diff --git a/b_asic/graph_component.py b/b_asic/graph_component.py
index 86018c8d85ca52afca764e6e9b604ce7fb3ae4f5..b889a3fc75d61f5571b307b130ccaeb971924386 100644
--- a/b_asic/graph_component.py
+++ b/b_asic/graph_component.py
@@ -7,9 +7,20 @@ Contains the base for all components with an ID in a signal flow graph.
 from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
 from collections import deque
 from copy import copy, deepcopy
-from typing import Any, Dict, Generator, Iterable, Mapping, NewType, cast
+from typing import Any, Dict, Generator, Iterable, Mapping, NewType, TypeAlias, cast
+import sys
+
+
+# We want to be able to initialize Name with String literals, but still have the
+# benefit of static type checking that we don't pass non-names to name locations.
+# However, until python 3.11 a string literal type was not available. In those versions,
+# we'll fall back on just aliasing `str` => Name.
+if sys.version_info >= (3, 11):
+    from typing import LiteralString
+    Name: TypeAlias = NewType("Name", str) | LiteralString
+else:
+    Name = str
 
-Name = NewType("Name", str)
 TypeName = NewType("TypeName", str)
 GraphID = NewType("GraphID", str)
 GraphIDNumber = NewType("GraphIDNumber", int)
diff --git a/b_asic/special_operations.py b/b_asic/special_operations.py
index c0609dd595296483a894271114c279dd21cfde8e..ee053221e6a5386f6585fc74df0dd9b6190695b5 100644
--- a/b_asic/special_operations.py
+++ b/b_asic/special_operations.py
@@ -28,12 +28,12 @@ class Input(AbstractOperation):
 
     _execution_time = 0
 
-    def __init__(self, name: Name = Name("")):
+    def __init__(self, name: Name = ""):
         """Construct an Input operation."""
         super().__init__(
             input_count=0,
             output_count=1,
-            name=Name(name),
+            name=name,
             latency_offsets={"out0": 0},
         )
         self.set_param("value", 0)