Thanks to the Top 10 meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, I look forward to Tuesdays. Today's topic is composing of list of horrible character names. I can empathize with those who have unfortunate names. I spent the whole year of kindergarten trying to write my name correctly. Honestly, dad, did you have to include 2 'm's and lots of 'a's? I can't tell you how many times my name has been misspelled and mispronounced. To this day, I remember a math teacher who never uttered my name. The only way I knew he was talking to me was if he was looking directly at me. No joke. You've probably noticed some of my friends call me "Rum" when they post a comment. It's a nickname a few of my friends came up with because they were lazy to spell it out and then I guess it stuck. Hey, at least it's short and recognizable unlike some of these names.
Top 10 Most Unfortunate Character Names (in no particular order)
1. Minnie May from the Anne of Green Gable series by Lucy Montgomery. I couldn't stomach the book series, but I loved the TV miniseries. It's been a family tradition to watch the series during Thanksgiving/Christmas break at home. One of my favorite line of the movie is: "Minnie May, hold your tongue." Whenever someone at home gets out of line, this line can heard. I always thought that was her nickname, but not that's her full name. No wonder she was spoiled and bratty. Can you blame her?
2. Bartleby from Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville. Okay, technically this is a short story, but I always thought this name stuck out as a sore thumb. I guess if you're name was Bartleby then you're excused from doing anything.
3. Renesmee Carlie Cullen from Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. Enough said.
4. Ms. Hisslepenny from the Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger. I absolutely love this series, but this name cracks me up every time she appears. Like her name, her sense of fashion is atrocious.
5. Frodo from the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R. Tolkein. Really, Tolkein? You want me to have faith and root for a character named Frodo to save Middle Earth? It's bad enough the poor guy is a hobbit!
6. Elwin "Leper" Lepellier from A Separate Peace by John Knowles. *Sigh* Nice, poor kid, who never had the chance.
7. Shakespeare Shapiro from Spanking Shakespeare by Jake Wizner. Yup, that's his full name. His parents were having too much fun (if you catch my drift) when they named their children. Don't worry his younger brother, Gandhi, can commiserate with him.
8. Ponyboy Curtis from The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I adore this book and love the movie adaptation, but there were definitely strange names.
9. Bearstein Bears from The Bearstein Bears by Stan and Jan Berenstein. As a kid who loved this series, I was always upset that the family was never given any names. You would think that a husband and wife writing team would come up with any name besides Father Bear, Mother Bear, Sister Bear, and Brother Bear. Come on!
10. Biff and Happy Loman from The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. I was probably the only one in my sophomore English class that loved this play, but couldn't Miller come with better names. And can someone tell me how a guy named Biff can be a lady's man? As for his brother...*shakes head*
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HAHAAHA - I had Sodapop on mine. Oh, that S.E. . .
-Linds, bibliophile brouhaha
Good call on the Bernsteins!
I also thought Bartleby was the strangest name ever. Didn't help that I absolutely hated that story anyways :)
lol I can't believe I forgot Ponyboy! what a horrible name.
I think I'm one of the only people that actually liked the name renesmee.
Renesmee was on my list. I've seen Ponyboy and Soda Pop on a few too. Someone actually named a character "Leper". What were they thinking?
LOL so true about Biff & Happy.
Also Renesmee popped up on so many lists, can't believe I did not think of it. That is a truly terrible name combination.
@Kelly A: I wanted to say "I prefer not to" when we were told to read the story for sophomore English. :P
@Must Love Books: I think you're definitely in the minority, dear. ;)
@Loni: You know right off the bat that he's going to have a sad story.
@Danya: :D