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What are the worst/most overused names in writing?
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Not so much in serious writing, but in writing of the middle school variety, "Bob" seems to be used a lot.
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I was watching a baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A's. Five of the starting 18 players, 2 from the Giants and 3 from the A's were named Brandon.
As for writing, my nominees would be Jack and Kate. Michael would be a close second on the male side, Jenny on the female.
caw
As for writing, my nominees would be Jack and Kate. Michael would be a close second on the male side, Jenny on the female.
caw
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I'll cover some of the worst types of names, with a few examples.
Unnecessarily hard-to-pronounce names (more pertinent to sci-fi and fantasy):
Xygzfjie Qropixi
∏∑∞♪⅞ Johnson
Names that are unsubtle characterization:
John Strongfist
Edward van Policeman
Robert McIronballs
Chastity Downsouth
Unnecessarily hard-to-pronounce names (more pertinent to sci-fi and fantasy):
Xygzfjie Qropixi
∏∑∞♪⅞ Johnson
Names that are unsubtle characterization:
John Strongfist
Edward van Policeman
Robert McIronballs
Chastity Downsouth
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We just call him X. I know a guy who manages a technical facility (named Bayview) I interact with from time to time, named Dan Przywojczky (or a Polish something close to that, no exaggeration). He pronounces it "Pro-vye-ski". We just all call him "Dan, from Bayview". Makes life sooooo much easier.
Yeah, I've called the bastard that on more than one occasion, leaving out the "Johnson" part.
caw
Blacbird, I have a friend whose last name is Thorbjornson. And yeah, I can say it. Actually, I was a waitress years ago and we were supposed to say our customers' names back to them when we processed their cards ("Thank you Ms. Johnson.") His niece came in once (I'd never met her) and I thanked her without a hitch and somehow managed not to grin at her, either. She looked stunned, and then finally said "You must know uncle Fred."
On topic, I actually read a romance recently where the MCs were John and Jane. And it was completely serious, and no one ever made a joke about it. I got to the last page STILL waiting for a punchline, so... REALLY distracting.
Jack is way over done, and I think I've even used it at least once (bad me!) I also am thinking of Ann, but only because I realized I used variants of it for three stories in a row once (Ann, Anne, Anna).
On topic, I actually read a romance recently where the MCs were John and Jane. And it was completely serious, and no one ever made a joke about it. I got to the last page STILL waiting for a punchline, so... REALLY distracting.
Jack is way over done, and I think I've even used it at least once (bad me!) I also am thinking of Ann, but only because I realized I used variants of it for three stories in a row once (Ann, Anne, Anna).
Thanks for the chuckle! Good examples. Now I almost want to give a character "van Policeman" as a surname.
Ah, my uncle Lars, you betcha. Used to have that place up on da lake by Alexandria, Minnesota, where we useta go catch dem bluegills, don'cha know. Good eatin', dem bluegills, once ya get past da bones and such. What kinda problem ya have with pronouncin' such a simple name?
caw
Any common named spelled weirdly in an attempt to make it "special." That never ceases to annoy me.
Hahahaha... my mum and her family are from Minnesota (and Scandinavia before that, of course), and this is more or less what I was thinking (including the accent). The pronunciation of Thorbjornson seems downright obvious to me...
As for the original question... actually I can't think of any specifically. I agree with Somethingorother that illogical made-up names are pretty bad, and the obvious characterization ones. I personally can't stand when every single character has a really normal name... you don't need weird ones, but can't you at least look in the top 25 rather than just top 10?
Thanks for the chuckle! Good examples. Now I almost want to give a character "van Policeman" as a surname.
"Hey Ed, help, get over here," Hank said.
"Help with what?"
"A group of thugs beating on a teenager. Less than a block away."
"How many thugs?"
"Like a dozen. Bring your gun."
"What? I don't have a gun."
"But you're...you're Edward van Policeman."
"Yeah, but I'm a tax accountant."
"What? That makes no sense at all."
"Do any of those thugs need help filing their 1040?"
Hahahaha... my mum and her family are from Minnesota (and Scandinavia before that, of course), and this is more or less what I was thinking (including the accent). The pronunciation of Thorbjornson seems downright obvious to me...
Ancestrally, my family is from Norway, and I still have relatives there. As the granddaughter of a woman whose maiden name started with Hj-, Thorbjornson is easy street.
I hate soap opera names (Thorn, Blaze, Rock), names that look like they were ripped from medication bottles (Valtrexia, Viagrina), and anything over-the-top made up (Xytheraline, Queverta, Zylth).
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As a Swede, I'm betting you can't. I bet he can't either. I bet you both pronounce 'Th' as an English 'th', when in fact, it should be pronounced as 'T'. Not to mention that the second 'o' should be an 'ö'. Completely different prounciation.
I write hist fic and for certain periods you have the choice between 'John' and 'William' for the males and between 'Mary' and 'Elizabeth' for the women. If you want to be adventurous, you might be able to get away with 'James' and 'Anne'... You basically have to sacrifice either originality or accuracy.
As a Swede, I'm betting you can't. I bet he can't either. I bet you both pronounce 'Th' as an English 'th', when in fact, it should be pronounced as 'T'. Not to mention that the second 'o' should be an 'ö'. Completely different prounciation.
Ooh, does that mean my guess that it would be pronounced "Tor-be-orn-son" is pretty close to the mark?
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I'd say 'Tor-byuhrn-son'. Ö is pronounced like 'a' in 'a chair' (not like 'o' at all - the umlaut signifies an 'e' that had molded with 'o' to become a letter of its own) and 'j' is always 'y'. Means Tor-(as in the god)-Bear-Son.
I went to one of the many sites with baby names to find suitable names for my characters. Never got beyond the first page. Have ended up with all characters names starting with 'A'. Oh dear.
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I've done that, tho I click on random pages to mix them up. Lately, I've been looking at movie credits and just mixing and matching first and last names because that way I am exposed to some I'd never think of.
As always, after I choose a name, I google it to be sure it's not some pseudo-celeb I've never heard of.
In defense of Jack--my protag in my debut novel--Jack is the common intimate form of John which is a very common name. So it makes sense it ends up in a lot of places.
An a Jon--I have never met anyone who was actually christened at birth as "Jack". People claim it happens but it strikes me as equally odd as naming a child Bubba.
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