Every morning I read the obituaries. It amazes me how detailed and informative some of them are. This morning I noticed an unusual name that I would like to bestow upon one of my fictional characters. Do you think it is morbid or quaint for an author to name fictional characters after real dead people?
I noticed that several authors auction off using your name in their next novel. I've considered bidding, but it wouldn't be that thrilling to have my name used as a minor character. And I don't think the authors would want to name their main character Evil Editor.
If you phone the deceased's relatives it'll probably go:
You: Is this the home of Wilfong Cloy?
Them: Uh, who's calling?
You: I'm an author and I saw the name Wilfong Cloy in the obituaries and decided it was the perfect name for a character in my new book. Do you mind?
[Click.]
Okay, you're not planning to tell them. But when your book comes out, will it be publicized in the same newspaper the obituary was in? Causing the family to buy the book and discover you stole their relative's name? What if the dead person comes back as a zombie? What about the front of the book where it says it's a coincidence if any of the names in the book resembles an actual person, living or dead? Have you considered using this person's first name and finding a last name in the phone book?
Wait, I have the perfect solution. Dump the name you want to use, and use Wilfong Cloy. It's safer, and it's a cooler name anyway.
5 comments:
Anybody want to use my name? Feel free. I'd like to be immortalized.
Marva Gurina Dasef
Good luck!
It also matters what country you live in. In the UK, you can't libel a
dead person, so if your character named after the dead person is a
child pornographer who likes to eat live newborn kittens, his family
can't sue. (In fact, that was the motive for a murder in one of Agatha Christie's books: the suee murdered the suer.) In the US, however, they can. I don't suppose the descendants of Thomas Jefferson could sue, because he was a public figure and he lived so long ago; but if someone claimed that my father, a career Army officer, sold military secrets to the Soviets, I'd have a pretty good case.
Assuming the name you saw isn't "Anna Nicole Smith" or "Charlton Heston" or "Heath Ledger" (or something similarly recognizable), I'm guessing you're OK.
I've learned that no matter what method you use to pick a name, real people with that name will come out of the woodwork as soon as you use it. At least this guy is dead.
AOL hated this comment apparently, but at least it sent it back to me to repost. I would hate to have lost this to the ether. ;-)
Gilligan's name came from the L.A. phone book.
Post a Comment