Matthew Rowe's Blog: Matt Cannot Write Here, page 3
January 22, 2012
Power of Names
One of the things I hate most about writing stories is coming up with names. Usually, I pick a name that has a specific meaning to that character, so if someone says "that's a crap name!" I can at least say "well, it means this ... so it's okay."
Names have a lot of power. As such, I have often wondered about the true meaning of my name. Matthew Rowe. Rowe presumably comes from the place or job that my ancestor belonged to and as such I'll ignore it. "Matthew" traditional means 'the gift of Jehovah', but I don't believe in God so that has no meaning to me. However, I've also been know by lots of other names: Matt, Matto, Machuu, Mashuu (in Japan, as it's their nearest native equivalent), Monkey, Mon-Mon, Git, Smegface and, when I was working in the bar, "Pint of Stella!". These names have their own meaning, but which one is right? Last night the truth came to me.
I was watching a TV show in which a Japanese celebrity is put in a room with a pet basket. They then open the basket and a cute animal or animals come out and they play with them for a bit remarking how cute they are. Simple and perfect evening fodder for the 'kawaii (cute)' obsessed. Well, this time they had a baby monkey, complete with nappy, which got my girlfriend and I talking. The TV star was trying to chase the poor monkey and get hold of it, but it kept running away. Then after about 15 minutes of fast forwarded footage of this, he decided to sit still and the monkey did eventually come to him.
"That's just like Amy (our cat)!" my girlfriend said. "So monkeys are like cats."
She often calls me Monkey so I said: "So I'm a monkey-cat person?"
Then I started thinking about what a half monkey half cat creature would be called. Naturally I started with Japanese first. 'Monkey' is 'saru' and 'cat' is neko. So, Sako? No. Neru? No, that's the word for 'sleep'. So then I looked at English. Conkey? That just sounds stupid. Mat? Matt! Holy crap! I've been a monkey-cat person all my life!
The power of a name. True story.
So what does your name mean? Do you have trouble naming characters? Share your thoughts below.
Names have a lot of power. As such, I have often wondered about the true meaning of my name. Matthew Rowe. Rowe presumably comes from the place or job that my ancestor belonged to and as such I'll ignore it. "Matthew" traditional means 'the gift of Jehovah', but I don't believe in God so that has no meaning to me. However, I've also been know by lots of other names: Matt, Matto, Machuu, Mashuu (in Japan, as it's their nearest native equivalent), Monkey, Mon-Mon, Git, Smegface and, when I was working in the bar, "Pint of Stella!". These names have their own meaning, but which one is right? Last night the truth came to me.
I was watching a TV show in which a Japanese celebrity is put in a room with a pet basket. They then open the basket and a cute animal or animals come out and they play with them for a bit remarking how cute they are. Simple and perfect evening fodder for the 'kawaii (cute)' obsessed. Well, this time they had a baby monkey, complete with nappy, which got my girlfriend and I talking. The TV star was trying to chase the poor monkey and get hold of it, but it kept running away. Then after about 15 minutes of fast forwarded footage of this, he decided to sit still and the monkey did eventually come to him.
"That's just like Amy (our cat)!" my girlfriend said. "So monkeys are like cats."
She often calls me Monkey so I said: "So I'm a monkey-cat person?"
Then I started thinking about what a half monkey half cat creature would be called. Naturally I started with Japanese first. 'Monkey' is 'saru' and 'cat' is neko. So, Sako? No. Neru? No, that's the word for 'sleep'. So then I looked at English. Conkey? That just sounds stupid. Mat? Matt! Holy crap! I've been a monkey-cat person all my life!
The power of a name. True story.
So what does your name mean? Do you have trouble naming characters? Share your thoughts below.
Matt Cannot Write Here
A smorgasbord of wacky ideas and views for looking at this world and creating your own. Who needs those goddamn rules and boundaries anyway? Only the fat elephants trying to hold you down, that's who.
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