Sunday, February 15, 2009

Weekly Geek - What's in a name?

What's in a Name?

For this week's edition of Weekly Geeks, we're going to take a closer look at character names. What are some of your favorite character names? Go to Google or a baby name site like this one or this one, and look up a favorite character's name. What does their name mean? Do you think the meaning fits the character? Why or why not?If you'd like, look up your own name as well and share the meaning.

I love character's name when they mean something or reveal something more about the character's personality and I think there is no one who does this better than J.K. Rowling. All of the names of her characters truly relate to their personality. I once read one of those all about Harry Potter books and it went through every name and detailed what it meant and how it related and it was very interesting. Here are just a few that I could find.

Neville Longbottom: Neville means "new town." Longbottom is a comical name, perhaps suggesting this bumbling student is chubby or has a "long bottom" that trips him up.

Draco Malfoy: Draco is from the Latin word for dragon. Malfoy is from the French, mal foi, "bad faith."

Rita Skeeter Rita is a nickname form of Margarita, related to Margaret, from Greek margaron, or "pearl." Skeeter is American English slang for a mosquito. This females of this insect are well-known for their annoying habits of buzzing around the head and sucking blood, which they need to lay their eggs. Some people also like to call news reporters "bloodsuckers."

Obviously it is easier to make these matches as a writer because you already know the character but sometimes it works out in real life that a person's name matches them. This is the case with me.
Erika - Ever-powerful
Lynn - Cascade, waterfall
People who know me well know how well this name fits me. I have a very strong personality and the joke is watch out or get drowned by the powerful waterfall. Also I have noticed that Erika's in movies and tv shows are always the bad girl and well...a little bitchy...so it really does fit.

Also if I had been a boy I would have been Salvatore Joseph Michael Carrubba V...yes I would have been a fifth...
Salvatore - Savior
Joseph - God Adds
Michael - Who is Like God
It's really a good thing I wasn't a boy because this doesn't seem to fit me at all. My father is Salvatore Joseph Michael and my uncle, his twin brother, is Joseph Salvatore Michael and I don't think it really fits either of them. But I suppose they were just given good religious names as was custom at the time.

So what's in your name?

3 comments:

gautami tripathy said...

I like your name. Thanks for letting us know what it means!


Names and more names

Anonymous said...

I think I know the book you meant, on the Harry Potter series names. I was especially interested in the name "Hedwig".

"Hed" means battle and "wig" means fight. Hedwig died in an altercation too, didn't she?

Enjoyed reading your entry :)

Gemstelecom said...

matching profiles for best friendsAlthough there are many things that go into making a best friend, research has shown that similarity in personality is key. So if you want to find your best friend, it may be helpful to look for someone who is similar to you. And don’t worry – you likely have plenty of people in your life who meet this criteria!

Blogger templates made by AllBlogTools.com

Personalized by Stitchblade Designs