John Wayne  

Okay, what did you see when you read his name?  Did you picture him in some favorite movie?  Which one?  True Grit?  The Shootist?  Or, The Quiet Man?

We all have an image we form when we hear names, especially if the names are well-known and famous.  James Bond, Dirty Harry, Quickdraw McGraw…the list is endless.

Recently, the movie Rio Bravo was on a cable channel.  The cast was as follows:

John Wayne ... Sheriff John T. Chance

Dean Martin ... Dude ('Borachón')
Ricky Nelson ... Colorado Ryan
Angie Dickinson ... Feathers

Walter Brennan ... Stumpy

The summary of the movie:

“A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a cripple, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.”

As I watched it once more, this time I paid attention to the monikers. Dude.  Colorado.  Feathers.  Stumpy.  Life had to be interesting if those were one’s names.

Ricky Nelson’s character ‘Colorado’ had no life skills.  Not really good with a gun, he was ‘the kid’ who wanted to be bigger than life, as ‘Sheriff John T. Chance’ was huge.   He chose the name ‘Colorado’. 

This set me to wonder what name I would chose given the fact that I am a 60 yr. old retired school teacher with some extra pounds.

These were some choices:

Des Moines           Boise          Newark            Dubuque     or instead of cities,

Sourdough            Limburger   Blumenthal    Lentil        or, how about,

Lancet                   Boil             Incontinent    Salivate

Silly, I know.  But, what made me think is that the character’s names pre-established my perceptions of them.  Angie wouldn’t have come across well if her name was ‘Stumpy’, and Walter Brennan became ‘Dude’.  The character’s name is all important. 

Something to keep in mind in the crafting of a character in my writing.