First names, surnames, pet names. Why? Or ridiculous names. Im reading a book where the last name is Capobianco (not super difficult, I know) but every time I read the last name it pulls me out of the story. And the dogs name is Poopsie. The dog is just my aversion to the word poop, but ugh. Anyone else have this issue?
I get it for cultural purposes and I understand every character can't be Jones or Smith. Just wondering if it pulls anyone else out of the story when they read them?
by Just-Ad-6965
17 Comments
“Why doesn’t every author in the world cater to my sensibilities?”
Capobianco is a real surname though…
I know, right? Can we not just give people numbers and have done with it?
>’Stately, plump Character #382 came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.’
or
>’Call me Character #219.’
Much better.
Maybe reading isn’t for you
> Capobianco
This is [an actual surname](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capobianco). And FWIW, Italian words are easier to pronounce than English ones because the pronunciation of each letter is more standardised.
My guess is that they want to avoid any potential associations with names of characters in other works, so they try to come up with names that are less likely to appear elsewhere.
I read a whole book series where there is a character with the last name Villeneuve and I read it as Villanueva in my head for most of the series. He was French too.
“why do I find it difficult to pronounce some names”
You mean difficult-for-YOU-to-pronounce names.
> but every time I read the last name it pulls me out of the story
this is really a you problem.
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I thought I was the only one who did this! I especially hate it when it’s the first name. Every time it’s written, I spend 10 seconds pronouncing it several ways.
The name either needs to be extremely common, or there are none of them.
If you pick a name of which there are 10 people, the real John Krazinski can sue you for using his likeness.
Such an ignorant post.
names in fiction are often symbolic. capobianco, for example, means ‘white-hair” or more colloquially, “fair-skinned”. you haven’t said what book you’re referring to but is there something about the character that this name helps represent?
use of names could even be as simple as indicating a character’s background. naming a character Juan instead of John tells us something about the character.
Pupsis/Pupsė are actual animal names (I’ve encountered dog, Guinea pig). Although I can see the association andwhy it would knock you off. Capobianco is a real, normal name too. Easy to pronounce, by the way.
Sounds like you spend a lot of time in strictly anglophone environment and are not exposed to other languages/naming conventions?
I can see names sticking out, though, sometimes, often in fantasy. Someotimes it feels that the authors compete to give long, hard to pronounce names. These often involve unexpected combos of consonants (e.g. “kt” – just rolls of your tongue).
This sounds like a you problem.