Character with two names

lalyil · May 16, 2013

Hi guys,

I'm wondering how best to write a character that has 2 names.
More precisely, she has one name, but ONE person calls her in another name.

Let's say it's Jane and Gene, if one person names her Gene and everyone else call her Jane - when she's with that one person, what appears above her dialogue?

Thanks in advance

screenscope · May 16, 2013

If she's called Jane, that's her name for all dialogue, desciption and action. There's no need to do anything different with her.

When the character who calls her Gene is introduced, mention that he/she always calls Jane, Gene, as his/her dialogue is the only area where this issue is visible.

LIVIN · May 17, 2013

I can imagine issues with the names Jane and Gene being so similar.

Not too long ago, I watched a movie where the mother had special nicknames for the children. At first, when I was learning character's names, it was confusing. Then, I naturally wondered why the nicknames. It was never explained. So, in addition to adding confusion, the nicknames were never explained. It was a turn-off.

lalyil · May 17, 2013

In my case it's explained and it's not Gene and Jane, as I said, I only used those names as an example.

And thank you screenscope, I just hope the reader won't be lost I guess if I only mention it once (and then later in just the MC's dialogue)

brianjanuary · May 18, 2013

When the character who calls her the other name is introduced, inlude a note:

(Note: Ann always refers to Mary as "Jane")

Then it's clear to the reader.

WriterTrek · May 18, 2013

I'd say the narrative and dialogue tags should generally refer to the character as a single person (unless she's going to have her mind altered or something and forget who she is, or she personally undergoes some massive change).

So if it's 3rd limited and she thinks of herself as Jane, it will always be:

Jane said "Hi person-who-calls-me-Gene, how are you?"

"I'm fine, Gene," he said.

Jane sighed, wishing he'd stop calling her that.

...bad example, but I think you get the picture.

dpaterso · May 18, 2013

Trek, you're in screenwriting forum, not Novels.

JANE
Hi Bob, how are you?

BOB
I'm fine, Gene.

Jane might just decide to go with this and accept the wrong name!

JANE
Great!

Or, if you want the audience to know Jane's thoughts you'd use voice over:

JANE (V.O.)
I wish he'd stop calling me that.

-Derek

lalyil · May 18, 2013

Thanks Brian for the idea

Trek, screenwriting

but thank you anyway.

dpaterso, yeah I was going to have her reacting to the name change the first time, since it isn't really Jane and Gene, but rather a completely different name in sound and letters. I suppose it was later scenes I was mostly worried about since I guess I'm underestimating my readers a bit that they may not remember what happened with the name before lol

Muppster · May 18, 2013

The tag for the actors doesn't have to reflect the name(s) used to refer to the character in the dialogue. Though be careful it doesn't just come across as a typo/find-and-replace error ;-)

Character with two names

lalyil

The Lukewarm

screenscope

LIVIN

lalyil

The Lukewarm

brianjanuary

WriterTrek

dpaterso

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lalyil

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