It's right there in the god-damn name!

[TheRedChamber]

I got beta feedback earlier this week on a cuckqueaning story. One of the points made was that calling the husband 'Richard' was a bit on the nose because, plot-wise, everything important was going on between the quean and the cuckcake characters. He was literally just a dick. Fair point.

I was also just reminded of a character I called Sadie because she was a bit sadistic (actually she was a monster...)

There's also this from a father-son first-time conversation.

“Firstly, I'd ask you to think about whether a man who named his three daughters Virginia, Prudence and Chastity is going to be quite so liberal in his attitudes towards his offspring as we are.

So, just for fun, when have you been less than subtle with your choice of names.

 

[madelinemasoch]

I also have a sadist named Sadie and a girl named Layla because she gets laid a lot in the works.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Well, foreshadowing is a thing...

 

[TheWritingGroup]

The closest I've come is a stepsister named Stephanie (always called "Steph").

-Annie

 

[THBGato]

I called one of my characters Cristina to provide contrast with another who earns herself the nickname "el moro". The story is set in Spain, where there are lots of "Moros y Cristianos" (Moors and Christians) festivals. I wanted this to suggest both the tension between them and the whole opposites-attract thing.

Otherwise I haven't really gone in for nominative determinism thus far. (My favourite is Dickens calling one of Fagin's boys in "Oliver Twist" Master Bates.)

 

[AchtungNight]

Clarke- originally named for the actor Michael Clarke Duncan. Supposed to be so good at soldiering they called him Superman but he didn’t appreciate the sarcasm. So when they took to just calling him Clarke, he accepted that.

Joe Avery- His name could have been Joe Average, but that was too on the nose.

A large number of Lisa’s exes have names inspired by celestial or infernal power figures. Lou Stanton, Asmodeus Gregory, Simon and Lily Astar (for Astaroth), some guy named Gabriel, Bill Mannon, Nicole Masterson (Old Nick, Son of the Master), etc. She was introduced holding her own in a fight against a bad man named Leroy Brown. The character is also named after a famous 1980s genie herself.

A Native American cop named Lakestrider.

The antagonists of Kings in Conflict. An English crime boss slash mad bomber who’s a Joseph Conrad fanboy named Lord Jim Kurtz, his prizefighter henchman Igor Illyich Ivanov (intended actor Triple H), and his psychotic knife wielding hit woman slash lover Mackenzie MacHeath.

The mad scientist in Catbird Seat is literally named Dr. Madman.

Silvan Farrow, Faerie Alien Hybrid who educated Forest and Desert Dwellers to achieve civilization in the distant past.

 

[Bazzle]

In smoking fetish stories you tend to get a lot of
Nicole/Nicola/Tina

I've used Ashley as well.

 

[StillStunned]

I have a S&S character called Sligh, who's sly.

And Dolly in "One Orgasm At A Time" is short for Pandora, because she's been playing with herself too much and this causes misery around the world.

 

[TheLobster]

And Dolly in "One Orgasm At A Time" is short for Pandora, because she's been playing with herself too much and this causes misery around the world.

She must have pried her box open one too many times.

 

[Agent0069]

I tried to name one evil character “Elvin”, but the name was so absurd I myself was mistyping it constantly, and so Elvin became Denis.

 

[StillStunned]

She must have pried her box open one too many times.

A few times too many, in fact:

"Thief of orgasms I name you, for that is what you are." There was an intensity in her voice. "How many orgasms have you stolen from those that deserved them more?"

"Stolen?" Dolly managed at last. "How-- I've just been... playing with myself." Despite herself, she cast a guilty look at the Sensationaliser.

"Playing," sighed the one in silver. "Hmm."

"With yourself!" The words exploded out of the one in gold in a hiss. "Selfishly!"

"So selfish," breathed the woman in red. "All that playing, all by yourself." Her head had turned towards the Sensationaliser. Dolly thought she looked like a cat about to pounce.

"Who are you?" she asked again. "How can I have stolen orgasms?"

"We are the Three Aspects of Orgasm!" the tall one boomed. She seemed to become even taller, rising and towering up over the bed.

"Arousal," the one in red moaned.

"Climax!" the middle one cried.

"Satisfaction," the final one murmured. It sounded like she was trying to stifle a yawn.

"And you," Climax spat, raising a hand to point at Dolly, "you have caused an orgasmic imbalance!"

Dolly gaped. I've done what? She noticed that Arousal's head had turned to her, and realised that she'd let the sheet slip. She can see right between my legs. The thought didn't upset her, though, and she even found herself shifting her feet to provide a better view.

"An orgasmic imbalance in space and time!" Climax was shouting now, arms raised over her head. "We have had to divert orgasms from other people -- people more deserving, people who work for their orgasms!" Her breath was loud and throaty. "You stole them, and you will give them BACK!" With a final roar, she seemed to relax, still breathing heavily, but calmer now.

"Hmmm," sighed Satisfaction. "Give them back."

One Orgasm At A Time 01

I should really write another chapter.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I usually just give characters reasonably-common names for their age and background, and short ones to save on typing, but when I needed an unexpected male American, I gave him the name Chad, as a short name that is jarringly foreign in England (there's a few churches named after St Chad, and the founder of the Samaritans was Chad Varah, but it's oddly never been rediscovered as a forename).

Shortly after publishing, I discovered that a Chad is apparently now an alpha-male dude type, which is quite ironic as my Chad is a mild-mannered scientist with an interest in history, who does no exercise beyond walking. But being a decent guy is enough to get him the girl anyway. So sort of prophetic?

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I often put hidden clues into the last names of characters. I used the last name Laska because in Norwegian or Finnish or something apparently it means love. My defiant victim in a non-con story had the last name Blomskold, in Swedish blom = flower and skold = shield. That was deliberate. Similarly, a medieval piece used a noblewoman of the house Lysgard (lys = lily) and the blacksmith house of Stolberg (steel hill). In my romance novel the lead male's last name is Brashford because he's fairly cocky and the lead female's last name is Crane because she's a leggy bird. Both of those went way over my beta readers' heads.

Phil is sometimes some side filler character and Norman is often another normal dude one of the gang. : P

 

[RetroFan]

In one of my stories about a lesbian PI and her brother's cheating wife I gave the characters surnames corresponding with famous spies, specifically the Cambridge Five spy ring. The lead character Rachel and her brother Daniel along with their parents are named Burgess; the brother's wife Sammi is from a family called McLean; Rachel and Daniel's sister Fiona and her husband have the surname Philby; and one of the clients Rachel meets in her work is a domineering harridan of a woman who believes her husband is cheating on her since he retired (in fact he is a secret Brony) and fittingly she is called Mrs Blunt. At work Rachel's boss is named Ian Cairncross, while another PI is named Claire Wake, with Nancy Wake being a famous allied spy originally from New Zealand who worked behind enemy lines in Europe during World War II.

Thinking about names for characters, have you ever 'inversed' the names, for example naming the office slut in one of your stories 'Chastity'?

 

[RetroFan]

In smoking fetish stories you tend to get a lot of
Nicole/Nicola/Tina

I've used Ashley as well.

I wonder why those names are so popular for that genre?

 

[TheLobster]

I wonder why those names are so popular for that genre?

It's skin-deep:

Nicole/Nicola/Tina

I've used Ashley as well.

 

[Unblemished]

In one of my drafts the narrating character meets some people for lunch, two of whom are her good friend Rowan and her new boyfriend…whose name the narrator doesn’t catch and never learns, to her mild embarrassment.

The joke is that those two characters were the leads of another story. Specifically, a first person one from the new boyfriend’s perspective, in which I never bothered to mention his name.

So it’s a bit of a lighthearted jab at myself.

(in that prior tale, the three girls the narrator was sharing digs with all had names based on plants: Rowan, Rose, Ash…so I suppose he ought to as well. But it’ll only come up if I finish the sequel, and right now that first-person male fantasy stroker stuff isn’t flowing easily for me. I go through phases, and writing time is scarce)

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I do not recall if I have ever done this in the past. Probably, but I cannot point to an example. I do have a period piece in the works featuring a certain Sir Richard, known by his subjects as Duke Dick.

 

[yowser]

I suppose 'Jamie Bragton' may have been a bit overdone. Or Richard Rostislav aka 'Penis Penisovich'.