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Naming Characters - Legal Question

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LadyVonFright

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I have been trying to come up with names for my characters, and so far everything I have been coming up with sounds made-up to me. That could just be the fact that I am so over critical.
In my name search I was of course distracted by the internet and wound up reading "20 things you didn't know about the show Supernatural". I can't help it, I love this show ;).

So, anyway, one of the "things I didn't know" was that the original names for the characters were suppose to be Sal and Dean Harrison, however Sal was eventually changed to Sam because they felt the name was more appropriate. In changing the name from Sal to Sam Harrison they discovered there was a Sam Harrison currently residing in Kansas (which is where the brothers were from) and therefore the name had to be changed for legal reasons.

So my question is, why would they have to change the name for legal reasons? I highly doubt that the real Sam Harrison is or was a hunter of the supernatural forces. So was this just a precaution? or is this something we should be worried about when naming characters?
My story takes place in the city of Toronto...the odds of my finding an original/real sounding name that no one else in the city of Toronto has are slim to none!
 

P-Baker

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I'm not aware of the law in the US, but I know British movies have to be careful if they give a character a name which belongs to 5 or fewer people. They actually have to get all of them to sign a release acknowledging they understand it's not them being refered to. I wouldn't be too surprised if there's something similar in the US movie or TV industries, although I'd be very, very surprised to learn publishers have worry about that.
 

stephenf

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Hi
Graham Greene Stemboul Train had a cockney novelist character named Q S Savory . The Novelist J B Priestly accused Greene of making fun of him and threaten legal action unless the Q S Savory character was removed . The publishers agreed the book was rewritten. You can still find a few books with the Q S Savory character and are now worth about £6000.
I like to use the names of people that send me scam e-mails . So far , not one has contacted me .
 

A.E.Fisher

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I'm not aware of the law in the US, but I know British movies have to be careful if they give a character a name which belongs to 5 or fewer people. They actually have to get all of them to sign a release acknowledging they understand it's not them being refered to. I wouldn't be too surprised if there's something similar in the US movie or TV industries, although I'd be very, very surprised to learn publishers have worry about that.

I've run into this issue before. Whichever jurisdiction the book is initially published in (USA, Canada, UK, etc) will determine which laws will be applicable. Frequently it is suggested to add a middle initial to the name if you absolutely will not change it; great editors will come back with a great list of suggestions based on your novel, genre, and style of writing.

Sometimes made up names just work, though, so try not to discount them entirely. I tend to look to history for my characters, and then adapt them if necessary. Just try not to fall into the Stephanie Meyer/Renesmee trap, so if in doubt run it by the internet. People love to have opinions on names!
 

jjdebenedictis

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Don't paralyze yourself worrying about this. A simple search-and-replace changes a name after the fact so very, very easily.

"Winchester" was a much more awesome name anyway, right? No piece of art is perfect from birth.

Give yourself permission to write a shitty first draft. Trust yourself; trust your skills. You will be able to polish it up later.
 

ZombieLotus

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Please excuse my newbiness, but would a "This is a work of fiction, any names, places, etc....is purely unintentional and a coincidence, blah blah" type of legal disclaimer in the front matter be sufficient?
 

Myrealana

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I think TV shows have to be more careful than books. In the Dresden Files TV show, Murphy's first name was changed from Karrin to Connie due to the existence of an actual Chicago police officer named Karyn Murphy.

No one seemed to care about the coincidence before the show was made.
 

TellMeAStory

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I'm sorry, LadyVon, who is this "they" you speak of? Is it publishers?

Do publishers really DO things like that? What if a poor innocent but independent-minded writer self published? Would she get into whatever trouble your publishers are saving you from?

Is the world a far scarier place than I thought it was?
 

L.C. Blackwell

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The late author Georgette Heyer is said to have taken her characters' surnames from villages, towns and localities in the British isles.

I'm not even sure why a publisher would have to require an author to change a name, unless, as in the Priestly case, a threat of libel suit arose from someone who felt they'd been too closely identified with the novel. In general, there's little risk of that.

ZombieLotus, the disclaimer used to be common; I'm not sufficiently up on publishing law to know how much it covers, but I don't think it's ever been an absolute defense.
 

LadyVonFright

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I'm sorry, LadyVon, who is this "they" you speak of? Is it publishers?

Do publishers really DO things like that? What if a poor innocent but independent-minded writer self published? Would she get into whatever trouble your publishers are saving you from?

Is the world a far scarier place than I thought it was?

"They" is referring to Erik Kripke, the creator of the show I am referring to, my apologies I should have specified.
 

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Nearly every name I've ever used in fiction has been the name of a real person. Most are just ordinary people I know, but many are the names of well-known people, such as Billy Martin, long time manager of the New York Yankees, and Nancy Kerrigan, the skater who got her knee whacked. I often even use the real character No one has ever complained, including the people and the publishers.

Just to avoid controversy, if I set a story in my current city of choice, I won't give the mayor the same name as the real mayor, IF the mayor in the story is a main character. If the character doesn't play a central role, I will use the real name in passing. But if I write an SF story set a hundred years in the future, or a historical set a hundred years in the past, if the mayor's name ops into my head, I'll use it without a second thought.

The world is filled with common names, so I want common names in my fiction, whatever they are, and whoever they belong to in real life. But the world also has some uncommon names, and I want some of those in my fiction, as well. I probably do not want them in starring roles, but I want them.



It's difficult to find a name someone doesn't have, and if you do, it will probably sound fake.
 

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In the case of Sam Harrison it may have been just a case of CYA, and as jj said, Winchester works so much better anyway.
I agree to just write it right now and worry about the minutia later. I'm basing my current WIP on my experience on a trip and instead of figuring out what Bob's name should be in the book I type [Bob] so I can replace it later. And if people don't like their portrayal I'll tell them they should have behaved better. if it's not a name but a type of person you can worry about naming them later by using a place holder like [nosyneighbor].
 
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P-Baker

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I've just been reminded of the Bantam reissue of the Nero Wolfe story "And Be a Villain". The reissues all had bits of memorabilia tacked onto the end, and this one had two pages of questions the original publisher's lawyer said should be answered. I don't have it in front of me, but it was like:

Is there anyone in the New York area
- Named or with a name like "Lina Fraser"?
- with a radio talk show that airs twice a week?
- who dresses to match her room's color scheme?
- who has a room with a refrigerator, a sofa and a piano?
- who has a maid like a female wrestler?

And so on, through all the main chacters ("Is there any Italian math professor with a name like Saverese who is big, blond and bouyant?")

The point of the list was to make sure that none of the made up characters had enough in comon with real people that readers would think they were based on reality. I'm sure today's publishers have similar guidelines.
 

LadyVonFright

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Nearly every name I've ever used in fiction has been the name of a real person. Most are just ordinary people I know, but many are the names of well-known people, such as Billy Martin, long time manager of the New York Yankees, and Nancy Kerrigan, the skater who got her knee whacked. I often even use the real character No one has ever complained, including the people and the publishers.

Just to avoid controversy, if I set a story in my current city of choice, I won't give the mayor the same name as the real mayor, IF the mayor in the story is a main character. If the character doesn't play a central role, I will use the real name in passing. But if I write an SF story set a hundred years in the future, or a historical set a hundred years in the past, if the mayor's name ops into my head, I'll use it without a second thought.

The world is filled with common names, so I want common names in my fiction, whatever they are, and whoever they belong to in real life. But the world also has some uncommon names, and I want some of those in my fiction, as well. I probably do not want them in starring roles, but I want them.



It's difficult to find a name someone doesn't have, and if you do, it will probably sound fake.

That's how I feel, a made up name will just sound made up. I want my characters name to have a real sound to it so that readers will see her as a real person, however it will be difficult to find a name that no one else has.

In the case of Sam Harrison it may have been just a case of CYA, and as jj said, Winchester works so much better anyway.
I agree to just write it right now and worry about the minutia later. I'm basing my current WIP on my experience on a trip and instead of figuring out what Bob's name should be in the book I type [Bob] so I can replace it later. And if people don't like their portrayal I'll tell them they should have behaved better. if it's not a name but a type of person you can worry about naming them later by using a place holder like [nosyneighbor].

I know it's not something I should concern myself with yet, and so far I have been substituting names with Girl and Boy...but that gets confusing if you have more than one girl or boy in your story lol
I like your place holder idea though...I will give that a go til I come up with names.

I've just been reminded of the Bantam reissue of the Nero Wolfe story "And Be a Villain". The reissues all had bits of memorabilia tacked onto the end, and this one had two pages of questions the original publisher's lawyer said should be answered. I don't have it in front of me, but it was like:

Is there anyone in the New York area
- Named or with a name like "Lina Fraser"?
- with a radio talk show that airs twice a week?
- who dresses to match her room's color scheme?
- who has a room with a refrigerator, a sofa and a piano?
- who has a maid like a female wrestler?

And so on, through all the main chacters ("Is there any Italian math professor with a name like Saverese who is big, blond and bouyant?")

The point of the list was to make sure that none of the made up characters had enough in comon with real people that readers would think they were based on reality. I'm sure today's publishers have similar guidelines.

This is how I feel when I come up with a name, but I feel as though it's impossible to actually know the answers to all this. Do publishers have some sort of secret directory that I am not aware of? lol ;)
 

L.C. Blackwell

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I really think your simplest solution would be to use any names you want, provided you don't come up with a character named Brad Jolie, or someone who cruelly resembles your obnoxious next door neighbor. Then, leave it to the publisher. If they have an issue and ask for a change, you can then graciously change it. This will save a lot of angst in the long run. Otherwise, you've really set yourself an impossible task.
 

L.C. Blackwell

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P.S. For self-publishing, the most basic solution is to avoid famous persons unless they are public figures in a historical sense--i.e. John F. Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower--and not to defame any living person who can be identified. That is, if the chief of police in your small Georgia town is notoriously corrupt, his name is Scott Zott, and he drives a Ferrari, don't create a police chief in a small Georgia town whose name is Pott Shott, takes bribes and drives a Lamborghini. You get the idea. It doesn't mean you can never have a character named Scott, or one with the last name of Zott. Just don't make him a chief of police (or a deputy) or provide him with other notably identifiable characteristics that could be considered a defamatory portrayal.
 

DancingMaenid

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TV seems to be a lot stricter about this than print media. I don't know if there's an actual legal difference or if it's just a CYA thing. But yeah, all TV character names are typically vetted by legal first.
 

greendragon

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Instead of made up names, use old ones. For instance, something like "Permelia Emaline Jackson" - the actual name of my great-great-grandmother. If she's a character in a modern day novel, she hates the name as they are old-fashioned family names. She goes by 'Mellie' or something like that.

I have characters named: Valentia McDowell, Theodosia Latimer, Esme, and then Eamonn and Eithne Doherty, etc. Orla is the name in my next book. Oh, and I almost forgot Fionnuala!

It helps to write in a different era/country, too :D
 
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nossmf

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That's one of the benefits of writing fantasy about dragons. I just have to throw together a series of random letters, add a vowel here or there, and voila! Almost guaranteed to not equal an actual human name in this world. lol
 
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