I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. We celebrated Christmas a bit early at our house. My husband and I gifted each other with a tiny bundle of joy we’ve named John Robie. Yes, we adopted a kitten. A soft, snuggly, purry, cuddly little fellow who, as it turned out, came to us with a urinary tract infection. The vet has him on antibiotics and probiotics (took me a bit, but yes, they really are both necessary), and here we are a week later.
John Robie, asleep (the only time he is ever still!)
Robie is a terror—cute as hell, but this little fellow has Bad Boy written all over him. He’s a climber, determined to be on the highest possible perch in any room. I’ve even caught him trying to scale the walls, so far with limited success. Very limited. But he keeps bouncing back, shakes it off and leaps on the nearest cat toy.
I find his climbing behavior, bad boy tendencies, his passion for playing in water and his sweet angelic face all live up to his namesake. Robie is named after the character John Robie, aka The Cat, as played by Cary Grant in the Alfred Hitchcock classic To Catch A Thief. Mind you, it took us two days to name him. We were tossing out all sorts of names, then looking at him as if we’d be able to see whether the name fit. Actually, it was less a matter of size or length and more a matter of style.
Seriously, could he be any John Robie-r?
Which got me thinking about character names in general. I mean, could Margaret Mitchell have made Scarlett O’Hara any Scarlett-ier? Could Severus Snape be any Snape-ier? Don’t we love Percy Blakeney’s foppishness as much as we love The Scarlet Pimpernel’s courage?
In Hollywood, some of the silver screen’s most famous actors and actresses were born with names we would never recognize. Judy Garland was born as Frances Ethel Gumm. Norma Jeane Mortensen became Marilyn Monroe. And a young runaway juggler named Archie Leach became Cary Grant. Did these stars become any more talented because of their name change? No. These names were more melodic to the ear, easier to pronounce and spell, and dang easy to remember.
Auto executives and marketing professionals spend millions on developing names for cars. The Tahoe. The Neon. The Leaf. Each name brings expectations with it.
So, it’s natural, as an author, that I agonize in the same way over naming characters. I can get tripped up over a secondary character’s name and not write for days. I’m one of those writers who has to know a character’s name before I can write in his or her voice. I’ve got baby name books to guide me and thank heavens for the Internet.
I even went through a phase in my rebellious teens where I hated my own name. I suppose I could have changed it when I started publishing. But during the past twenty years, I’ve come to accept that I’m Amy. In fact, when I married, I never even changed my maiden name. It was somehow very important to me not to change the name I’d been born with. I don’t think my name is very “cool,” but I do think it suits me. Or maybe I’ve just grown to suit it.
How about you? Did you ever wish you had a different name? Or is there a character from a book or movie you felt had a totally wrong name?
John Robie has the most beautiful eyes. And he’s a dare devil!
I agonize over names, too. I need the “right” one for my characters, or else it continues to bother me.
I only met one other Edie in person and one online (though neither of their names were actually Edie, and it was strange to me that they wanted to be called Edie). I think the name has become a bit more common lately, but when I was young, I didn’t want to be uncommon. Now I’m happy to be an Edie and I think it suits me.
Hey Edie–you’re the only Edie I know, actually. I think names tend to go in cycles. Growing up, I was the only Amy in my hometown. When I got to college, there were 7 Amys in my freshman class! That and Jennifer were the two most common names on campus. Go figure.
awww cute! My son got a kitten this summer and he’s the same way. He actually jumped at the window after a bird, hit the glass and is now limping! Not broken though. But that cat tried to climb back on the couch to go after the birds again, even with his limp.
As for my name, yes, I def. wanted it changed to something more romantic/older.
I have to say, when I got pregnant, I knew immidiately if i had a boy he would be named Tristan. Always loved it and even though my midwestern family looked at me like I was crazy, i stuck with it. Last year my son said “can’t you call me Mike instead?” lol.
LOL Lori–when we’re young we want a name to make us sound older, more mature. Now that I’m pushing 50, I’m thinking a cute little nickname would be nice. As for the name Tristan, I’m wild about it. You son may not like it now, but I think it will serve him well as an adult.
Amy,
My sister always hated her name. When she reached adulthood she changed it legally. I never particularly liked mine when I grew up because no one else had my name. However, I love that my mother chose it the way she did. It can to her in a dream, and the Jo part was so I might love Jo in Little Women. The rest of the story is too long to tell.
Sometimes my characters names arrive in a dream; sometimes not. Often I name them something at the start but they quickly make it change to fit them.
Interesting topic and one full of thought.
Mary Jo, how wonderful that your mom named you, in part, for such an iconic character! My middle name is Elizabeth, and I like to think it’s for Elizabeth Bennett. My first name is from a song, Once In Love With Amy, from the movie/Broadway show Charley’s Aunt. My mom loved Ray Bolger (the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz), and he sang that song. Uh oh–that’s probably longer than the story you were going to tell! LOL
Amy.
Your story was short…mine could be a saga.
Yep … that kitten has trouble written all over him. It’s like I always say, its a good thing kittens and puppies are so danged cute … otherwise they’d never survive. When we first got Jezebel, she scaled the sheer curtains to get to the top of the curtain rod, leaving long pulls all over the sheers.
I’ve always liked my name, but not my family nickname. No offense to the Betsy’s out there, but I could never stand that nickname. Now I’m Liz, but try to get your family to switch? Not a chance.
Robie is definitely a daredevil. I’m grateful we don’t have curtains–went to vertical blinds for the patio and plantation blinds in the other rooms. Although, he’s trying to figure out how to climb those…
My middle name is Elizabeth, so I understand the drama of all the various nicknames. For awhile, my mom wanted to call me Bess (after Queen Elizabeth I), and then there was a Bitsy phase. Oh yes, Bitsy, not Betsy. I might have been destined for Desperate Housewives at that point.
What a handsome boy! And I do love the name. I was a HUGE Cary Grant fan and John Robie was one of my favorite characters.
I don’t use my real last name for writing. Cynthia (i.e. Cyndi) is a real first name but my married last name is fairly common. I wish I had used my maiden name (Donathan) as it is different but for some reason, my mother didn’t want me to. Go figure.
Yes, John Robie was the classic “bad boy redeemed.” Interesting that your mom didn’t want you to use your family name, but I think the one you chose is ultra-elegant.
Robie is adorable, and his name sounds perfect for him. He’s stealth like a cat burglar. My cat Cujo had the perfect name, he was a total terror right up till the day he passed away at the age of 17. My kitten is named Frankie, after Frank Sinatra, because he is a black tuxedo cat, very classic looking, and the Rat Pack is my favorite.
I never liked my name growing up. Thought Beth was boring. But my legal name is Elizabeth, which has like 50 possible nicknames. One of which is Betty and my uncle used to call me Betty Lou, which drove me bonkers. And my dad called me Isabel because he speaks Spanish, which I liked, but thought it sounded too old for a young girl. I always wanted to go by Elisa or Libby, but couldn’t get people to call me anything but Beth. Maybe I should think of using one of these variations for a pen name. Would be a good time to switch before I hit the best sellers list and then millions of people will know my name.
I love the Rat Pack, too, Beth! Your right that Elizabeth offers tons of variations. And I like that very few of them are masculine sounding. I love the nickname Libby. Yes, you definitely need to start thinking of the name you want millions to recognize you by!