Photo: Getty Images
This is a puffer, a very poisonous fish, as you may know. What you may not know is that “Puffer” is the surname of some actual humans. And that’s not the only unusual name out there.
In high school, I was impressed that a poetry-leaning classmate kept lists of vibrant and suggestive words just in case she might need one for a composition.
Not long after, I started collecting interesting names I heard on the radio or saw in the newspaper. I thought they could come in handy for writing fiction or plays. I’ve lost more lists than I’ve saved, alas.
Now it’s late in the day, and I offer my most recent list to you. Perhaps you can use a couple of these, real names of real people. Of course, realness could be a problem, I suppose, since no one will believe the names are not invented like so many in Dickens.
Here goes.
Wigglesworth
Charlemagne Palestine
Welfling
Shipchandler
Tobacman
Wagg
Bogus
Puffer
Weatherwax
Issie Swickle
Cowherd
Goodgame
Shortsleeve
Capeless
Lane Partridge
Toogood
Amelia Gentleman
Dr. Doctor
Noteworthy
Getsick
Death
Let me know if you use one and what the personalty of your character is. I don’t suppose I’ll ever stop collecting these as I find people’s names just too wonderful. So get in touch with me down the road. Or send me your own finds. T.S. Eliot says that the “naming of cats is a difficult matter,” but the naming of characters shouldn’t be difficult with so many awesome names out there.
(PS. Speaking of Eliot, check out this early reading of Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, with Robert Donat. I’ve had the amazing recording since childhood.)
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