Caiaphas (23) The high priest who influenced the Hebrew Council to crucify Jesus. Scala, Can Grande ella (1) Dante's friend and protector in exile. Likewise, older folks can’t have names like ‘Brittany.’ Now that I think about it, though, an 80-year-old woman named ‘Brittany’ would be hilarious.”, “Funny is always going to win for me,” adds journeyman sitcom writer J.J. Wall. “Like, if your show is named The Justice System, you shouldn’t name your main guy Judge Jim Justice. Is there a better way to change everything about your life than by changing your name? Vanni Fucci (24) A thief who shocks Dante with his obscenity. Paolo da Rimini (5) Committed adultery with Francesca, his brother's wife. “You can’t really name a 20-year-old ‘Debbie’ because it’s a name from the 1950s. Bocca (32) Traitor of Florence. Argenti (8) Florentine, bitter enemy of Dante's. Geryon (17) A monster who represents fraud. “Although he did it with pride, so maybe he leaned into the ‘J’ as well.”. Ruggieri, Archbishop (10) Traitor who starved Ugolino and his sons. So someone inevitably says, ‘We can’t name the nerd Sherman — Sherman was the coolest guy in my high school!’ There’s a writer I work with who thinks nobody is actually named ‘Carl,’ it’s only on TV — meanwhile, every single one of my dad’s friends is named ‘Carl.’”, “Never, ever, EVER have your main character’s name be involved in the title of the show in any way,” pleads Kevin Biggins, a co-executive producer on Family Guy. “[The character is] a scientist who talks like Jerry Lewis,” Kogen notes. Gianni Schicchi (3) Aided a member of the Donati family in falsifying a will. ", Malacoda (21) One of the Malebranche. That is, Lucille enters just as Michael says to Gob, “Get rid of the Seaward.”, Her response: “I’ll leave when I’m good and ready.”. Another would be Archer J. Maggott, a vile character played by Telly Savalas in 1967’s The Dirty Dozen. Let’s just be lazy and call her Erin,’ and now I know who I’m working with.” Another Simpsons character, Professor Frink, is named after Kogen’s friend John Frink. Tatham’s name for him? Could you give me a name for the mayor of Saint Olaf?’ I knew the mayor’s name would have a Swedish sound, so I just blurted out ‘Handentill! 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But when the ground isn’t rumbling, he also tries to name characters after his childhood friends because “it’s fun for me, it’s fun for them, it’s fun for everyone.” (He named Quagmire’s daughter “Courtney” after his sister.) Vigne, Pier delle (13) He was unjustly imprisoned for graft and committed suicide. Cleopatra (5) Queen of Egypt; mistress of Caesar and Mark Antony. We want the guy’s name to have a hard consonant sound, like ‘Jake’ or ‘Max,’ because that’s a hot guy’s name, rather than something soft like ‘Ashley.’ Hard consonant names imply ruggedness and manliness, while the softer, more lyrical names for girls imply romance.”, “Oh God, what a silly thing to be a priority,” counters veteran TV writer Rob Ulin, who doesn’t understand why fictional names would ever be determined by their characters. Why It's Funny: The surname's a single vowel away from a descriptive swear word. “It’s quite a coincidence that I named a character after him, and he became the top producer of the show.”, If he has to come up with a name from scratch, Kogen takes his cue from Charles Dickens and attempts to make the name sound like the character — a la “Mr. Cruelty,” so he tries to pick unique names that match the tone of the character, pointing to The Simpsons’ “Smithers” and “Mr. Celestine V, Pope (3) Resigned the papal throne, thus making way for Pope Boniface VIII. “There was a level of sophistication and respect that we wanted to give him before revealing exactly what his job was,” she tells me. from your Reading List will also remove any About The Divine Comedy: Inferno. Nicholas, III, Pope (19) Successor to Pope John XXI; accused of Simony. Some of the best names, Vallely says, are those that reflexively slide off his tongue. Virgil A "shade" residing in the Limbo section of Hell, also known as the first circle. Now, the writers’ mandate was to come up with an idiotic name for him. Virgil is a poet of antiquity, much admired by Dante, and the perfect guide for Dante's journey. © 2020 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. (“Bluth” is a combination of “Blurred-Truth.”) Reading the pilot was confusing since the characters included Michael, George, George Michael, Oscar and Gob (George Oscar Bluth). It largely depends on their age, she says. The inspiration for Dante's work. Screenwriters on ‘The Simpsons,’ ‘Arrested Development’ and many other comedies share the stories behind instant classics like … The inspiration for Dante's work. Ugolino, Count (33) Imprisoned with his sons and starved to death. CliffsNotes study guides are written by real teachers and professors, so no matter what you're studying, CliffsNotes can ease your homework headaches and help you score high on exams. “We’re writing something at Hallmark right now, and her name is ‘Josie’ because it’s romantic and lighthearted. Erichtho (9) Sorceress who conjured Virgil's spirit to help Dante. Mayor Handentill!’ Betty laughed, which is as good as it gets. Calvacanti, Cavalcante dei (10) Father of the poet Guido who is Dante's friend. “In real life, people’s characters aren’t determined by their names. Diomede (26) Companion of Ulysses in his last voyage. “James Cameron must be stopped.”, “I’m from Chicago so I like to name characters after people I know there, like Ned Crowley,” says Christine Zander, who’s written for 3rd Rock From the Sun, Nurse Jackie and Samantha Who? Oftentimes, says former Simpsons writer Jay Kogen, he borrows friends’ names for characters. They’re not tough guys because their name is ‘Mac’; his name could just as easily be ‘Jeff.’ People named ‘Stuart’ have romances, too!”, Jonathan Green, who’s written for The Office, The Cleveland Show and The Mindy Project, tends to agree with Ulin and says naming characters always takes longer than it should, “maybe because it’s easier than actually writing.” Sometimes he and his writing partner Gabe Miller hold off on naming characters until late in the process because they know what a time-suck it can be. It would be a good name for a HUGE dork.”, Biggins’ favorite character name of all time? Donati family (28) A politically powerful family who caused the split in the political parties. Nessus (12) One of the Centaurs, killed by Hercules. Removing #book# In Season Three of Arrested Development, the show’s writers needed a name for Scott Baio’s character, a defense attorney replacing the Bluth family’s deeply incompetent lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn, played by Henry Winkler. Called "the Scourge of God." Let’s Noodle Around and Find Out, This Is What You Can Do to Prepare for a Miserable COVID Winter. Attila (12) Chief of the Huns. Search over 100,000 characters using visible traits like hair color, eye color, hair length, age, and gender on Anime Characters Database. Coincidentally, he explains, years later, John Frink became a writer on The Simpsons, and later an executive producer. Judas Iscariot (34) One of the twelve disciples. Harpies (13) In mythology, birds with the faces of women. What are some of the funniest or cleverest character names you’ve created or seen? He is said to represent human reason and wisdom. “If you’re an expert with using names judiciously, long after readers have finished reading something, they’ll circle back and think, Oh yeah, it’s right there in the name.” That said, he cautions his students to tread carefully. Jason (28) Leader of the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece. Attila (12) Chief of the Huns. Much like how a magician uses the power of misdirection, Fisher says good short-story writing includes subtle guidance to “play” the reader so that by the end of the story everything, including the names, makes sense. I remember hearing a guy talking about his priest / warrior duo. Previous Thaïs (18) A courtesan who flattered her lover excessively. On one occasion he betrayed the Guelphs and caused their defeat. bookmarked pages associated with this title. His favorite was for a character on the Golden Girls, on which he wrote in the early 1990s. She was Aeneas' lover. The Google, considered and rejected for the character, An Oral History of ‘Steamed Hams,’ the Funniest ‘Simpsons’ Scene Ever Recorded, Rebuilding Man’s Best Friend: The Sudden Rise in Dog Cloning, The Forgotten Battles of the Harlem Hellfighters, Which Pasta Shapes Taste the Best? Guido His son. The Undead priest was called Rattlecage The Tauren warrior’s name was Cattlerage. The worst name he’s ever seen was written on a name tag at a golf event: “The name tag read ‘Dudley Underdonk.’” I plan on using it for a character one day. double points for managing to pull off that project with style and charm, not self-seriousness.”, “MEL f--kin rules they’re so consistently knocking it out of the park and everyone on the staff It’s not a particularly great joke, but it was fast, which sometimes is very handy.”, Vallely’s favorite names on Arrested Development, though, were saved for inanimate objects. (Jack Palance turned the role down because of Maggott’s racism.) “One day, they were pre-shooting some scenes and Betty White called the writers room and asked for me,” he recalls. The number following each name refers to the canto in which the character first appears. Kogen, who also worked on Frasier, calls Frasier’s brother “Niles” a “perfect” onomatopoeia name. Ulysses (26) Legendary hero of Homer's Odyssey. Dr. Julius Hibbert, for example, Springfield’s most prominent doctor, who makes no effort to hide his high prices, was named for Kogen’s friend Julia Sweeney (who at the time was married to a man named Steve Hibbert). “Mitch loved the confusion of calling a main character a pop-star name,” he explains. She entreats Virgil to save Dante. Luke Skywalker, because it’s “simply the coolest. The father inquires about him in Hell. Cassius (34) One of the conspirators who killed Julius Caesar. Malabranche (21) Demons who punish the barrators. “‘Darling,’ she said, ‘I love the Saint Olaf story, but we have the mayor in it and he doesn’t have a name. Tarrz-tichondrius 23 July 2019 20:42 #2. Geri del Bello (29) Cousin to Dante whose murder was not avenged. “Loblaws is a big grocery store chain in my native Canada,” Tatham tells me, explaining that back in the day, he’d heard his father making a joke about “Bob Loblaw” (which, when said quickly, sounds like “blah blah blah”). “It’s weird, fancy and kind of British, which is exactly who Niles is.”, Robert Morgan Fisher, a professor of creative writing at Antioch University, calls Dickens a “master” at naming and urges his students to learn from his penchant for never wasting a name.