/GreekSEER-ee-us“Glowing” or “scorching”
SeverusLatinseh-VEER-us“Stern” or “severe”
SamsonHebrewSAM-sun“Sun” or “man of the sun”
ScoutEnglishSKOWT“One who goes ahead”
SawyerMiddle EnglishSAW-yer“Woodcutter”
SiddharthaSanskritsid-DAR-tuh“One who has achieved his goal”
StephenGreekSTEE-ven“Crown” or “garland”
StanleyOld EnglishSTAN-lee“Stony clearing”
SydneyOld EnglishSID-nee“Wide meadow”
SmaugOld NorseSMOWG“To squeeze through a hole”
SamuelHebrewSAM-yoo-el“God has heard”
SanchoSpanishSAN-cho“Holy” or “sacred”
SorrelOld FrenchSOR-ul“Reddish-brown”
SylvesterLatinsil-VES-ter“Of the forest”
SwannOld EnglishSWAHN“Swan” or “herdsman”
SeymourNorman FrenchSEE-mor“From Saint-Maur”
SorinRomanianSOR-in“Sun”
SvidrigailovRussiansvee-dree-GUY-lovSurname, no fixed meaning
SergeiRussianSER-gay“Servant” or “protector”
StepanRussianSTYEH-pun“Crown”
SethHebrewSETH“Appointed”
StuartOld EnglishSTOO-urt“Steward”
SpikeEnglishSPYK“Sharp point”
StriderEnglishSTRY-der“One who strides”
SauronQuenya/SindarinSOR-on“The abhorred”
SarumanOld EnglishSAH-roo-man“Man of skill” or “cunning man”
SméagolOld EnglishSMEE-gol“Burrowing” or “worming in”
ShylockHebrewSHY-lock“White hair”
Sir GawainWelshsur GAH-wayn“Hawk of May”
SiegfriedGermanSEEG-freed“Victory and peace”
SigurdOld NorseSIG-urd“Victory guardian”
SaulHebrewSAWL“Asked for”
SalingerOld FrenchSAL-in-jer“From Saint-Léger”
ShakespeareMiddle EnglishSHAKE-speer“One who shakes a spear”
SakiJapaneseSAH-kee“Blossom” or “hope”
SteerpikeEnglishSTEER-pykInvented name
SilvioItalianSIL-vee-oh“Of the forest”
SylvainFrenchsil-VAN“Of the forest”
SwithinOld EnglishSWITH-in“Strong”
SeptimusLatinsep-TIM-us“Seventh”
SorleyGaelicSOR-lee“Summer wanderer”
SigmundGermanSIG-mund“Victory protector”
ScroogeEnglishSKROOJInvented name, likely from “screw” or “scrooge” (to squeeze)
SikesEnglishSYKSSurname, “dweller by a small stream”
SparklerEnglishSPAR-kler“One who sparkles”
SqueersEnglishSKWEERZInvented name
SteerforthEnglishSTEER-forth“Crossing place for young cattle”
SkimpoleEnglishSKIM-poleInvented name

Descriptions

Sam
Sam Gamgee is the loyal gardener and hero-companion of Frodo in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Also the name of Sam Spade-style and Sam-I-Am characters in popular fiction.
Samwise
Tolkien’s full name for Sam Gamgee, the humble Hobbit whose courage and devotion help destroy the One Ring.
Santiago
The old fisherman in Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, and the shepherd boy in Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist.
Sebastian
Appears in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and The Tempest, and as Sebastian Flyte in Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited.
Sherlock
Arthur Conan Doyle’s famed consulting detective of Baker Street, one of fiction’s most recognizable characters.
Sidney
Sydney Carton in Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities makes a famous sacrifice at the story’s end.
Silas
Silas Marner is the miserly weaver in George Eliot’s novel of the same name, redeemed by an orphaned child.
Simon
Simon leads the way in Golding’s Lord of the Flies as the gentle, perceptive boy who discovers the truth about the beast.
Sirius
Sirius Black is Harry’s wayward godfather in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.
Severus
Severus Snape is the complex Potions master of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter books.
Samson
The biblical strongman reappears in Milton’s Samson Agonistes, a dramatic poem about his final days.
Scout
Scout Finch narrates Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, though the name is most often used for girls.
Sawyer
Tom Sawyer is Mark Twain’s mischievous Mississippi River boy, whose surname has become a popular first name.
Siddhartha
The title character of Hermann Hesse’s novel follows a spiritual journey in ancient India.
Stephen
Stephen Dedalus is James Joyce’s alter ego in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses.
Stanley
Stanley Yelnats is the hero of Louis Sachar’s Holes, a boy dealing with a family curse.
Sydney
Used as a boy’s name for Sydney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities.
Smaug
The great dragon of Tolkien’s The Hobbit, who hoards the treasure of Erebor beneath the Lonely Mountain.
Samuel
The name of a biblical prophet and borne by Samuel Pickwick in Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers.
Sancho
Sancho Panza is Don Quixote’s earthy, practical squire in Cervantes’ classic novel.
Sorrel
A name for characters in English pastoral fiction, notably Hetty Sorrel in George Eliot’s Adam Bede.
Sylvester
Appears in Elizabethan and Victorian fiction, and is sometimes borne by comic-satirical characters in English literature.
Swann
Charles Swann is the refined, tormented socialite at the heart of Proust’s Swann’s Way.
Seymour
Seymour Glass is the brilliant, troubled eldest sibling in J.D. Salinger’s Glass family stories.
Sorin
Sorin is a character in Chekhov’s The Seagull, the ailing brother of Arkadina.
Svidrigailov
Arkady Svidrigailov is a menacing, morally ambiguous figure in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, occasionally used as an unusual name.
Sergei
Appears in many Russian novels, including Sergei Karenin in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina.
Stepan
Stepan Oblonsky, nicknamed Stiva, is Anna Karenina’s cheerful, easygoing brother.
Seth
Seth appears in the Book of Genesis and in many novels, such as Seth Brundle-style tragic characters and Sethe’s family in Morrison’s Beloved.
Stuart
Stuart Little is E.B. White’s tiny, adventurous mouse-boy born into a human family.
Spike
Used for rowdy and rebellious characters in genre fiction, including Spike in Joss Whedon’s Buffy universe tie-in novels.
Strider
Aragorn’s mysterious ranger alias in The Lord of the Rings when he first meets the Hobbits at Bree.
Sauron
The Dark Lord of Middle-earth who forged the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings.
Saruman
Gandalf’s fallen fellow wizard in The Lord of the Rings who betrays the free peoples of Middle-earth.
Sméagol
The original name of Gollum, the creature corrupted by the One Ring in Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Shylock
The moneylender in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, one of the most debated characters in English drama.
Sir Gawain
The knight of Arthur’s court in the 14th-century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Siegfried
The dragon-slaying hero of the Nibelungenlied and Wagner’s Ring cycle.
Sigurd
The Norse hero who slays the dragon Fafnir in the Völsunga saga and William Morris’s epic retellings.
Saul
Saul Bellow’s name and the biblical king; also the title of various novels’ protagonists, including Bellow’s characters.
Salinger
Used occasionally as a given name in tribute to author J.D. Salinger, creator of Holden Caulfield.
Shakespeare
Occasionally given as a first name in honor of the Bard, known for plays like Hamlet and Macbeth.
Saki
The pen name of H.H. Munro, whose satirical short stories include The Open Window.
Steerpike
The ambitious, scheming kitchen boy in Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast novels.
Silvio
A character name in Pushkin’s short story The Shot and in various Italian operas and plays.
Sylvain
Literary French variant used for characters in French-language novels and poetry.
Swithin
Swithin St. Cleeve is the young astronomer in Thomas Hardy’s Two on a Tower.
Septimus
Septimus Smith, a shell-shocked veteran in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway.
Sorley
Named after Scottish poet Sorley MacLean, a major voice in 20th-century Gaelic poetry.
Sigmund
The father of Sigurd in the Völsunga saga, wielder of the magical sword Gram.
Scrooge
Ebenezer Scrooge is the miserly protagonist of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Sikes
Bill Sikes is the violent criminal in Dickens’ Oliver Twist.
Sparkler
Edmund Sparkler is a good-natured, dim character in Dickens’ Little Dorrit.
Squeers
Wackford Squeers is the cruel schoolmaster in Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby.
Steerforth
James Steerforth is David Copperfield’s charming and ultimately treacherous schoolmate in Dickens’ novel.
Skimpole
Harold Skimpole is the charming, irresponsible sponger in Dickens’ Bleak House.
If you think there is a missing term, let us know using the contact form.