Naming

Naming

The names with which we label these dolls may be of importance. In these days names have little significance, yet we still feel that a name from its very sound may be appropriate or otherwise, and no careful writer would give to his characters appellations selected at random. Names are frequently used to good advantage as aids to character depiction or to enhance humorous effects, as in the case of Hawthorne's Feathertop and Monsieur du Miroir, and Irving's Ichabod Crane, and in many other instances familiar to readers of Dickens.

"Dickens's names are marvelously apt, as we see from the passing into common phrase of so many of them. Not a few have become synonyms for the kind of character to which they were attached. . . . If a name is to hint at character it should do so in the subtlest manner possible--in a manner so subtle as to escape all but the quick-witted, who will forgive the inartistic method in their pride at being so clever as to detect the writer's intention. . . . In these days, when craftsmanship is cared for and looked for more than ever, . . . novelists must sacrifice nothing that will lend a trick of reality to their imaginings.

The names of the characters should be carefully and appropriately chosen. A woman of dignity and maturity would be seriously handicapped by the name "Flossie. " A fop or a dandy could hardly act the part if he were named after one of the Minor Prophets.

Rupert Hughes, author of Excuse Me, makes an excellent and helpful suggestion, with a closing remark pertinent at this point: "The selection of names for characters is an exciting process. There are few books that make more fascinating reading than a telephone book. In selecting labels for characters, I try to avoid literary names for the serious people and burlesque names for the flippant. "