In a Name

January 12, 2023 2:20 am Published by EverEden Leave your thoughts

What’s in a name? I’ve heard that people “grow into their names.” The examples being a guy called Richard who becomes very well-off in his later years, (aka rich AF)
In the literary world and on sites and in discussion groups, I’ve seen people ask for advice on naming characters. Sometimes they choose exotic names with meanings that pertain to the traits they want to convey for that specific character. Whether or not it’s lost on the reader doesn’t seem to matter as long as the author has a sense of accomplishment or joy in smelling their own farts.

I did this a lot when I was younger. I’d write all the time and get my school friends to read my stuff. Most of the stories centered around a group of teens growing up and committing a murder or creating a situation where someone died and they had to cover it up and argue between themselves. I liked dynamics and dialogue, interpersonal interaction, hieracy and things you experience in life but don’t know the words to call it out. Names were often a big thing to me in my tween brain. I remember my greatest story (lol – one about a group of teen killers that I wrote at 13years old) saw me name the main antagonist Damien, eg the stereotypical devil-like connotation name probably used in every single horror movie from that period.

Mine was also personal.

I knew a boy. His name was Damien. He was a piece of trash who is probably dead now after an overdose, leaving behind an equally-as-addicted ex-girlfriend and 5 kids with 5 baby-mamas to match. Poor bastard never stood a chance. His single mother was an overweight, vulgar, loud woman on welfare who would rather spend time with her boyfriend of the month and let him parent himself in the communal playground of our apartment block. He’d bully people, use swear words I didn’t know, and when I’d try to say them all back, I’d get them mixed up in nonsensical order because I was never taught how to swear and be a piece of shit like he was. My parents weren’t alcoholics, I was literate and raised to treat others kindly, not see them on a playground and assault them with sticks because they were different. Who knew that years later it would prompt me to name the biggest piece of shit in my story after him, sort of. I will forever associate that name with things I don’t want to be around and people who are assholes.

I’ve read a lot of people’s comments about using this method to name a bad guy after someone in their past and then yeeting them out of the book because murder is illegal in real life. I’ve mentioned it before in this post, I’ve done it once or twice too. It’s not as cathartic as you originally expect. Upon your 1000000 reading and edit, it’s just another name.

I’d be more than happy to tell you the origin story of Frank in KOS, Dr Cole in Red Cowboys etc. because it used to make me chuckle. Naming an adversary who the main protagonist either defeats or has intense scenes with doesn’t give you the satisfaction you maybe thought it would, and I haven’t found them to matter too much to a reader either. They don’t know know or care about your inside joke.

If you are writing some epic masterpiece and you name your lead something that means “THE ONE” or “hidden warrior,” why would I read the whole book? You gave me the ending in the first line buy dropping this unnecessary name that doesn’t fit with the time period or genre. Naming characters can be a cycle that I don’t bother with much anymore; it’s chicken or the egg, it’s does life imitate art? Do they grow into the character bcause you named them after an asshole…or did you name them that way so they could be an asshole?

Now I just choose names I like. Stay tuned for a post about where I get them from too if you need some inspiration and the tools I’ve tried…I’d like to think my characters have unique but cool names.

 

 

 

 

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All content is no copyright infringement intended. All posts are opinion only and are subject to change due to experience, kicking ass and learning how to adult more effectively. If you don’t like it, don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya. Elements of original content may be reproduced with expressed permission from Ever Eden

 

 

 

 

Tags: abuse, antagonist, apartments, author, bully, bullying, character, childhood trauma, chosen, Damien, experience, fashion, genre, growing up, IRL, Killing in the name of, Literary vengance, meaning, name, namesake, NLPS, period piece, revenge, schoolyard, The chosen one, timeline, tropes, Wisdom, write advice, writing, yeet