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TaShaJaRo submitted a post on renaming. This brings me to ask for help with my dilemma. I have a villanous male character who is a nasty, rich, trafficer in illegal goods. He is sophisticated on the surface but underhanded and vengeful underneath. I want a nasty tough-guy FIRST name for him. His last name is Kaine. Does anyone have any ideas? Maybe I'm weird but I think some consonants sound more evil than others, like D and K and V. Anyway, if any of you have some suggestions, I could use help here. Judith
Posts: 142 | Registered: Jan 2005
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I think Arthur Kaine has a sophisticated ring to it and if you want to highlight his "evilness" at any one point in the writing, you can use just the last name, if you establish a pattern of that. I also like Jeffrey Kaine or Russell Kaine. Both are semi-harsh sounding but not as harsh as the K in Kaine. I personally do not like to have a very harsh first name paired with a very harsh second name. I am reading an author now, Peter Robinson, who has a detective, Alan Banks, and he almost always refers to him simply as Banks. It is kind of neat. You could do the same thing. Have a sophisticated first name with a harsh, "evil" sounding second name but use the first name only once in awhile to remind the reader that he is a "first class" type of person.
Posts: 225 | Registered: Feb 2005
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I agree about the evil consonants. But personally, I also like to put backstory into a name. I like to think about what name their parents would of chosen - where did he come from and what sort of heritage? Does he have an ethnic or wimpy first name that is embaressing and, as was suggested above,does he choses to change it or use only his last? How about a nice plant name? like Shade after nightshade? or a rock, Slate - maybe his father owned a quarry where he nows buries his victims.
[This message has been edited by Kickle (edited February 26, 2005).]
[This message has been edited by Kickle (edited February 26, 2005).]
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Vaulgo Kaine? Vesper Kaine? Damon Kaine? Dylan Kaine? I agree with you about the d's and v's sounding more villianous.
Posts: 270 | Registered: Jan 2005
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LOL Okay, I take back Vesper. That one is definitely worth a boo or two. I'm standing by the others, though.
Posts: 270 | Registered: Jan 2005
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I'd have to agree with franc li. Ivan always has a sort of evil sound and not just because I have the same issue as franc li. The person I hate most in the entire universe is named Ivan so it's easy for me to think of the name as evil.
Vincent Kaine Vladimere Kaine David Kaine Damion Kaine
"Victor", "Vladimir", and "Vincent" all sound both sophisticated and evil. They reverberate with associations of princely wealth as well as villainy. "Richard" is too outdated, it's only for minor characters anymore. "Ivan" is fine as long as you use the Russian pronunciation (which is hard to indicate without being obvious), otherwise it's passe as well. And it never had a lot of depth as a name for evil characters.
Some additions suggested by your prefs, Vaughan Wagner (German pronunciation) Wilhelm (German pronunciation) Derek (or perhaps Didrik, an obsolete and rare one) Diocletian (Diocletianus) Dominic (Dominick) Duncan Karl
Some other names that struck me as good, Uriah, Elijah, Ezekiel, Gideon, etc.(strong sounding Biblical names associated with warriors and "war-prophets") Nikolas, Nikolai Maximillian Rex Leo
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Heh, you guys can be my backup. My husband thinks it would be a great idea to name our next daughter Vesper. My answer was an emphatic "no". Not even as a middle name.
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What about Gerald? Personally I think the last name of "Kaine" is too caricaturistically evil. Should I have warned the adverb sensitive to have some antibiotic cream handy lest they claw out their eyes reading this post?
On the baby name idea. I think Vesper is kind of cute. I don't know why it isn't as popular as Martin. Or am I thinking of Matin? Nevermind.
Babies should be named by computer algorithm based on their date, time, and GPS coordinate of birth. It would save so much prenatal worry and angst.
P.S. I knew someone who was quite convinced that people liked her less because her name was "nancy" which you can't say without sneering, apparently.
[This message has been edited by franc li (edited February 27, 2005).]
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Yeah, you get he's evil right from the go get. The Kaine is deliberately intended to be double-barreled evil since this guy is actually Satan's firstborn of flesh. And i also agree that the first name needs to be sophisticated rather than evil because this is how he wants to be perceived in the mortal world and cause I don't wanna overdo it. I'm leaning toward Victor or Karl but I also really like Axle. Dunno yet. I'm flabbergasted at all the great suggestions and choices. This is goning to be fun deciding--sorta like going to Village Inn and trying to select a pie. Thanks everyone! Judith
[This message has been edited by Rocklover (edited March 02, 2005).]