A literary name for a fantasy princess
When Shigeru Miyamoto was choosing a name for the princess in The Legend of Zelda, he looked beyond the world of games. Zelda Fitzgerald—a writer and public figure admired by Miyamoto—offered a name he found memorable. The choice brought a real person’s name into a fictional kingdom without making the princess a portrayal of Fitzgerald.
That distinction matters: Zelda is the princess, while the player-controlled hero is Link. Naming the series after Zelda puts her at the center of its identity, even when the story follows Link’s journey to find or rescue her. The title’s focus on the princess is therefore not the same as the player’s point of view.
A name that outgrew its first story
The name became one of the series’ most recognizable elements, carried forward as later games reimagined Zelda and the world around her. A decision rooted in Miyamoto’s admiration for a writer’s name became part of the series’ lasting vocabulary: “Zelda” now calls to mind a fantasy world as readily as it does Zelda Fitzgerald.
