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Juliet:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)
I am reading The Salterton Trilogy by Robertson Davies and the thought about the names of characters began on page 52 with the introduction of a lady named Mrs. Caesar Augustus Conquergood. Doesn’t that name conjure up a picture for you?
...she was very rarely seen in Salterton society, and when she appeared, she might have been said to hold court.
Davies article at wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Although his first love was drama and he had achieved some success with his occasional humorous essays, Davies found greater success in fiction. His first three novels, which later became known as The Salterton Trilogy, were Tempest-Tost (1951), Leaven of Malice (1954) (which won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour), and A Mixture of Frailties (1958). These novels explored the difficulty of sustaining a cultural life in Canada, and life on a small-town newspaper, subjects of which Davies had first-hand knowledge.
We know that in allegories, the name is important in understanding the character and thus in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress we have such names as Obstinate, Pliable, Mr. Worldly Wiseman, Good Will, Faithful, Hopeful, Mr. Legality and his son Civility.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
In the play Everyman, we have Fellowship, Kindred and Cousin, Goods, Good Deeds, Beauty, Strength, and Discretion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Orwell’s Animal Farm is a more modern allegory.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
The short novel is an allegory in which animals play the roles of the Bolshevik revolutionaries and overthrow and oust the human owner of a farm (Manor Farm), renaming it Animal Farm and setting it up as a commune in which, at first, all animals are equal; however, class and status disparities soon emerge between the different animal species (the pigs being the "greater species").
The novel describes how a society's ideologies can be manipulated and twisted by those in positions of social and political power, including how a utopian society is made impossible by the corrupting nature of the very power necessary to create it.
The novel addresses not only the corruption of revolution by its leaders but also highlights how wickedness in human nature (indifference, ignorance, greed and myopia) destroys any possibility of a Utopia...
Other stories are listed here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Dickens, according to John R. Greenfield, in his Dictionary of British Literary Characters, created 989 named characters during his career.
A partial list is here:
http://charlesdickenspage.com/...
Perhaps the most well-known name that fits the character is Scrooge from The Christmas Carol.
Others are:
Barnacles ( Little Dorrit ) Family that controls the Circumlocution Office, where everything goes round in circles, and nothing ever gets done.
Bumble (Oliver Twist) Beadle at the workhouse where Oliver is born.
Cheeryble Brothers ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Charles and Edwin (Ned). Benevolent businessmen who employ and befriend Nicholas Nickleby and his family.
Gradgrind, Thomas ( Hard Times ) A mill owner retired from business and father of Louisa and Tom. He runs a school and emphasizes the importance of facts and figures over fancy to his students and his children. By the end of the story he learns that facts and figures must be tempered by love and forbearance.
Magwitch, Abel ( Great Expectations ) A convict whom Pip helps in the marshes after his escape from the prison ship. He is recaptured and transported to Australia where he gains a fortune which he secretly uses to increase Pip's "expectations"...
M'Choakumchild ( Hard Times ) Schoolmaster in Gradgrind's school where fancy and imagination are discouraged in favor of hard facts.
Pecksniff, Seth ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Sanctimonious surveyor and architect "who has never designed or built anything", and one of the biggest hypocrites in fiction.
Smallweed ( Bleak House ) Grandfather (Joshua) Smallweed is a usurer to whom George Rouncewell owes money...
Shakespeare's names:
http://en.wikipedia.org/... A-K
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Abhorson is an executioner in Measure for Measure.
Sir Andrew Aguecheek is a foolish knight, and suitor to Olivia, in Twelfth Night.
Nick Bottom is a weaver, one of the mechanicals, in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Dogberry, accompanied by Verges, is a clownish officer of the watch in Much Ado About Nothing.
Froth is a foolish gentleman, among those arrested and brought before Angelo by Elbow, in Measure for Measure.
Sir Oliver Martext is a foolish priest in As You Like It.
Hotspur or Harry Percy (hist), brave and chivalrous but hot-headed and sometimes comical, is an important foil to Hal, and leader of the rebel forces, in Henry IV, Part 1.
Mistress Quickly (fict) is an important character in Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, Henry V, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. She is noted for her lewd malapropisms and double entendres.
Justice Shallow (fict) is an elderly landowner in Henry IV, Part 2 and The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Sir Toby Belch is a drunken knight, and kinsman to Olivia, in Twelfth Night.
Alice in Wonderland characters:
http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/...
Jabberwock
Mad Hatter
Tweedledee and Tweedledum
Names from the Harry Potter books:
http://www.happychild.org.uk/...
Sirius Black
Vincent Crabbe
Argus Filch
Cornelius Fudge
Professor Flitwick
Peeves
Professor Sprout
Mad Eye Moody
In Melville’s Moby Dick, there is Ishmael, of course, and the ship named Rachel who rescues him.
http://www.gradesaver.com/...
Starbuck is the chief mate of the Pequod.
Stubb
The second mate on the Pequod, Stubb is a Cape Cod native with a happy-go-lucky, carefree nature that tends to mask his true opinions and beliefs. Stubb remains comical even in the face of the imperious Ahab, and he even dares to make a joke at the captain's expense.
Flask
The third mate on the ship, Flask plays a much less prominent role than either Starbuck or Stubb. He is a native of Martha's Vineyard with a pugnacious attitude concerning whales. Melville portrays Stubb as a man whose appetites cannot be sated, and in fact in attempting to sate these appetites Flask becomes even more hungry.
Major Discworld characters from Terry Pratchett with two from Good Omens with Gaiman.
http://wiki.lspace.org/...
Lord Havelock Vetinari
Mrs. Marietta Cosmopilite
Adora Belle Dearheart (also known as Spike and Killer) {sorry, I have to snicker about her name for a minute...considering her general behavior and goals} OK, I’m back. She was mainly in Going Postal and also a tiny bit in Making Money.
Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler
William de Worde, (Editor of the Ankh-Morpork Times)
Wen the Eternally Surprised
Death
Anathema Device
Dog, a hellhound
The Redwall series by Brian Jacques:
http://redwall.wikia.com/... Characters
Battlehawk
Cheesethief
Fangburn
Queen Warbeak
Skullface
Windplume
Characters of The Lord of the Rings are here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Samwise Gamgee
Glorfindel
Harry Goatleaf
Goldberry
Farmer Maggot
Gríma Wormtongue
The main characters in Chabon’s Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.
Does Kavalier remind us of Cavalier?
Clay...down to earth and the Golem?
O. Henry here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Soapy, the hobo who wants to go to jail, at first.
"Silky" Bob who had promised to meet a friend after 20 years.
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Robert "Bobby" Shaftoe, a gung-ho, haiku-writing United States Marine Raider.
Mary cCmndhd (pronounced "Smith")
Goto Dengo
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Captain Aardvark
Milo Minderbinder
Nurse Duckett
Wooster and Jeeves by Wodehouse:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Bertie Wooster
Gussie Fink-Nottle
Galahad Threepwood
Tuppy Glossop
G. D'Arcy "Stilton" Cheesewright
This list has interesting name of real people:
http://f2.org/...
I am sure you have some favorite evocative names to share in comments.
Diaries of the week:
Write On! Dig for the gold.
by SensibleShoes
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Globalized Blue Jeans * A Book Review
by dougbob
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Of Demagogues and of Constitutionalism - an examination of Michael Signer's book
by teacherken
http://www.dailykos.com/...
DKos Travel Board # 10 --- Northern Pakistan --- Muslim Mountains
by LaughingPlanet
http://www.dailykos.com/...
LaughingPlanet says:
This series is in need of support if it is to go on.
Anyone reading with an interest to do a dKos Travel Board diary in the coming weeks, please consider stepping up. We are at risk of becoming an endangered species.
You don't need to spend as much time as I spent on this effort (and no, I won't tell; I am too embarrassed to admit how much time that was). Just write a brief missive about somewhere you have lived or spent some time.
The Zen of Watchmen
by lyubansky
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Godel, Escher, Bach series: Typographical number theory UPDATED
by plf515
http://www.dailykos.com/...
plf515 has a wonderful book diary on Fridays early and all day.
sarahnity’s list of DKos authors has grown so much that she has her own diary.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
sarahnity says:
It turns out that we have quite a few authors hanging out here who have published books in the real world. A while ago, I started keeping a list of books by Kossacks, former Kossacks and Kossacks-once-removed. I was posting it each week to the diary series What Are You Reading and Bookflurries, but the list has grown long enough, that I've decided to turn it into a diary and post it as a weekly series on Tuesday evenings.
Not all Kossack authors may wish to lose their anonymity, so I am only including the author's UID if he has outed herself here (gender confusion intended). If you'd like to be included on the list, or if you know of an author who is left off, please leave a comment or email me.
(sarahnity@gmail.com)
Algebrateacher and plf have created The Tutoring Room. Algebrateacher says:
The Tutoring Room will always be open and updated weekly.