My hero is using another author’s name!

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JohnB1988

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:Shrug: I came up with this wonderful name; it rolls off the tongue like, “Bond, James Bond.”
After writing the novel, editing till insanity set in, I happened to google the name. It’s the name of a relatively successful mid-list author who I’d never heard about. (Looks like he writes good stuff, I’ll probably get a few of his books.)

Opinions please: is a major search-and-replace in order? How would you feel if someone used your, not overly common, name?
 

Shweta

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I'd be pretty bemused if someone used my name.

But many writers are pretty easy to contact these days, no? Can you email this guy, explain the issue, and see what he says before doing a massive namechange?

I doubt there's any legal need to, assuming you put in the standard "any similarity to people living or dead is coincidental" disclaimer. But given that we're all part of a community it seems like it'd be politeness...?
 
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Harris

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LOL. That happened to me. I Googled my real name, not the one I use here, and found a short story with me as the star. It was a horror. I emailed the author because I thought he would get a kick out of it. I wasn't upset.

I would change the name though. JMHO.
 

Julie Worth

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I can't see that's a problem. But if it is, find and replace is not a major thing at all.
 

jdkiggins

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I don't see a problem with it. I'm fairly certain it was Witches of Sixkill by Karl Largent where he used my name (it was Markle back then).

We were speakers at a convention and he gave the book to me and signed the front something like, "Look on page *, you'll be pleasantly surprised."

When I go home Monday I'll check to see which book it was, the page number, and his wording on the front page. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised. :)

ETA: book and author
 
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Riddler

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This is an interesting site that will tell you how many people in the US Census used that name:

http://ww2.howmanyofme.com/

James Bond
  • There are 1,048 people in the U.S. named James Bond.
(You also might be interested in how many share your own name, too.)

It says there are 481 people who have my name... I have actually met two of them in my area.
 

C.bronco

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When I was 13 I found Stuart Ullman in the phone book, called him and told him he was a character in The Stand....must've thought I was a nut. (perhaps correct)
Anyway,
don't worry about it. If you google your own name, you'll find others with it. I found a tobacco activist and erotic entertainer had mine.
 

Lyra Jean

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Riddler said:
This is an interesting site that will tell you how many people in the US Census used that name:

http://ww2.howmanyofme.com/

James Bond
  • There are 1,048 people in the U.S. named James Bond.
(You also might be interested in how many share your own name, too.)

It says there are 481 people who have my name... I have actually met two of them in my area.

2970 people have my last name. 0 people have my first name.
 

Lyra Jean

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C.bronco said:
When I was 13 I found Stuart Ullman in the phone book, called him and told him he was a character in The Stand....must've thought I was a nut. (perhaps correct)
Anyway,
don't worry about it. If you google your own name, you'll find others with it. I found a tobacco activist and erotic entertainer had mine.

When I google my name I just find myself and an MP3 player.
 

Mac H.

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JohnB1988 said:
My hero is using another author's name!
I came up with this wonderful name; it rolls off the tongue like, “Bond, James Bond.” ...
Interesting example. Did you know that, according to Ian Flemming, he chose that name because it WAS the name of another author? Apparently the book was "A Field Guide to the Birds of the West Indies" ..

He apparently thought the name was sufficiently boring and unremarkable.

Mac
 

Carmy

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Thanks for the link, Riddler. There is only one of me in the US.

I don't see a problem with using another author's name, and the author might be flattered. After all, you didn't do it deliberately.
 

greglondon

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Riddler said:
This is an interesting site that will tell you how many people in the US Census used that name:

http://ww2.howmanyofme.com/

Yeah, there's something buggy about that site.
Enter "Sylvester Stallone" and it says:



at the same time it says:

There are 0 people in the U.S. named Sylvester Stallone.

weird.
 

KiwiChick

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greglondon said:
Yeah, there's something buggy about that site.
Enter "Sylvester Stallone" and it says:

at the same time it says:

There are 0 people in the U.S. named Sylvester Stallone.

weird.

But if you read their description of what that means, it tells you uncommon names have been omitted for privacy reasons, or something like that. So there aren't many Sylvester Stallones. :D
 

jamiehall

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It says my pen name, Jamie Hall, is shared by 657 people. I also know it's used by an antique dealer, a professional-but-not-famous musician and at once time was used by a racecar driver (but I don't see anything about him anymore, I think his fame was minor to begin with and has now faded).

I don't think characters sharing names with people of moderate fame (you had to actually look) is an issue. Sometimes it is even done as a wink-nod thing, as in the movie The Howling, which was full of characters with the same names as horror directors.
 

Jenan Mac

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Apparently, my eldest daughter, and her daughter, do not exist. That's probably because I don't either.
But there are 63 of my MC, and 4,064 of her partner.
 

JeanneTGC

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In a related dilemma -- I was shocked to discover that one of my main characters in the next novel I'm about to shop shares the exact same name as an agent I'd like (very much) to query. I frankly have no idea of how to write THAT query letter. (Dear Sir, despite how it looks, I had this character named five years ago, which was four years and 11 months before I knew you existed. He's the hero -- does that help?)

And, no, the character isn't named Donald Maass (;) ).
 

Shweta

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JeanneTGC said:
(Dear Sir, despite how it looks, I had this character named five years ago, which was four years and 11 months before I knew you existed. He's the hero -- does that help?)

:ROFL:

Oh man. I have no idea what I'd do in this situation, but now I really really want to know what you end up doing. Will you share?
 

JeanneTGC

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Yeah, I will. Once I can figure out just HOW to make this somehow not sound like I named the character to get representation.

Making it worse, I read something a couple of years ago by Ethan Ellenberg about how writers DO things like this, name a character after the agent (ie, change the character's name for each submission) and how it's ludicrous and makes the agent laugh, but in a nasty, pitiless way.

And now, through complete coinkydink, I'm about to look like I'm doing that. (And, no, character is not name Ethan Ellenberg, either. LOL)

Somewhere, the Muses are laughing...
 

Stew21

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I googled my two main characters. Both of them are on the net! One is a smartypants IT guy in Canada, and the other is in a band called The Stills.
I didn't see that either have been fictional characters previously, though.
Maybe they need new names though?
 
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