An aptronym (or aptomym) is a name that is suitable (or apt) for a character because it describes them in some way. The use of aptronyms in fiction goes way back to allegorical tales like Pilgrims’s Progress, but the most common modern example I can think of are from comic books.
Feel free to add to the list.
From Comics:
Vandal Savage (about as apt as you can get)
Roy G. Bivolo (the color-themed villain Ranibow Raider)
Edward Nigma (better known as the Riddler)
Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot (Penguin)
Richie Rich
Dr. Stephen Strange (Master of the Mystic Arts)
From Other Sources:
Auric Goldfinger
Pussy Galore
(and Bond spoofs like Austin Powers have a lot more even obvious ones, like Dr. Evil and Alotta Fagina)
My literature class discussed the possibility that the ‘Caul’ part of Holden Caulfield (Catcher in the Rye) was deliberately placed. A caul being a thin membrane that sometimes remains over a newborn baby’s head. It was posited that this could a be a symbol for youth’s innocence, a shield from the ‘corruptions’ of adult life. Holden’s reluctance to make the transition from child to adult, and his wish to prevent other younger children from becoming affected by adulthood was what led to the idea.
I’m not sure about the accuracy of it all, though. It makes sense, but I don’t know if it was intended by the author, Salinger.
Pretty close to 1, in the Marvel Universe, I think.
Peter Rasputin (Colossus) is pretty much impossible to kill, for example.
In the Wild Cards universe, James Spector becomes Demise after rising from the dead.
I remember doing a breakdown of the Norwegian etymology of the names in Ibsen’s The Wild Duck for AP English, back in high school, and that they’re surprisingly appropriate, but I can’t remember exactly what they were.
I don’t really get these as “aptonyms”: is Slothrop really slothful? Seems like a pretty normal, fairly ambitious guy, what with wandering through war-torn Europe assiduously meeting a-all those people and searching for whatever it is he’s searching for(it’s been years, and I never could have described his mission very clearly anyway, but my point is that he’s far from Slothful).
Now Benny Profane is pretty lazy and unambitious, though he’s not particularly profane, at least not as compared with the rest of the Whole Sick Crew. And I don’t even get what Oedipa Maas is supposed to be emblematic OF.
Charles Dickens used this technique a lot. According to this website he invented 989 characters, and you can see from the list that many of them are aptronyms. What great names!
The Harry Potter books are full of them - Sirius Black who turns into a big ol’ black dog, Remus Lupin, werewolf. Dolores Umbridge, hell-bitch. It’s a technique that feels a little forced at times, but makes for reflective fun.
It’s a ridiculously overly-exaggerated upper crusty name. Which decribes the Penguin’s affections to a tee. Plus, it sounds like it would be possessed by someone short and dumpy (to me, anyway).
