# What's In A Name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 30, 2001, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/96113 "2001-11-30T13:31:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/96113/1 "2001-11-30T13:31:34Z")
I was watching “The Bank Dick” and “It’s A Gift” last night (a mini W. C. Fields film festival) and I was struck by all of the great names he came up with: Ogg Oggelby (“Ogg Oggelby, eh? It sounds like a bubble in the bathtub.”), Mahatma Kane Jeeves, Mr. Muckle, A. Pismo Clam, etc. Fields, who started out in vaudeville as a juggler, traveled all over the country and collected odd sounding names in a little notebook. He also was afraid of being robbed so he tended to open bank accounts in all the towns he played - then promptly left town. But I digress… These names got me to thinking about how writers today seem to have lost the ability to come up with good, strong, memorable names for their characters. Here’s a sampling of my favorites Uriah Heep - I love this name. Dickens had a real gift for coming up with just the right name for his characters. This name gives me the creeps. Joel Cairo - Hammett’s character from The Maltese Falcon. You can hear it without thinking of Peter Lorre, but the name is just right on for the character. All of the names that S. J. Perlman and others came up with for Groucho Marx: Rufus T. Firefly, Otis P. Driftwood, Hugo Z. Hackenbush, etc. Luke Skywalker - I’m not a fan of Star Wars, but the name is perfect. I thought a bit and I couldn’t give you the name of any character from a movie that I’ve seen lately. They just don’t stick out. Do you think this is intentional? Are today’s characters supposed to be so much the “everyman” (so that we will identify with them)that they can’t have interesting names? ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/96113/2 "2001-11-30T16:45:42Z")
I’ve always thought the names of the characters in Pulp Fiction were good. I don’t know what, if any, meaning there is behind them, but I like the alliteration of Vincent Vega and the snakey Sssss sounds of Marsellus Wallace. Butch and Wolf are strong, animal, masculine names. And remember Butch’s words to the Hispanic female cabbie: “I’m an American, lady. Our names don’t mean shit.” (Or words to that effect.) ---
**Author:** ![SlickUSA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@SlickUSA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickUSA)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/96113/3 "2001-11-30T17:17:01Z")
I think we need more extraordinary names nowadays. Names like Marksworth Squire Muldoon,III. Don’t remember where I heard that one, or I made it up one day, but I’ve always liked it–it has prowess. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/96113/4 "2001-11-30T17:31:27Z")
It really varies across authors and times; Thomas Pynchon is noted for writing completely post-modern novels that abandon standard characterization and linear plots that show character development, yet has encoded his characters with names that are meant to fill in blanks (e.g., Mike Fallopian, Benny Profane, etc…). I am reading Michael Chabon’s “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay” right now and Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay (nee Klayman) are a couple of examples where Chabon is trying to shape the perception of the character based on their name (Kavalier = ironic reference to “cavalier” given the characters earnest commitment to family and home; Clay = the malleability of being able to create yourself when you are new to America and have no roots). Then of course you have Neal Stephenson, who’s lead character in Snow Crash (if you haven’t read it yet - well, why the heck not?!) is “Hiro Protagonist”… ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/96113/5 "2001-11-30T17:33:17Z")
by the way, **plnnr** , how was your tribute to Norman Granz? Hope it was great. ---
**Author:** ![Heath\_Doolin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Heath\_Doolin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heath_Doolin)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/96113/6 "2001-11-30T17:56:47Z")
Not so much as their real names but the names they are known as in “Snatch” are spot on for great nicknames. Damn if Guy Ritchie does not create some memorable ones One Punch Mickey, BulletTooth Tony, Doug the Head, Franky Four Fingers, Cousin Avi, Turkish, Boris the Blade and the inevitable Brick Top. Other Great Ones: Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels - Big Chris and Little Chris, Barry the Baptist, Hatchet Harry Lonsdale, Soap, and Bacon Rounders- Johnny KGB TriGun - Vash the Stampede, Meryl “Derringer” Streep, Millie “Stungun” Thompson ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/96113/7 "2001-12-01T02:31:34Z")
You’re reading the wrong types of books. Serious mainstream fiction is usually written as realistically as possible and giving a character a symbolic or unusual sounding name isn’t exactly encouraged. Try some science fiction and/or fantasy type books, where I’ve come across names like: Jewel Marquess, Nest Freemark, Vlad Taltos, James Joyson Whaler, Willard Phule, Val Con yos’Phelium, Shivvalan Ralsere, Ryshad Tathel, even Shadow from _American Gods_. Not to mention Agnes Nutter, Newton Pulsifer and Anathema Device ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/96113/8 "2001-12-01T17:54:14Z")
I’d rather have my wisdom teeth re-impacted and then cut out with a rusty can opener than read fantasy or science fiction, thanks just the same. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/96113/9 "2001-12-01T20:01:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SlickUSA \* > Names like Marksworth Squire Muldoon,III. Or Grover T. Muldoon, for that matter. [li] Miles Kendig … Jesus, just sitting here, it struck me how insanely great that names is for that character.[/li][li] Spade and Archer. One can dig stuff up on you, the other can shoot you down. Must’ve made a great team.[/li][li] Lester Burnham. Name a guy “Let’s burn him” and then kill him off during the movie … genius![/li] Verbal Klimt. Bwahahahahahahaha! ---
**Author:** ![kylen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed655f/32.png) [@kylen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kylen)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/96113/10 "2001-12-01T20:06:57Z")
I find that many of the stars of “adult” films have developed quite a skill in generating names for themselves Don’t know if that really counts 😉 ---
**Author:** ![StephenG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@StephenG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StephenG)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/96113/11 "2001-12-01T20:24:33Z")
[QUOTE] \*\*\*Originally posted by KneadToKnow \* [li] Verbal Klimt. Bwahahahahahahaha! \*\*[/li][/QUOTE] [nitpick] Actually, according to [the IMDB](http://us.imdb.com/Title?Usual+Suspects), his name was Kint. [/nitpick] And his first name was really Roger – who knew? [channeling DRY] “'Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What’s in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, And for that name which is no part of thee Take all myself.” ~_Romeo and Juliet_, II, ii ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-a-name/96113/12 "2001-12-01T20:53:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by StephenG \* > his name was Kint The first thing I’m embarrassed about is that I didn’t look that up myself before posting it. The second is that it took so little time for someone to notice the error. [snpp mode] Verbal Kint is not Gustav Klimt Verbal Kint is not Gustav Klimt Verbal Kint is not Gustav Klimt Verbal Kint is not Gustav at cutoff [/snpp mode]