Why did Fitzgerald choose flower names (Daisy and Myrtle) for characters in The Great Gatsby?

You could make various arguments on this subject. First of all, by choosing to name two of his major female characters after flowers, Fitzgerald may be drawing a connection between flowers and women as a whole, in his view. Like flowers, Fitzgerald may believe that women are beautiful but delicate, requiring different conditions to thrive; like flowers, too, women can easily be trampled in their society. Also like flowers, the beauty of women—particularly these women—is in the bloom of their youth. Note that Jordan, having an entirely different personality and frame of mind and who is arguably tougher (not of the "hothouse flower" personality), does not have a flower name.

Next, we can consider the particular kinds of flowers chosen for these women. A daisy is a flower associated with innocence and childhood—daisy chains and floral crowns. White with a gold center, there are connotations of purity and a heart of gold. While small, daisies are also hardier than they appear. Even the word daisy means "day's eye," referring to the sun. Like a daisy, Daisy draws others to her as the sun draws us. She is pure and beautiful and others are warmed by her presence.

Myrtle, meanwhile, does not have any of Daisy's innocence. She is a mechanic's wife and is a fairly plain, stout woman, in a socially awkward position as Tom's mistress. A myrtle plant is a flowering shrub, usually with pink or white flowers. It is fairly common: in Greek mythology, it was sacred to the goddess Aphrodite, so this may be a reference to Myrtle's promiscuity in cheating on her husband. It also isn't the sort of flower one would seek out to give in a bouquet, which perhaps represents the fact that Myrtle desperately wants to be part of a particular set—that of the hothouse flowers—but does not quite fit in.

What's the significance of the daisy and myrtle flowers for characters in The Great Gatsby?

(eNotes editors may only answer one question per response. If you have more questions, please resubmit them as separate items.)

The flowers chosen for the names of two of the three major female characters in The Great Gatsby do, indeed, carry symbolic meanings.

A daisy is usually a white flower, with white being the color associated with innocence and angelic purity. Daisy Buchanan is not an angel in reality, but Gatsby never truly accepts that she could be anything other than the ideal he envisions in his dreams.

Daisy and Jordan lay upon an enormous couch, like silver idols weighing down their own white dresses against the singing breeze of the fans.

The flower of the myrtle, on the other hand, varies in the red-blue-purple range. Red is the color of passion; blue is a cool color frequently associated with calming effects. The first time Nick meets Myrtle Wilson, she is wearing a blue dress which doesn't disguise the attraction she and Tom feel toward each other.

Her face, above a spotted dress of dark blue crepe-de-chine, contained no facet or gleam of beauty...She smiled slowly shook hands with Tom, looking him flush in the eye.

Later, red is the color of blood staining Myrtle's dress after the accident.