Speaking name

When speaking names are called names of people or places in literary and cinematic works, which - according to the phrase name says - the people and places by their outside wording in question is intrinsically characterized.

Such a naming appears particularly appealing when it represents a subtle allusion that requires the reader to decipher it . In contrast, especially in children's books, there are hardly any countable examples of naming of persons who express a special characteristic of the fictional person directly and unencrypted.

Speaking names are among the oldest stylistic devices in literature. Even in the oral tradition of myths and legends, the actors were often given a name that clarified their characteristics. For example, the name of Prometheus in the Greek legend means “the one who looks ahead”, that of his brother Epimetheus means “the one who thinks afterwards”.

In classical allegorical literature, the names usually do not require any interpretation on the part of the reader. In John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress , for example, the pilgrim meets the giant “Despair”, who is the master of the “castle of doubt”.

An aesthetically attractive coding of speaking names can be done with the most varied of style figures , in particular

Pun ( paronomasia , polysemy , anagram )
Onomatopoeia ( onomatopoeia )

Acronyms and apronyms

In the broadest sense, most personal names (see e.g. Hubert ) and also names / designations of things (e.g. castle ) are 'speaking names', because they are derived from other meanings, often from ancient languages , with regard to their word origin (see etymology ) .

More recently, the concept of speaking names ( identifiers ) has also found application in the technical field, for example via naming conventions in programming .

Personal names in literature

According to his name, Gottlieb Biedermann appears in Max Frisch's Biedermann und die Brandstifter as the personified courage who, with his petty-bourgeois weakness of will, proves to be incapable of stopping the arsonists.

Walter Faber , the main character in Max Frisch's novel Homo faber, represents the modern type of person who believes in technology (“homo faber” translates as: the technical / manual worker).

Holly Golightly , the protagonist in Truman Capote's novel Breakfast at Tiffany’s : the name Golightly contains the English words go and lightly which, when placed next to each other, mean something like: "Take it easy", a phrase which aptly reflects the attitude towards life of the character Holly. This idea is further developed in that an eternally abusive Chinese roommate always addresses Holly in dialogues as "Miss Gorightly", that is, as the one who lives properly .

Lemuel Gulliver , the narrator and the main character from Jonathan Swift's novel Gullivers Reisen : In allusion to the English word gullible, which means something like "gullible", "gullible" or "simple-minded", the name alludes to the naive, gullible character the figure of Gulliver.

von Kalb , the court marshal in Schiller's Cabal and Love, symbolizes a somewhat stupid representative of the nobility with his name.

Kantorek is the name of a teacher from Erich Maria Remarque's novel In the West, nothing new . He persuades his students to volunteer for front service in the First World War . “ Cantor ” not only refers to a cantor , but was also widely used in Central Germany as a synonym for “teacher”.

Klöterjahn is the name of a coarse but vigorous wholesaler in Thomas Mann's novella Tristan . "Klöten" is the Low German word for testicles , "Jahn" is also derived from " Johannes ", a colloquial nickname for the male member.

Willy Loman (English pronounced Willy low man: "little man; man who is on the ground") is the traveling salesman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman , whose name already identifies him as the depressed loser he is introduced to the reader as - such a common interpretation. According to Miller, the name of the character Karl Lohmann in The Testament of Dr. Mabuse borrowed.

Lottarius is one of the villains in Jörg Wickram's novel Der Junge Knaben Spiegel . His dissolute - lottery - lifestyle is reflected in his name.

Major Major Major Major is a character in the novel Catch-22 whose military career is as absurd as his name.

Peter Schlemihl , the main character in Peter Schlemihl's wondrous story of Adelbert von Chamisso, turns out to be unlucky after he has sold his shadow to a strange gentleman, in keeping with the Yiddish meaning of the name Schlemihl .

In Thomas Mann's novel Doctor Faustus, Else Schweigestill is a farmer who talks almost non-stop.

Simplicius is the eponymous character in the picaresque novel The adventurous Simplicissimus von Grimmelshausen , which already by its name (which it receives from a hermit) demonstrates its natural simplicity and ignorance, which contrasts sharply with the horrors of the Thirty Years' War that he experienced.

Wurm , also made of cabal and love, is the slimy, power-hungry and scheming secretary of the president who, on the one hand, behaves like a worm and, on the other, destroys his environment through constant worm feeding.

In the comedy Volpone by the English playwright Ben Jonson , each character has an Italian animal name (Volpone, the fox ; Corvino, the raven ; Voltore, the vulture , etc.), which equates them with the humanized peculiarities of these animals.

In the Harry Potter novels , several characters have a descriptive name. B. the strict teacher Severus Snape ("severus" means "strict" in Latin) or Sirius Black , who is believed to be a dangerous murderer, but is actually on Harry's side. This contrast between good and evil is reflected in its name, which combines the name of the brightest star in the night sky and the English word for "black". Furthermore, Sirius is also known as the "dog star" - and Sirius Black can transform into a dog.

The name of Baron Lefuet in Timm Thaler by James Krüss , when read backwards, results in "devil", which in a sense actually is.

Numerous characters from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Guilt and Atonement have speaking Russian names, see here .

Personal names in the Bible

Many biblical names are speaking or have been interpreted as speaking names. A partial list would be:

Adam means man and is linguistically related to adama ( earth ), cf. Gen 2,7 EU and Gen 3,17 EU , where Hebrew adam and adama are related to each other.

Eva ( Hebrew חַוָּה, ḥawwāh ) means something like the invigorating one and is linguistically related to Hebrew חָיָה( ḥayâ ), live ( Gen 3,20 EU ).

Abel means breath of wind and indicates his quickly past life.

Abraham means father of many .

Sarah means mistress .

Moses is actually an Egyptian name and means son (cf. Ramoses or Tutmoses ), but his name has been reinterpreted as the one drawn out of the water according to the Hebrew word for pulling ( Ex 2.10 EU ).

Nabal means gate ; here the speaking meaning is made explicit ( 1 Sam 25.25 EU ).

Peter was actually called Simon, he was given the name rock (Greek petros)by Jesus.

Paulus was actually called Saul of Tarsus, he described himself as the insignificant (Latin Paulum).

Personal names in comics

Anthony Lupus : A track and field athlete in the Batman comics who turns into a werewolf by ingesting an experimental serum, which his last name (lupus is the Latin word for wolf) refers to.

Bart Simpson : The name Bart for the sloppy son of the family, who is the focus of the animated series The Simpsons , was formed as a deliberate anagram of the English word brat (roughly "cheeky brat ").

Clark Kent , the civil secret identity of Superman is composed of the names of the actors Clark Gable and Kent Taylor , who were popular at the time of the invention of the comic hero. The name was supposed to transfer the popularity and dynamism of the actors to the comic book heroes. The name Clark Kent is now a "silent" speaking name because Taylor was forgotten.

Daniel Düsentrieb , a character from the Donald Duck comics, whose name vividly sums up his tireless ingenuity.

Desaad is a cruel god in the New Gods comic series , whose sadistic personality is suggested by his name, which is based on the name of the Marquis de Sade (after whom the word sadism is named).

Droopy , a character from cartoon series and films as well as comics by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer: The English word droopy means something like “drooping” or “limp and powerless” and alludes to both the beagle's drooping lips and his lethargic nature on.

Edward Nigma , (E. Nigma, phonetically enigma [English for riddle]) is the alter ego of the Riddler , a comic book character who is known for asking riddles (also English enigmas).

Isnogud (English and French name Iznogoud: Slang: Is no good , " Is no good / He is not good"), the unfortunate title character of a French comic series of the same name: Isnogud is a scheming grand vizier who always tries in vain to win over his masters, the good-hearted caliph Harun al Pussah, to be eliminated by attacks, so that he can become caliph himself: Isnogud's depravity of character is already evident from his name.

Lucky Luke , the hero of the comic series of the same name by Morris: A cowboy who often manages to save himself from tricky situations with an unusual streak of luck, and who is therefore lucky, i.e. fortunate.

The Beagle Boys from the Donald Duck comic books devote all their efforts the sole aim of the armored money bin of Uncle Scrooge crack.

Preston Payne , a villain in the Batman comic book series : The name sounds pronounced like "pressed in pain" (English for: "pressed by pain", more freely: "driven"), which alludes to the fact that the afflicted by a rare disease Payne is driven to his crimes by the pain caused by this disease, which mainly involve the transmission of his "pressing pain" to others through physical contact, whereby he himself receives relief (Payne has a kind of reverse Midas touch: Who touches by him becomes, dies).

Sinestro is the archenemy of the superhero Green Lantern in the comic series of the same name. The name is phonetically based on the English word sinister , which means something like dark or gloomy. The name sounds to English ears something like "Düsterling" to German.

Temple Fugate (phonetically close to the Latin " tempus fugit" ) is the alter ego of the Clock King, a comic villain whose deeds mostly revolve around the subject of clocks and time.

Tunichtgud , a character in the Isnogud comic series : Tunichtgud is the henchman of the evil Grand Vizier Isnogud and on his orders does countless questionable assignments. He therefore “does not” “do well”, but participates in all kinds of bad endeavors.

Wile E. Coyote is a Looney Tunes character . The first name has the same sound as wily , which means something like clever or cunning in German.

The characters from the Asterix comics and those of the Trolls from Troy also often have meaningful names, which in the translated versions, however, usually go to the account of the respective translator.

Personal names in films and series

Movies

James Bond films : Pussy Galore , Bond girl from Goldfinger (played by Honor Blackman ). Pussy is both a cat name and the slang term for the female genitals; galore means "in abundance". This naming was taken up several times in the three parts of the James Bond parody Austin Powers :

Alotta Fagina : This supposedly Italian name caricatures the slightly frivolous naming practice of Bond with its over-explicit, almost brutalizing-direct, not to be overlooked allusion to a physical charm of the figure (English a lot of vagina - “a lot of vagina”) - Producers at the Bond Girls.
Felicity Shagwell : (German Felicity Schickfick); from shag (dt. fuck ), well (dt. good )

101 Dalmatians :

The name of the villain Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmatians , who kill innocent animals and have their fur peeled off in order to have expensive furs made from them, is composed of English. cruel (Eng. "cruel") and devil (Eng. "Devil").

Looney Toons cartoons

The assistant of Marvin the Martian, a Martian conqueror who recreates the characters Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck in various Looney Toons cartoons , is K 9 . This abbreviation "kay-nine" sounds pronounced in English, which sounds just like the word canine ("dog, doggy; related to the dog") for English speakers . Since "K 9" is a (Martian) dog with green fur (and a Roman-looking helmet on its head), the name of this dog is basically nothing more than its generic name, which corresponds to the space theme that the cartoons in them it occurs in a manner that seems mathematical and technical.

Star Wars Movies :

The names of the Sith Lords, the evil opponents of the good Jedis in the Star Wars films, always consist of compositions that begin with the word Darth (Darth Maul, Darth Plageuis, Darth Sidious, Darth Tyranus, Darth Vader). In this way, the sombre nature of the Sith, who are guided by the "dark side" of the force (in contrast to the Jedi, who are under the influence of the light side), is already linguistically turned outwards, since the word darth is tonally narrow is based on the English word dark ("dark"). The second part of Sith names is mostly made up of words related to illness and death. Plagueis is derived from the word plague ("plague") and Sidious from insidious ("insidious").
The name of the bounty hunter Greedo (based on the English word greed "greed") in the first Star Wars film from 1977 (Episode IV "A New Hope") alludes to the greed that ultimately becomes the undoing of the name bearer (he is at attempting to capture the figure of the smuggler Han Solo in order to collect a bounty placed on him, shot by him).
The name of the main villain in the Star Wars films, the manipulative politician Palpatine , who through intrigues soars from senator to chancellor of the Galactic Republic and then to dictator of the Galactic Empire, is derived from the Latin "palpator", which means "flatterer".

Truman Show :

Truman , the main character of the film The Truman Show : Truman sounds like "true man" when spoken , which alludes to the fact that Truman is the ignorant leading actor on a reality TV show, the only one "real" and real acting person in the reality of the Truman show, which is otherwise populated only by actors who only embody their given role.

The great white shark :
The name of the shark hunter Quint, played by Robert Shaw in the film The Great White Shark, is derived from the Latin word quintus ("The Fifth"), which in a hidden way anticipates the fate of the character: He is the fifth person to appear in the course of the The film about the great white shark, whose hunt for people in the waters off an island on the American west coast forms the plot of the film, is killed.

Other films :

Major asshole in spaceballs . In the English original he is called Major Asshole , which means something like "upper asshole" in German.
Kraven in Underworld : craven is English for "perfect coward".
The name Emmett Lathrop Brown , the "Doc" from the Back-to-the-Future series, sounds similar to the English time portal when the two first names are pronounced backwards .
In the film The Naked Cannon , an African American witness gives his name as Whitey Weissmann , which is a caricature on speaking names.

Series of action figures

The characters in the Princess of Power character series published by Mattel from 1985 to 1987 mostly have names that correspond to their abilities or character traits. Example: She-Ra (the superheroess as twin sister of He-Man ). Further examples from Series 1 (1985): Bow (archer), Glimmer (glitters when teleporting), Angela (has angel wings), Castaspella (works magic spells), Catra (has cat ears and a tail).

Personal names in children's series

Little Witch Klavi-Klack : The teacher Mr. Pythagoras Oberschlau , the piano teacher Ms. Melodiaastenbruch , the opera singer Mr. Vistolin Leiseton ,
Many characters in Thomas Brezina's books and programs have meaningful names, e.g. B. Rudi Ratte , Fritz Fantom and Gustav Geldsack in the Tom Turbo series .
Benjamin Blümchen / Bibi Blocksberg : Many characters have meaningful names, e.g. B. the witch Bibi Blocksberg , reporter Karla Kolumna , zoo director Tierlieb , businessman Schmeichler , travel entrepreneur Aufschneider , mayor Pressack (a veiled "food sack" and at the same time a self-speaking name), feed and animal dealer Raffke , marketing expert Ulrich sales , panda thief Klaudi u. v. a .; An exception is the lawyer Schwindelmeier , who is quite innocent despite his name (probably alluding to the general cunning of his profession) ; Also, not a word is said about a possible (at least moderate) alcohol consumption by Mayor Pichler's secretary . Animals usually have a speaking first name that is alliterative with their species ( Leo Leo ); in one case, however, the name is, for once, decidedly non-speaking, namely Garfield Gorilla , whose parents "actually would have liked a hangover ".
A whole episode of Janosch's dream lesson deals in detail with the thesis that a person named Antek Pistole has missed his job as a broom-maker and must become a robber.

Personal names in video games

The video game series Donkey Kong in particular creates meaningful names by apparently shortening the first name. For example, the Kremling boss King K. Rool (pronounced King Cruel , which means something like "King Cruel" in German), K. Lumsy (pronounced Clumsy , English "clumsy") or B. Locker (pronounced Blocker , a wooden figure the entrances in Donkey Kong 64 blocked). Other examples from the series that do not use this technique include: B. Cranky Kong , the name of the monkey grandfather, means something like quirky monkey .

Alan Wake and the protagonist of the same name are an allusion to awake (Engl. Awake , awake ).

Max Payne can be interpreted as an expression of maximum pain (Engl. Maximum pain ) read. Painkillers used in the same game are also referred to as painkillers , which can be read conversely as Payne killers .

In the SimCity 3000 urban planning simulator , the lack of relevant information is filled in by wordplay messages in a ticker line. B. Dr. Akula takes over the municipal blood bank , the consultants also have meaningful names e.g. B. Traffic advisor Moe Biehl (mobile)

The protagonist of the game Interstate '76 , the plot of which was presented in the style of a television show, is called Groove Champion and is played by a fictional actor named Everett Mann . The latter name can be read as everyman = everyone .

Place names in books

Lake Wobegon is the name of a fictional small town in the American Midwest that has many stories set by Garrison Keillor . Allegedly, the name derives from an Indian word that means something like "We sat in the rain all day and waited for you", but the English woebegone means "pitiful" or "sorely tried".

Neverland (English Neverland) is the name of a fictional magical land in the youth book Peter Pan or the Boy who would not grow up by James Matthew Barrie , which is not in a geographically fixable place, but can be reached through a mystical sequence of movements in the starry sky and thus practically "nowhere is".

Fantasia is the name of the fantastic country, into whose story Bastian, the protagonist of the Neverending Story , is drawn into while reading the same. Fantasy is the land where people's fantasies live.

Güllen is the name of the impoverished small town from Friedrich Dürrenmatt's tragicomic drama The Visit of the Old Lady . On the one hand, the name gives an indication of the external condition of the city as well as the morale of its citizens.

Entenhausen (English: Duckburg and Mouseton ) is the main venue of the stories in the Disney universe of Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse .

Place names in films and series

Metropolis is a fictional city set in the movie Metropolis and the Superman stories. Metropolis ( metropolis ) is a term for a large city and comes from the Greek, where it literally means something like "mother city".

Smallville is the counterpart to Metropolis . In the small town ( small "small", -ville "town"), Clark Kent, who later became Superman, spendshis childhood and youthin the television series Smallville .

Seahaven is the city where the Truman show movie hero Truman Burbank lived his life. Seahaven is actually a huge Big Brother movie site, where all the residents except Truman Burbank are actors. Truman has no inkling of this, his life is broadcast into the world as a reality show . Seahaven is intended to suggest to the English viewer an association with the term see heaven , in German about Sieh 'das Himmelreich .

Blüdhaven is the neglected neighboring city of Gotham City . The former Robin Dick Grayson decided to leave Batman and move to Blüdhaven as Nightwing . The name of the city is clearly reminiscent of blood haven , thus alluding to the (even worse) states of crime .

Names in "real life"

In the real world, speaking personal names occasionally come from the deliberate assignment of names by the parents (for example by the fact that carriers of a certain family name give their offspring specific first names in order to enable certain puns or ambiguities), through misunderstandings or through shifts in meaning due to the different semantic content or the different pronunciation of certain words in different languages.

Ursula Andress : When the Swiss actress in 1962 in the role of the erotic, bikini-wearing, shell diver Honey Rider in the film James Bond, Dr. No became famous, numerous critics and moviegoers in the English-speaking world interpreted Andress's surname - which is pronounced like the English word undress ("undress") - as "meaningful" as it ideally fits her revealing role.
Karl Schwarzschild : The Schwarzschild radius, the radius of the event horizon, is named after this physicist and astronomer . A distant observer perceives the event horizon as a spherical black boundary surface, from the inside of which no information reaches him, i.e. H. as a black shield through which nothing can escape. The radius of this black shield is the Schwarzschild radius.
Abdullah Öcalan : leader and chairman of the PKK . One can derive his name as the “avenger” from the Turkish “Öç”. This is ironic in that Turkish names have been imposed on most of the Kurds in Turkey . When the Turkish officials carried out the Turkishization , they could not have suspected that a descendant of the first Mr. Öcalan would become an "avenger" of the Kurds.
Prof. Wolfgang Leistenschneider was a well-known urologist - not only because of his name in specialist circles.

Occasionally speaking names also act like a self-fulfilling prophecy : For example, the desire of the later national player Erich Kühnhackl to become a professional ice hockey player was reinforced by his name.

The song " A Boy Named Sue " by Johnny Cash tells of the opposite case : To ensure that his son does not become "effeminate", the father gave him the female first name "Sue".

Personal names in legal education

The naming plays a special role in cases to be worked on by students at law faculties. Usually, those involved in the issues are labeled A, B, etc. In civil law, K is used for buyer or S for debtor, in criminal law T for perpetrator or O for victim. However, it can also happen that the parties involved are given an apparently full civil name. This is a meaningful name if its short form also corresponds to its position as a participant in the legal assessment. Examples:

From Titus Tunichtgut is abbreviated T. and denotes a criminal in a criminal case.
Gustav Gutglaub is abbreviated to G and denotes a believer.
Volker Vergib would be a name for a salesman.

In addition, names are used for those involved in the process that may have a special characteristic:

Dr. Smart for a judge
Attorney Smart
Public Prosecutor Stahlmann
Gustav Grünkern for a minister of agriculture in a public law case

It is assumed that the reason for the use of descriptive names is that the study of law, which is perceived as boring and brittle, receives a supposedly humorous component.

Personal names in cryptography

In cryptology , too, the parties involved are often named in declarations not just alphabetically Alice and Bob , Carol and Dave, but according to their roles. So functions about Eve, from Engl. eavesdropper (in German eavesdropper), as an unwanted listener, Trudy, from Engl. intruder , as an intruder into a computer system.

Speaking names in programming

In programming , speaking or more precisely self-explanatory names serve to improve the readability of program texts. More complex programs without meaningful names are more difficult to maintain due to their poor readability , which makes troubleshooting and further developments more difficult. The use of meaningful names can be prescribed or recommended by means of naming conventions for all source text parts that are to be addressed in the programming language with an identifier (name), for example for data fields and / or functions .

Example: While a compiler could process source text constructs such as "Proz" or "Numm5" or "Text4" or "ROUTINE_AB" (basically also "XZ56AB" = completely non-speaking ), - e . B. in maintenance - terms such as "VAT rate" or "invoice amount" or "StrasseHsNr" or "BERECHNEN_RABATT" (= descriptive name ) are easier to understand with regard to their "intended use".

Individual evidence

↑ See the article in English .

[1] See the article in English .