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Would You Name a Main Character "Mitt?"
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Not unless he resembles Mitt Romney in some tangible way. If, heaven forbid, he becomes the next president he will be known by his last name anyway. How many characters named George get confused for George Bush? Does the name Ronald automatically make us think of Reagan? In short I think you should be okay.
Yes, I do. Certain names are always going to have certain associations (I wrote a whole blog post about this). Clearly Ronald and George are far, far more common than Mitt. I wouldn't name a character Adolph. In many years, it's possible that Romney's name will have been out of the news long enough...if he EVER stops running for President. But right now? You know what's going to happen.
If you're lucky there will be. And they press they generate will make your sales soar.Doc
I wouldn't use the name "Mitt", but purely because it doesn't sound like a name to me. Isn't it a piece of clothing to keep your hands warm in winter?
Hmmm. Yeah, I guess I'll change the name. But when I used an anagram generator awhile back it kicked back MITT and TREAT and the only "Treat" I ever heard of was Treat Williams from the movie HAIR. I suppose I should have just asked myself if I would call any character BARACK or HUSSEIN or OBAMA. And the answer is "no." So MITT should have been replaced by now.
So . . . it is time for SEARCH AND REPLACE.
Thanks for the feedback.
Incidentally, I recently read HARPO SPEAKS! and I believe he changed his name from ADOLPH to ARTHUS because of Hitler. And certainly no one would ever confuse those men with one another. But sometimes a name is just "ruined." Oh, well. There are plenty more out there, thankfully.
One of the worst mistakes I ever make writing was naming a village 'The' as I thought it was funny at the time. (pronounced Thee with a soft Th) It was only in part of the 200+k story, but was referenced quite a bit. There was no easy way to search and replace that one. lol. (It is now called Thesti btw)I was originally going to post "who the heck is Mitt Romney" btw. Not sure he is a big name on a world scale yet. Hopefully he never will be. lol ;)
I think the name Mitt fits him like a glove.
The most important thing is that the name fits the character and the story. If Mitt fits...By the way I always thought the most gutsy name was in Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. the main character is a Japanese American named Hiro Protagonist. It worked though.
Well, I always liked reading about how writers came up with pseudonyms to write under, and also how and why they chose certain names for characters. When I was in 6th grade I read a short story in a class and the teacher pointed out that the main character's last name was Goodman and that the author chose that because he was a good man" and even then I thought that was both cool, and also really lame. A little more creativity would have been nice. But then again, that writer was obviously smarter than me. His short story was being read and studied in schools. I like anagrams. About 6 months ago I saw a list of anagrams for Higgs boson. It was a long list. I don't remember why in the world anyone would want an anagram for Higgs boson. So I went to an Anagram Generator and had some fun for awhile. I typed in everything off the top of my head. Buddy Holly. Time Travel. Banana Republic. Hans Christian Anderson. Gargantua and Pantagruel. Smelfungus. Can Grande's castle. Benjamin Franklin. And so on and so on. At one point the name MITT appeared and it really stuck. This was before the whole presidential thing got going. I liked it then. I like it now. How many more times do we ned to see Michael, Richard, Daniel, Kenneth, John, Steve, and so on? It is nice to use names that are somewhat different and memorable. It seems like good marketing. It is nice to do something that sticks in people's minds. There is no doubt that Elvis Presley was incredibly good-looking, handsome, and had amazing talent. But what if his name was .... Bob Jones? How would that have affected his career? Maybe not at all. But still .... Elvis looks better in lights on the Vegas strip than ... Robert.
Cardinal wrote: "But what if his name was .... Bob Jones? How would that have affected his career? Maybe not at all. But still .... Elvis looks better in lights on the Vegas strip than ... Robert. .."
Kind of like old actors and actresses. Would you rather be Archibald Leech or Cary Grant?
Personally from what i've read and heard the name is pretty important (duh) but its really important that the name matches the character, would you name a sexy young lifeguard walter. (Poor example. Sorry) but the point is do you feel comfortable with the name, does it match the character how you want it to. Sure some people wont like it but i wont put a good book down because of a name, if you like it keep it. But if you have doubts or any itching thoughts i would say your instinct is telling you to change it. In the end though its up to you and its your descision. Hope that helped.
P.s. sorry if it was stupid, i'm a young author, only 15 but i take it very seriously.
Tony wrote: "Kind of like old actors and actresses. Would you rather be Archibald Leech or Cary Grant? ..."I guess that depends on the genre. For comedy Archibald Leech is MUCH more memorable.
Don't forget that some of the best known names would have sounded incredibly mundane before they reached a state of fame. "Harry Potter" to me is a distinctly elderly-sounding, boring name, better suited to a granddad in his 70s than a young boy. By JKR turned it around completely.
Paul wrote: "Don't forget that some of the best known names would have sounded incredibly mundane before they reached a state of fame. "Harry Potter" to me is a distinctly elderly-sounding, boring name, better suited to a granddad in his 70s"I remember Ian Fleming chose the name James Bond because he thought it was unmemorable, a good name for a man who lived his life in the shadows.
Exactly, Tony. Sometimes it's hard to remember how a name would have sounded to us BEFORE it became well-known.I've become less worried about character names over the years. I mostly check that I haven't inadvertently copied the name of an existing famous person. Beyond that humans can get used to pretty much anything.
The whole international aspect of books is difficult to cater for too. There are several common US names which are unusable here in the UK (Randy for example - could be a rude nickname, not NOT a real name!) and I'm sure there must be some UK names which are not believable in the US.
Paul wrote: "There are several common US names which are unusable here in the UK"Slightly OT, in a short series of books by Brian Daley, based in the Star Wars universe, there's a robot named "Bollux", which I guess is only rude in the UK :-)
Tony wrote: "Paul wrote: "There are several common US names which are unusable here in the UK"Slightly OT, in a short series of books by Brian Daley, based in the Star Wars universe, there's a robot named "Bo..."
There's a character in Futurama called "Bender". I'd have got in serious trouble if I'd called someone that when I was in school.
Following the OT part of the thread, there was a metaphysical thriller here in the U.S. where the villain was Luey Cipher. You weren't supposed to get it until the end of the movie, Luey Cipher = Lucifer. For the average American movie goer it seemed to work. All my friends from Europe (or those that spoke any Romance language) caught the pun instantly and it ruined the movie for them.
It's always difficult to pull off something like that. Making something obvious enough that the audience kicks themselves when it's pointed out, yet sufficiently hidden that they don't work it out themselves is a very hard balance to achieve.To me, the example you quoted, was pretty obvious, but then I'm from Wales.
The coolest name I ever heard is probably Armand Assante. That just sounds so nice. Then again, Italians always seem to have nice names. Even Prisencolinensinainciusol looks cool, but who the heck can pronounce it?I had a nice conversation with Peggy Sue Gerron yesterday. She is a kind and smart and charming lady. She has a great name but can you imagine what she had to deal with as a result? THEM: "Peggy Sue? Did your parents name you after the Buddy Holly song?" .......... HER: "I am that Peggy Sue. Buddy Holly was my friend."
Wow. A close second would probably be "My Sharona."
I always find stuff like that interesting. I read that Alice Liddell was very unhappy with the attention she got. What makes that unusual is, who the heck would know unless a big deal was made about it?
Mitt Romney is a very famous man. I have never heard that name before. Who on earth was named Elvis before or since? Peggy Sue and Sharona (I think her real name was Sharon but they called her "Sharona") are unique.
When appropriate, it does make sense to create characters with memorable names, if possible. Though that is not nearly as important as a memorable title and a nice cover design.
But I just happened to come across Mitt because I came across it in an Anagram Generator, and I liked it. But I already changed it. There are just too many kooks out there and getting people to read our boos is tough enough. Why put up and walls and bridges?
Rachel wrote: "Following the OT part of the thread, there was a metaphysical thriller here in the U.S. where the villain was Luey Cipher. You weren't supposed to get it until the end of the movie, Luey Cipher = L..."Yeah, that Lucifer name stuff has really been beaten into the ground. It is amazing that anyone even tries that crap anymore. They even did it in Angel Heart with Robert De Niro and Mickey Roarke. You'd think one of those guys would have said to the Director, "Gimme a break. What are we 12 years old?"
I will throw in my POV. I name my characters to suit their personality, where they live, their age, etc. The name of my protagonist was a name I didn't like based on a kid in elementary school that irritated me (he picked his nose - ugh!)
Damn! I was going to use Blanket! Are you saying there is someone out there with that name already? Hmmm. Oh, well. I guess I'll go with Shoe Horn.
There should be no problem using Mitt. I don't think it'll get confused.
Using quirky or unconventional character names is awesome. It adds a unique element to the novel and if the book takes off, the name might evolve into an unofficial verb or placeholder noun--taking on the character's personality traits."Don't be a mitt."
"Let's mitt this."
"Give me the bad news with a side of mitt."
"You can't mitt me."
The possibilities are endless. In fact, I'd encourage an even quirkier name.
or "I just don't give a mitt".Hours of fun there, but you raise an interesting point. Make a quirky use of a word or a quirky word sufficiently widely known and you can set (or redefine) the meaning. I was debating this with someone a few weeks ago, on the topic of how swear words are more defined by how they are used than anything else.
Another way of making a name imply a character trait can be the use of rhyming slang, although I've been led to believe that it doesn't work very well in the US?
Do you think there are any overly political kooks out there who might be upset with the book (assuming anyone ever reads it) because the main character's names is the same as a politician's?
Thoughts?
R