Saturday, January 17: Mississippi Mud
WHERE’D YOU GET A NAME LIKE THAT?
by John M. Floyd
During all our recent discussions of characters and character-driven stories, I got to thinking about something. And the more I thought about it, I realized the following is true:
Some of the most memorable pieces of fiction contain the most memorable character names.
This might be coincidence, or maybe I just remember the names because I liked the stories so much. But I doubt it. Atticus Finch, Sam Spade, Vito Corleone, Augustus McCrae, Randall Flagg, Frodo Baggins, Tom Wingo, Clarice Starling, Chili Palmer . . . you get the point. The best authors seem to also come up with the best names.
There’s a reason that most writers put a lot of thought into the names they choose for the folks who populate their fiction: Selecting good, unique names can add something to the story. (Or, I suppose, hinder the story. I can’t really see 007 introducing himself as “Dinkins. Arnold Dinkins.”)
What are some of your favorite fictional characters’ names? While you’re coming up with those, see if these bring back some memories:
Lighthearted:
Stephanie Plum
Barney Fife
Holly Golightly
Walter Mitty
Hawkeye Pierce
Gaylord Focker
Sheriff Buford T. Justice
Jack Sparrow
Headly Lamarr
Ferris Bueller
Bilbo Baggins
Marty McFlyStrong:
Will Kane
Dan Roman
Frank Bullitt
Woodrow Call
Ellen Ripley
Jesse Stone
Thomas Magnum
Nero Wolfe
Remington Steele
Thomas Crown
Judah Ben-Hur
Mike HammerMysterious:
Victor Laszlo
Kaiser Soze
Jonathan Hemlock
Napoleon Solo
Lando Calrissian
Apollo Creed
V. I. Warschawski
Jake Spoon
Tony Soprano
Obi-wan Kenobi
Arkady Renko
Vincent VegaEvil:
Gordon Gekko
Hugo Drax
Francis Dollarhyde
Nurse Ratched
Hannibal Lecter
Rosa Klebb
Darth Vader
Uriah Heep
Hans Gruber
Dr. No
Draco Malfoy
Lex Luthor
Admittedly, all those character names aren’t associated with “great” fiction. But they’re at least memorable.
And it’s often helpful to choose names that are in some way appropriate to the story. Rudi Matt was a climber trying to conquer the Citadel, a fictional mountain based on the Matterhorn, in James Ramsey Ullman’s Banner in the Sky. Jason Bourne was a killer with amnesia “born again” in Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity. Stuart Redman was a native American (red man) who helped save the world after a flu epidemic in Stephen King’s The Stand. Other names that seem to “fit” their plots and settings are Forrest Gump, Auric Goldfinger, Fast Eddie Felson, Hoss Cartwright, Luke Skywalker, Snake Plissken, and John Boy Walton. And I like the fact that James Lee Burke chose Dave Robicheaux for his New Orleans settings and Billy Bob Holland for Texas and Montana. That makes sense.
Some of the sillier — but catchy — names come from the ladies (ahem) in the James Bond novels: Vesper Lynd, Honeychile Ryder, Tatiana Romanova, Tiffany Case, Mary Goodnight, Kissy Suzuki, Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo, Pussy Galore, Gala Brand, Solitaire Latrelle, Domino Vitali. (There are others as well, but those are the ones I remember most, from the books.)
The point is, there may be a lot riding on the names you give to your stories’ characters — sometimes they even become more familiar than their creators (Fleming, Rowling, Doyle, Gardner, etc.). And who knows, maybe one day folks in readers’ and writers’ groups will be sitting around discussing your hero or villain or bit player. Hey, it could happen.
Choose wisely.
One of my favorite female names is Elizabeth, probably because several nicknames are associated with it — and all with different spins of personality — Imagine the differences in character of an Elizabeth or Liz? Liz or Betty? Betty or Beth? Beth or Liza? Liza or Betsy? Choosing the right name is crucial to a story. As usual, great article John!
I take names seriously. I wrote a program that harvested names from the internet, along with gender, ethnicity, and meaning. I used this collection to populate a database with a little less than 60,000 names. Now, if I want a female Spanish name with a meaning that reflects a flower, I zip into my database and come up with several I can choose from. It also provides a peek into the etymology, so that I might learn if a common name that appears to be English might have Celtic, Germanic, or old French roots that trace back to Greek, Arabic, or Aramaic.
Thorne Smith was right up there with Flemming when it came to character names (Cosmo Topper, Honor Knightly, Lawrence Lamb, Quintius Bland). So was Craig Rice with Jake and Helene Justus (appropriate for a mystery-solving couple!) And J.K. Rowling has confessed to a lifelong fascination with names, in her books they often mean something(“Voldemort” means “Flying Death” while Tom Riddle is a kid who is a mystery himself…)
I was trying to limit the number of “examples” of intriguing names in the lists, but I still don’t see how I could have forgotten Cosmo Topper. Or Voldemort either. I swear, I love finding names in fiction that draw you into the story — and Deborah, you’re so right about the different forms of a name and how much difference they can make.
I sometimes find myself going back through one of my own stories just before submitting it and changing certain names one last time. (A dangerous practice, because it’s easy to miss all the occurrences, and that would not be good.)
Leigh, I’ve never taken this to the level that you have, but having that database at hand must be a big help. Great idea.
Naming conventions go back to medieval passion plays, where the characters were named in accordance with their function — hence, the pilgrim in Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress is named Christian, and he meets such characters as Obstinate, Pliable, Mr. Worldly Wiseman, Mr. Legality and his son Civility, and finally, Evangelist.
In the early 18th century, characters’ names were also meant to reflect their ethical character. Hence in Fielding, Tom Jones’ step-father is Mr. Allworthy, his virtuous girlfriend is Sophia (Wisdom), her rough-mannered country-squire father is Squire Western (the west of England being a source of bumpkins), and the elegant villainess is Lady Bellaston, “Bella-” being a pun on the Latin word for war and the French word for beauty. I’m not sure how Fielding came up with “Blifil,” Tom’s putative cousin and pietistic rival, but the ridiculous name does capture the weaselly nature of the character beautifully. I wonder if it’s related to “bly” or “blye”, which means “likeness” or “appearance”: “Bly-ful”. Blifil, after all, appears to be one thing, but is really another — a more loathsome hypocrite doesn’t appear in English literature until Uriah Heep.
Which segues very nicely into my next point: for my money, the Champion Character Namer of all time was Charles Dickens. Ebenezer Scrooge, Mr. Bumble, Mr. Pecksniff, Uriah Heep, Nicholas Nickleby — although these names were entirely invented, they all sonically describe the personalities of the characters they are assigned to.
I understand people wanting to use their own names, but I miss the Hollywood glamour part of Hollywood when actors opted to use screen names. Cary Grant is so much smoother than the Archibald Leach on his birth certificate. A rose would smell as sweet? Hmm, maybe.
As I said a few weeks ago, someday I will repeat her my column on Donald Westlake’s use of names, but speaking of Elizabeth… He wrote a very minor novel called Two Much about a man who pretended to be twins in order to date (and eventually marry) identical twins named Elizabeth and Elisabeth. Liz and Betty had VERY different personalities.
Deborah, I agree that Cary Grant worked out far better than his real name would have. Ditto for Judy Garland (Frances Gumm), Michael Caine (Maurice Middlewhite), John Wayne (Marion Morrison), and many others. (Can you even imagine Whoopi Goldberg as Caryn Johnson?)
I’m glad you mentioned Westlake’s novel Two Much, Rob — I keep an ongoing list of books I plan to read or reread, and that one is now added to the list.
Jim, I think you’re correct, by the way: Dickens was probably the alltime best namer of characters, and Ebenezer Scrooge was arguably the most appropriate character name. To put forth another example, last night I watched Appaloosa, the recent movie adapted from one of Robert B. Parker’s western novels, and the hero (Ed Harris) was named Virgil Cole. For that time period and that story, it seemed exactly right.
John,
Another great piece. It is interesting how much a name means in fiction. In real life, of course, one’s name seldom defines his personna. (I could use myself as an example). But in fiction it is so important to use the appropriate name, much as it is to use the appropriate word. Sam Spade could never be the man he was if he was named, for example, Herschel. Perish the thought!
After reading your article I revisited a story I am working on and realized that the reason it wasn’t working as I wanted it to was because the protagonist had the wrong name. When I changed it from Frank to Eddie the whole story changed. Thank God for the “Edit” function. I had used his name over 200 times.
Keep those articles coming.
Herschel, I bet that’s a pretty long story you’re working on, if you used the protagonist’s name over 200 times. Glad you found the right handle for him — when that happens you know it immediately, don’t you? And thanks, by the way, for your kind words.
As for your own name, I can’t help recalling that Lt. Jacoby in PETER GUNN was Herschel Bernardi. It was his real name, not his stage name, but still . . .