We all know, at this point, that if you’d like to be pedantic for Halloween, you can point out that Frankenstein was the doctor, and his monster didn’t actually have a name.
But when exactly did people start referring to the monster when they said “Frankenstein”? How old, exactly, is the popular misnaming?
According to Wiki,
I would think it probably really took off after the Universal movie of 1931, even though the monster remains nameless in it.
I was wondering if the 1931 movie played a role. I’d love to see a linguistic deep dive on this one.
When did people start to use “Ford” for the vehicle?
What other name would a monster created by Frankenstein have, if not given one directly by his maker?
It did in that it made the mistake more prevalent. In fact, it’s even lamp-shaded in third Universal Frankenstein film, Son of Frankenstein, when the title character (played by Basil Rathbone) complains how his family name is now incorrectly affixed to his father’s monstrous creation.
I thought Shelly said the Monster’s name was “Adam”? At least in the play she wrote.
Of course- it’s an eponym. It all makes sense now. Ford opened a Ford factory making Fords. Frankenstein made a Frankenstein, and he would have opened a Frankenstein factory and made lots more Frankensteins if it hadn’t been for those pesky villagers.
It’s not a linguistic deep dive by any measure, but in 1974, during an art class at school, we were asked to paint ‘Frankenstein’. I painted a mad scientist, and got to add another weight to the ‘teachers are really stupid’ pan.
Yes, and in Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula is killed by regular old knives, but in popular culture the movie versions have strongly eclipsed anything from the original source.
Nobody calls a vehicle “Ford.” They call it “a Ford.” Most vehicles don’t have individual names.
Neither Viktor nor Henry Frankenstein gave the monster a name.
Can you provide a case when a creator named his creation after himself. In Forbidden Planet Dr. Morbius called his robot “Robby,” not Morbius.
In the novel the monster refers to himself, when speaking to his creator, as “the Adam of your labours.” It’s not a name but a metaphor.
Ahmunna create a monster solely for the purpose of doing exactly this.
In Shelley’s original work, the monster was named Frankenstein. The pitiful creature he created, however, was never given a name.
Who’s that? (Google is unhelpful.)
:: golf clap ::
I think it’s a phonetic respelling of a mumbled “I’m gonna.” Or maybe “I wanna.”
The real question should be: Why do people mispronounce the name as Frank-en-stine when it should be pronounced like Fronk-en-steen?
In the vast majority of cases where someone creates another person, the newly created person takes the name of one of his creators.
Granted, this usually happens in a bedroom, not a laboratory, but the principle seems the same to me.
In fairness, I don’t recall the movie specifying that Robby didn’t have a last name.
Rodriguez, maybe?
Like we pronounce Frankfurt?
The name is canonical, at least according to XKCD.