http://blog.oup.com/2009/03/five_shakespeare_names/ When I read the title of that article I thought “Ok, this will be all about Lady Macbeth and such.” So I was surprised that it is, in fact, a look at Shakespeare’s female characters who share a name with women from mythology. Examples include Hero, Helena, Lavinia, Hermione and Diana. I wish the writeups were longer, but it’s a start. Somebody could probably take any one of those and do a college research paper on whether Shakespeare intended to make that exact connection, or if it’s just complete coincidence. Diana and Helena are common enough names, but the only time I’ve ever seen “Hero” as a name is in Much Ado, and in the appropriate myth (Hero and Leander).
