There is a child in my grandson's preschool class named Phineas. Now I know names like this are now popular. But I always think this name is limiting--especially for a future detective. Phineas could never feature as a free swinging, muscular, gun-toting hero.
But he could take on more Sherlockian characteristics. Or at least so it seems to me.
What are your favorite fictional names?
Hard to beat Lew Archer, Travis McGee, Lisbeth Salander, Angel Dare, V.I. Warshawski or Jack Reacher, isn't it? Can a wrong name put you off? Would you believe in the toughness of Lisbeth Salander if her name was Mary White?
39 comments:
I like Travis McGee, Skyler Hobbs, Spenser, and Lew Archer.
Phineas? As in Phineas T. Bluster, the Mayor of Doodyville?
Incredible.
Jeff M.
Raylan Givens pops to mind right away. Elmore Leonard works hard on his names. I've read about characters that weren't working out, had nothing to say (a prime failing in Leonard's dialog-heavy writing) until he changed their names and couldn't shut them up.
James Lee Burke has a way with names. (James Lee Burke has a way with everything.) Dave Robicheaux. Cletus Purcell. Baby Feet Balboni. Louisiana gives a wide range of euphonious and felicitous names to choose from, and he takes full advantage.
I also like Declan Hughes's Ed Loy. A loy is a type of shovel, and Ed is always digging. He's also a bit of a plodder, just keeps moving through his investigations one foot before the other, and the drab name conveys that well. (That's no slur on Loy of Hughes's books. That series is my current favorite.)
Does it have to be a fictional detective or any fictional character?
What about Humbert Humbert?
I mean, we know Travis McGee because we know the character from the books. I don't think it's the name itself that is particularly evocative, at least not in the same way Jack Reacher is. But then it would be hard to separate all the associations in our mind when you say "Sherlock Holmes" (say) and isolate just the name.
That said, I do like Horace Rumpole, Porfiry Rostnikov, Otherguy Overby, Joe Leaphorn, Andy Dalziel and Sam Spade.
Jeff M.
Mike Hammer was always my favorite name. It says it all!
In crime fiction a name like Phineas can signal a very tough guy. He's survived it, hasn't he?
Think Hieronymous Bosch.
Dana, I'd always heard that a loy was a spade...
I like Spenser - always pointing out it's with an 's' but I wasn't crazy about a character named Hawk.
Character names makes me think of Neil Simon answering the question about naming a character Felix Unger and then having Oscar Madison rant at him, "I can't stand the little notes you leave, 'we're out of Corn Flakes, FU,' took me a week to figure out it meant Felix Unger," and did he think of the joke first and then name the character and he said, no, he had the characters first and the jokes come from the characters.
Names are very important to me. I'm working with one now. The first name is right but not the last and I'm having a hard time continuing with the story till I get it right.
Exactly, Jeff. Would Spenser spelled with a C be as memorable. Travis reminds me of traveling and thus the boat. And Busted Flush is the best name of all perhaps.
Raylan Givens always pops into my mind, Dana.
I have yet to read a Burke but those are great names.
Humbert Humbert is nearly as memorable as Lolita.
That's true, Al. But the last name carries power. I don't know Phineas' last name.
Great story, John. See I would say Phineas is more likely to be a Felix Unger than a Mike Hammer.
And what's going on with girls' names is even more amazing. All my great aunts' names are now popular.
Ava seems to be at the top of the list.
Yes, until you get the right name sometimes a character doesn't feel right. And if you base it on a real person, it is terribly hard to make the stand in name seems as good.
I posted about this on Bill Crider's blog the other day in response to an article about "trendy" baby names. I once had a co-worker who named her four daughters (in order) Ashley, Brittany, Tiffany, and Crystal. It was as if she just took the most popular girl's name that year and appended it to her latest child.
The British libel laws of the first half of the 20th century were very strict--an author could libel someone without even knowing them. Some authors, like Graham Greene, stuck to names like "Smith" and "Jones" to avoid unintentional libel. Others went in the opposite direction and, thus, we have characters named Hermione Roddice and Lord Widmerpool. Agatha Christie always does a nice job in naming her characters. Dorothy L. Sayers went off the deep-end a few times: Peter Death Breaden Wimsey, anyone?
Patti, it is so true about all our great aunts' (and grandmothers) names coming back now. I haven't seen a Yetta yet, but nothing would surprise me at this point.
Jeff M.
Our daughters are named Lillian, Julia, and Victoria. We chose names that we liked and that seemed solid and, perhaps, old-fashioned--or, at least, not trendy so they would end up as one of 10 Caitlyns or Madisons in their class. When our oldest, Lillian, was born, it was amazing how many people said that it was their mother's, grandmother's, great-aunt's, etc., name, but they hadn't ever heard it given to a baby.
Lillian is my great aunt's name. Lillian and Lester Grieb. I bet that Lester does not make a comeback.
Others were Violet, Leona, Ella, Helen, Marian, Lizzie, Mildred, Margerie. Most of them are turning up.
Lillian was the name of one of my great-aunts too (although that wasn't the reason we chose it). It would be interesting to know how many people have a mother/grandmother/aunt/great-aunt named Lillian because so many people told me they had someone named Lillian in their family past, but there were very few in either my generation or my chldren's generation.
Lillian Gish? Must be.
Phineas. First reaction I have is that it's a dorky, geeky, heavy framed eyeglasses and squeaky voiced kid, picked on, made fun of, couldn't get a girlfriend. Poor kid, I'd never name a child Phineas! The second thought was maybe some kind of steampunk name, something out of Jules Verne. Still not a good choice.
The other kind of names that drives me nuts is what I call the "heritage" names. There are the ones given to children with some kind of other-cultural or other continent backgrounds. Probably the most common would be the names given to African-American kids, names like Anayah, Masalla, DeTahn, etc. The other thing I've never understood is the practice, usually in the American south, of naming a boy Major.
Phineas Trout is a character in the Jack Daniels series (by JA Konrath) and he's anything but nerdy. He's the tough, 'bad boy.' Having read those recently, that's the first image that comes to my mind.
I think names are a funny thing. Personal or prior associations can affect are perceptions of others with that name (both characters and real people.) But just as a good writer should make the character real enough to fit any name given, a good reader should try to put aside their own biases.
Yeah, what age you are has a big effect on names you find attractive. I will always think of Hazel as a heavy maid but people in their twenties don't.
Jack is a safe name, I think.
Hieronymous = Harry
Phineas = Finn
Phineas and Ferb is a popular cartoon right now.
I knew it sounded familiar. I bet you have kids.
I like Sam Spade. Joe Pike. Elvis Cole. Myron Bolitar. Pendergast. Ranger. Spenser. Amelia Peabody.
Richard Jury. Hercule Poirot. Morse. Mycroft Holmes. Sherlock Holmes. Odd Thomas. Charlotte Pitt.
Chet and Bernie.
As one who grew up suffering with a name that was (at the time)about as common as a finding a spoonful of holmium in your breakfast cereal...this whole unusual naming business for kids make me tired...ham-fisted literary-refrence names and improvised spellings too. Phineas. Hmm. I'll say this, that boy better learn how to fight, because when that gets out...
Amelia Peabody?
Kieran is a beautiful name but I guess only now or only to a woman.
As one who grew up suffering with a name that was (at the time)about as common as a finding a spoonful of holmium in your breakfast cereal.
I think Kieran happens to be a very pretty name. You're a lucky girl to have such a unique tag.
Kieran is a gorgeous name. It has a nice look and a nice sound. I suppose I burdened my own daughter with an unusual name way back when. Her name is Skye, after the Isle of Skye off the coast of Scotland. I loved the name then and love it now.
She was not happy about it for years. But now she likes that it's a name that people remember. It comes in handy in business and elsewhere. :) Also, luckily, she married a man whose last name goes nicely with hers. :)
Pussy Galore says it all for me.
Skye is gorgeous. My husband's cousin is named Star and I like that too.
Why am I not surprised, Bob?
Yes, I did have a great aunt Lillian too. The others in that generation were Eva (my grandmother), Gussie (Augusta?), Mamie, Rose, (and in my mother's family) Yetta, Molly (my other grandmother), Tillie, Lee, Ruth and Evelyn.
Jeff M.
We had an Evelyn too. Forgot her. I wonder if Mamie was short for something.
I don't actually mind Phineas. Unfortunately, as Jeff said, the first thing it brings to my mind is Phineas T. Bluster, but you have to be...well, let's say, not young to think of that. I also think of the character Finny in A Separate Peace.
I've always thought that Mad About You would still be on the air if they hadn't named the baby Mabel.
I found Mabel strange at the time, but younger people liked the name. That's when I noticed a name-change was underway.
Lisbeth Salander is really much too young to be named Lisbeth, which was a popular name roughly from the thirties to the fifties but has since become very rare. I don't know anyone of my age with that name, and I'm 47. In my mind, Lisbeth is sixty-something.
Odd fact: there are a handful of men in Sweden called Lisbet/Lisbeth.
I guess the name overtook his sense of its suitability. I see that in books all the time. No one in their twenties here would be named Ella or Ava and yet it happens.
Well heck, everyone took the good names before I got here. I guess I'd say Nero Wolfe and Studs Lonigan have a certain gravitas that appeals to me.
The freakonomics guys looked into names: http://www.slate.com/id/2116449/
Two of the best character names are surnames only - and the characters could not be more different.
Parker
Jeeves
Come to think of it, Wodehouse had a great way with names:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098833/fullcredits#cast
Hold on a sec - Jeeves had a first name? When was that ever mentioned? And how come that particular name is also the 12th "blackest" boy name?
Oh, NERO WOLFE!!! How could I forget? A brilliant name.
I knew a couple who named their kid Phineas in the 80s and lost touxh with them. The kid's probably in college now, studying God knows what.
Atticus Finch is pretty cool. Once thought of a starship named Genghis Mao and actually once knew people named Attila and Jihad, not to mention dogs named Travis and Aztec. I'm in TX now -- more dark hilarity sure to come.
As a commenter pointed out above, yes, Phineas & Ferb is a hugely popular Disney cartoon show that's been airing since 2007. Phineas & Ferb are the cool kids. And a couple of generations back, another cartoon character, Tennessee Tuxedo had a super-smart professor pal named Phineas J. Whoopee. But on the topic at hand, I like the names that Elmore Leonard comes up with, and also the ones from Donald Westlake (they seem "real). And for fun, I like the ones PG Wodehouse rolled out.
Post a Comment