After reading the "bookshelf" xkcd comic, I am considering the influences of "Atlas shrugged" by Ayn Rand on the character names of Bioshock: there is an Atlas, and Andrew Ryan is almost an anagram of Ayn Rand. Are there additional inspirations for the character names? Have these inspirations been documented by the game developer?

1 Answer

Yes, it's well-documented on the BioShock wiki (from Rosie to Rapture to Sander Cohen—too many to list here). The Ayn Rand connection is also noted by the devs.^{1 2} Though it should be said that BioShock makes a poor showing of objectivism, the worldview associated with Atlas Shrugged.