How naming affects characterization

[Anna Brie]

I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about how name can sometimes tell you a lot about characters. Also how preconceptions about names can affect perception of characters.
I’d love to have a discussion about it. What about a name indicates ‘villain’ to you? And the same with heroes.
Also I’m doing a little experiment on my blog asking people to make those guesses from a list of names.I’d be very grateful if any of you would give me your opinion of the names either her or by commenting on the blog.
http://annasbrie.blogspot.com/2016/09/game-how-do-names-affect-our-perception.html

[Snapper]

What indicates ‘villain’ or ‘badguy’ for me is ‘r’.
I will use some examples here from Tolkien: Mordor, Sauron, Saruman, Orcs, Trolls, Ring Wraiths. All of these have the ‘r’ in them that you can just roll around on your tongue and make is sound really badguyish.

☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀

[Ingrid]

I agree with @dragon-snapper. Also, any hard sounds. Like ‘k’ and ‘t’ for example.

A dreamer who believes in the impossible...and dragons. (INFJ-T)

[Greta]

@anna-brie
Great topic, Anna! Thanks for bringing it up. 🙂 I absolutely love making up character names and learning the meanings behind the names!
I think a villain’s name usually contains hard sounds (as @ingridrd said). I don’t know if that’s because it makes the villains sound harsher and harder or for some other reason, but it seems that villain names often contain hard sounds. 😉 Also, villain names sometimes contain some…buzzy? sounds like ‘v,’ and ‘z.’ And ‘r’ is another villain name indicator (as @dragon-snapper said).
I honestly don’t know what indicates to the reader that a name is a hero’s name, though if a hero has a name like Vogsol, which, to me, sounds like a villain’s name, the reader might have trouble relating to the character. I would if I were the reader. So I guess heroes’ names just sound…lighter, and villain’s names sound hard and harsh.
I’d love to participate in the experiment on your blog! When I have a bit more spare time (like later today), I will. 🙂

• This reply was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by Greta.

[Kate Flournoy]

Ooh, great topic @Anna-Brie! I love names. Pretty much what everyone else said in regards to villains, though as in all cases with all things there are exceptions.
As for heroes… well, it depends on what kind of person the hero is. When I think ‘hero’ I usually think ‘noble’, ‘strong’ and ‘complicated’. Don’t ask me why I think complicated. 😛 The perfect hero name coming to me now belongs to one of our very own KeePers— @Hope’s Ethaniel. *fanfare* I’ve always loved that name, and now I get to brag on it. 😉 (Don’t kill me, Hope).

It’s great fun how sometimes a name and a character just completely click. Sometimes, before I even name the character, I know what letter his name has to start with because it’s ‘his’ letter, so I brainstorm names that begin with that letter. A name can also fit the character’s personality— for instance, Zod. Besides being very obviously a villain name, it’s short, terse, to-the-point and sharp, as opposed to, say, Galbatorix. 😛 Another example is Don Quixote— a strange mix of outlandish, gallant, passionate and quirky. Not to mention Spanish. Extremely Spanish. 😛
This applies both to the way a name sounds spoken aloud and how it looks on paper. One of my heroes is named ‘Trevelian’— some hard villain sounds going on there, but it flows nicely and it looks dignified in a cold, even sort of way. The shapes of the letters when you read them are sharp— T, v, l… So, yes. That matters too.

And I thought I had something else to say but I forgot it. Story of my life. 😛

Great topic, Anna. 😀 Thanks for starting it.

INFP. kateeverythingwriting.wordpress.com

[Daeus]

Small moderator note. No killing allowed. Thanks for your compliance.

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

[Anna Brie]

@Kate-Flournoy, Ethaniel is great.

‘Trevelian’ odes sound a bit cold. I’m guessing he’s more of a realist than an optimist and takes things rather seriously. Which means he ought to have a joker for a side kick. But enough of that. And place don’t name a character ‘Galbatorix’ It’d dreadful to pronounce.

@Dragon-snapper I agree with you on the r’s. Everyone who’s voted on my blog so far, thinks that ‘Rodrigo’ sounds like a villain.

@Gretald I agree on not being quite certain of what indicates a hero in the name. But some names sound a bit lousy or ridiculous. Unless the them is about standing up despite people making fun of you, give heroes a name with some self respect.

[Greta]

It’s great fun how sometimes a name and a character just completely click. Sometimes, before I even name the character, I know what letter his name has to start with because it’s ‘his’ letter, so I brainstorm names that begin with that letter.

@kate-flournoy I do the SAME thing! For some reason, I usually have a character “letter” in mind. I don’t know why, but each character just seems like his or her name should begin with a certain letter. 😉

[Greta]

@Daeus
Really? No killing allowed? I thought this topic would be fun. Just kidding. 😉 😛

@anna-brie
I agree about some names sounding ridiculous, especially if the story is set in another world. If the story is in another world, the names should be unique, but not…too unique. Like Farentobiolis (I just made that up; it’s pronounced fair-en-TOE-bee-OLE-is 😀 ). That brings up another point: character names shouldn’t be too long, especially the MC’s name, unless it’s a joke or something. Hey, that actually just gave me a really good idea… 😉

[Kate Flournoy]

@Daeus thank you. I feel much safer. 😀

@Anna-Brie Trevelian… is a mess. 😛 You wouldn’t think it to look at his cold, hard exterior, but inside he’s broken to pieces. Which is going to be enormous fun to write. *rubs hands, cackles gleefully*
And I won’t name a character Galbatorix— it’s the name of the villain in Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle. *grins*

@Gretald I KNOW! It’s the weirdest thing. And it makes it a lot easier to find names, because all I have to do is search ‘Welsh/Celtic/Anglo-Saxon boy names beginning with the letter M,’ etc. 😀

INFP. kateeverythingwriting.wordpress.com

[Hope Ann]

Villain names tend to have v, x, r, or M…but not always. And I love s, t, e, and a names for a hero. Though, again, not always. It just…a sound to a name. It sounds strong and determined, like Ethaniel. ;D or Torin. Or it might sound playful, like Jathan.

And I do that too with so many of the names, @gretald, @kate-flournoy! There are letters which just go to a character’s name and then I have to discover the name.

INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.

[Leumeister]

How do these names sound?

James Manning

Pandora Flynn

Amadeus Janssen

Marcus Coleman

Jackson Levi

I’ve used these names in a story I’m writing. Can you tell who the protagonists are and which are the villains? 😀 😛

[Ethryndal]

@leumeister Well let’s see…

I would guess that Amadeus Janssen and Pandora Flynn are villains, and James Manning and Marcus Coleman are good guys. I can’t decide about Jackson Levi (maybe because I started overthinking it 🙂 ) but the name kind of hits me as being able to go both ways; a dashing, flamboyant hero, or a dashing, flamboyant villain.

🙂

INTJ ➸Your friendly neighborhood mastermind. ➸https://thesarcasticelf.wordpress.com/

[Jess]

@leumeister, hmmm,
Marcus Coleman seems villainous to me. (Maybe because I have a sort-of villain named Marcus…) Amadeus Janssen seems kind of villainous, but I’m on the fence about it.
The others seem like good guy names. 😉

[Kate Flournoy]

Ooh, I especially like Pandora Flynn. I would say she and Jackson Levi sound like the villains to me.

INFP. kateeverythingwriting.wordpress.com

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