# Characters in novels with ridiculous names

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 13, 2009, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088 "2009-12-13T07:44:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 7

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**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/121 "2011-03-22T21:59:43Z")

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> [@olivesmarch4th](#):
>
> Zaphod Beeblebrox!

“I’m Zaphod Beeblebrox, my father is Zaphon Beeblebrox the Second, my grandfather is Zaphod Beeblebrox the Third — there was an accident with a time machine and a contraceptive.”

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**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/122 "2011-03-22T23:07:46Z")

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The protagonist–no, make that the hero–of Jack London’s _The Iron Heel_ is **Ernest Everhard**.

File that under “Characters Who Already Have Their Porn Names”.

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**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/123 "2011-03-23T19:27:04Z")

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Not a novel, but one of my favorite short stories is by Frederick Forsyth, and appears in his collection of short works entitled _No Comebacks_. It’s called _Money With Menaces_, and concerns a pudgy little Englishman named Samuel Nutkin. His entire life, it would seem, he had been plagued by bullies who found his resemblance to a squirrel just too irresistible to pass up, and tormented him unceasingly with [Beatrix Potter-inspired epithets](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squirrel_Nutkin). A timid man, ill-disposed to licentious behavior, Mr. Nutkin surprises himself by actually responding to a call girl’s ad in a smutty magazine (discovered underneath the cushion of his seat on the commuter train). If you’ve read Forsyth’s more substantial works (_The Day of the Jackal_, _The Odessa File_, _The Devil’s Alternative_), then you’ve a pretty good idea of what to expect. A beautifully twisted little tale.

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**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-in-novels-with-ridiculous-names/521088/124 "2011-03-23T19:56:23Z")

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[Amanda McKittrick Ros](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_McKittrick_Ros), as I recall, had some real winners (?).“In her novel Helen Huddleston; they include Lord Raspberry and his sister Cherry, Sir Peter Plum, the Earl of Grape and Sir Christopher Currant, while the maid is given a name appropriate to her status - Lily Lentil.”

I seem to remember even worse ones from other books.

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