# Aptronyms in Fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2006, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484 "2006-04-13T04:15:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bmoak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@bmoak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/1 "2006-04-13T04:15:06Z")
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) ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/2 "2006-04-13T05:49:30Z")
The character is originally from the comic books, but J. Jonah Jameson makes a crack about Doctor Octopus’s real name in _Spiderman 2_: “A guy named **Otto Octavius** ends up with eight limbs. What are the odds?” ---
**Author:** ![Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buckler_of_Swashing)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/3 "2006-04-13T05:58:04Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Phantom\_Dennis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/51bf81/32.png) [@Phantom\_Dennis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phantom_Dennis)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/4 "2006-04-13T06:00:14Z")
Hiro Protagonist from _Snow Crash_. You can’t get any less subtle than that. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/5 "2006-04-13T07:12:52Z")
“Benny Profane” from Pynchon’s _V_. Oedipa Maas from Pynchon’s _The Crying of Lot 49_. Tyrone Slothrop from Pynchon’s _Gravity’s Rainbow_. Hey, I sense a common thread… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/6 "2006-04-13T07:26:36Z")
Frylock, Meatwad and Master Shake. or is that cheating? Edna Krabappel ---
**Author:** ![qubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f07891/32.png) [@qubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qubed)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/7 "2006-04-13T08:52:26Z")
**Gulliver** from _Gulliver’s Travels._ Well, basically, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![MrJackboots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MrJackboots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrJackboots)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/8 "2006-04-13T09:42:21Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > The character is originally from the comic books, but J. Jonah Jameson makes a crack about Doctor Octopus’s real name in _Spiderman 2_: > > “A guy named **Otto Octavius** ends up with eight limbs. What are the odds?” 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. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/9 "2006-04-13T10:20:15Z")
> [@VCO3](#): > > “Benny Profane” from Pynchon’s _V_. > > Oedipa Maas from Pynchon’s _The Crying of Lot 49_. > > Tyrone Slothrop from Pynchon’s _Gravity’s Rainbow_. > > Hey, I sense a common thread… 😉 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. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/10 "2006-04-13T10:24:07Z")
Charles Dickens used this technique a lot. According to [this website](http://www.fidnet.com/~dap1955/dickens/characters.html) he invented 989 characters, and you can see from the list that many of them are aptronyms. What great names! ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/11 "2006-04-13T10:39:41Z")
Mrs Malaprop who uses words wrongly (mal à propos). ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/12 "2006-04-13T10:59:09Z")
Caractucus Potts, crackpot inventor. Dan Dare, pilot of the future. Judge Dredd. B.C. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/13 "2006-04-13T11:11:59Z")
I’m not seeing this for Cobblepot (The Penguin) - am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![manx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@manx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manx)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/14 "2006-04-13T11:40:06Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/15 "2006-04-13T11:58:49Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I’m not seeing this for Cobblepot (The Penguin) - am I missing something? 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). ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/16 "2006-04-13T12:03:12Z")
J.K. Rowling does it, particularly with her villains: Draco Malfoy, Severus Snape, Voldemort, etc. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/17 "2006-04-13T13:02:53Z")
Harry Caul, in **The Conversation** , the implication being he is blinded as though a caul covered his eyes. If it had been allowed, Hugo Z. Quackenbush as a quack doctor in **A Day at the Races**. Alas, legal issues changed the name to Hackenbush. Not the same. Oedipa Maas = more Oedipal, though I forget how that worked into **Lot 49**. ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/18 "2006-04-13T14:41:19Z")
Bilbo is a name for a short sword, like he carried - Sting. ---
**Author:** ![Treviathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/838e76/32.png) [@Treviathan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treviathan)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/19 "2006-04-13T14:50:42Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > Charles Dickens used this technique a lot. According to [this website](http://www.fidnet.com/~dap1955/dickens/characters.html) he invented 989 characters, and you can see from the list that many of them are aptronyms. What great names! Off the top of my head, I remember being taught that Mrs. Havisham’s name was an aptronym because, well, most of her life was a _sham_. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484/20 "2006-04-13T17:40:46Z")
In Hiaasen’s _Skinny Dip,_ the frequently adulterous badguy is Chaz **Perrone,** pretty close to the Spanish word for dog. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aptronyms-in-fiction/352484.md?page=2)