So I Need a Name...
I'm currently involved in the umpteenth rewrite of my supernatural thriller, and one of the things getting overhauled is the villain. He's getting more depth, more evil, a more coherent motivation.
Sounds like an MTV show. "Pimp My Villain".
Anyhow, what he also needs is a new name, because the old name -- John -- is just too dull to cut it. I was just leafing through a baby name book, but nothing is jumping out.
So I'm taking suggestions, now.
First name, last name, if it's evocative I'll take it. Nothing too on the nose, though -- I don't want to call him Damon, or Lou Cypher, or any riff on anything Satanic.
A brief thumbnail sketch --
He's in his late 30s. Wealthy, shady businessman, but with a lot of charm; think Clive Owen. Comes across as a loving father to his son, but he's really a total sociopath.
Come up with a good name, and I'll name a minor character after you.
posted by Scott the Reader @ 2:38 PM
79 Comments:
Phillip Reynard
Shane Bradford
Christopher Fenton (Chris, to his friends)
Charles or Richard are always sinistar. George works (right now, anyway) too. Any last name will suffice with those.
David McNamara, after the creators of PROFIT.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0115323/
Versailles may be a bit (a bit?) over the top, but it's been a favorite of mine for awhile. Try: Caleb, Elijah or Dominic.
Anon, Devin, Sebastian, Gannon, Zacharias, Wilhelm, Petre, Rex, Vincent...
Hard to find good, original names anymore it seems. Now we have to take unoriginal names like Anderson, and change them up, like Anderton. Might work with first names, too.
Timothy Swift.
Tennessee Miller
Jacob Augustine
Benton Shore ("Shor" is a Nordic god of the underwold)
Vin Hooker ("Hooker" just has a nice brutal sound to it)
Damon Brody ("Brody" is an old Scottish name meaning "a muddy place")
.
.
.
B
Denton
Trevor
Troy
Devlin
Commander Coriander
The "V" 's of course:
Vincent
Victor...
Last names:
Proffit
Stone...
one-syllable last names evoke power to me. can't think of any right now though.
Atticus...
Sounds cold and machine-like, but plays off Harper Lee's character.
Actually, all of my characters in a specific script are a puzzle. They all have something in common. It's fun when someone figures it out (usually they don't).
- Bill
Just "Frank".
Most evil name when you think of "C'era una volta il West".
quote excerpt from imdb.
[Frank and his gang are standing in front of Timmy McBain, after killing the other family members]
Gang member: What are we going to do with this one, Frank?
Frank: Now that you've called me by name?
Darryl
Dustin
Justin
Jason
William
Darcy
Parker
Palmer
Patrick/Pat
Pryce/Bryce
Devon/Devin
Bo
Brent
Last names:
Coleman
Parker
Dayton
Johnson (as a tribute to the original character)
Prewitt
Ballard
Barak
Barr
Beck
Bryant
Bryson
Burton
I could come up with loads more... Just the kind of thing I LOVE to do! :)
Of course, without knowing a whole bunch about the character, I'm not sure exactly what you're going for.
If you like a little irony in your name - Drake Goodfellow
or sticking with the ironic - Julian Blanc
Or any last name that starts with Saint ie: James, Michael, etc.
C.
Cale.
I like to steal from Shakespeare for villain names. How about Sebastian Berowne.
mal vincent
Hmm, based on that description I'd go for something Old Testament for either the first name or surname e.g. Jacob, Isaac, Lot, Laban, or Aaron.
Then I'd combine it with something either Regal or Political. Something which reasonants subconsciously with the audience as indicating his power and (perhaps) alluding to his psychopathic tendencies. e.g. Fortinbras, Petiot, Oberon, Iago (but I'd make that a variation, e.g. Iagov, Iagos), Richards, Nihil, Moriat (alluding to than Moriarty)
My pick:
Aaron Moriat
How about Tristan Mallory?
How about George Bush?
Seriously though,
Donald Hargraves
Harry or Jason Miller
Jericho Salt
Dude, I've got dibs on the villian named hargraeves.
You sound like you need a used-car-salesman type name. What about Chip, Bertie, Buddy, or anything-boy?
Bertie Gudmunsen.
BTW, your description reminds me of the guy in Fargo: Jerry Lundegaard.
-C dubya
Chester J. Hewitt
Layne Sharpe
S
I like:
Percival Crayne.
But I am probably the only one who does.
Josef Ranes
Ian Chambers
Nikola Logan
or some combination of those three.
Jimmy.
Just to go against type.
I thought of a similar one I like better: Timothy Snell.
Brett: I never thought of Brody as a Scottish name. Every Brody I've ever known has been Hungarian Jewish. Odd, eh?
Orin.
(That one popped into mind before I read "Clive Owen")
And the polititian who has the name, well.... let's not use his last name (Hatch) and say...
Orin Dobbs.
Old money or new money? hmmmm
Duncan Derkham
Marc Berkoff
Roy Alcott
Alec Kingston
Kurt Karman
Stephan Hassor
Gordon Rossman
Ross Lynch
Cliff(ord) Scott
Don Baldwin
oh well. I suck at naming chars. Use a ouiji board or somefing. Rory “A. M.” Suckoloff.
I always like the Irish. All their heroes seem to be villains too. There's that whole patriot/traitor dichotomy thing going. Therefore:
Doyle MacGowan
I know how to spell politician. I do. Honest.
Why is Xander Drax already taken?
Jacob Barrister
Bobby Montana, late 30's, well dressed with a gleam in his eye, his grin charms and seduces.
Demetri St. John
Vanten Poleros
Olden Webs.
Broderick Caine.
Broderick: Usually a surname, but occasionally spotted in use as a distinctive first name (see actor Broderick Crawford); derived from the Welsh, or possibly Old German ("famous power"). "Rick" is a possible diminutive, if you need one.
Cain(e): You know the story here.
So! Exactly what kind of minor character will I be?
Preston Snow
Phineus Jackson King
Camden Thrace
Theo Vargas
Bruce Landis
some thoughts
Herndon Thermopylae
Roscoe T Flangemuffin
Alouicious Kinarffindale.
If you want something different:
Alan Tiscio (anagram of 'antisocial')
I think that Mercer would be a good first name given that he's a salesman.
Harmon Geery
hahahahaa Mal Vincent... that's the name of our idiot movie reviewer in our news paper.
But I'm no help on this subject. I'm horrible with character names. But for guys, I always go for odd names... like Colton or Harlan.
Liam Williams.
Garret Singate
Dick Balls
Willard Gacy
Thanks for all the input so far.
I sort of like Brody, even though that's the name of the guy from Jaws. Still, reclaiming the name for the dark side is interesting. (And my baby name book says it is Gaelic for "ditch").
Otherwise, I kind of like the tight, one-syllable names. Drake. Beck. Cale. Doyle.
Keep more of these coming. Don't worry about first and last; he'll just be one name for most of the script.
Scott
You have to use German sounding names with villains. Lots of hard consonants. And then for a last name, a subtle adjective.
So here' my suggestion:
Kirk Leary.
How bout my name? It works because I'm pure evil.
Name him Thom just to be quirky.
If you want to reclaim a name for the dark side, how about Luke?
I think the Dukes of Hazzard movie did that just fine.
Hmmm... mono-syllabic, huh?
How about:
Thad (kind of sounds like Vlad the Impaler)
Zane
Tor
Rune
Graham
Gideon (okay, it's more than one syllable)
Rainer
Rory (kind of sounds like "Roar")
Rome
Wade
I prefer the name Cole rather than Cale.
Mortimer.
Cage. (It's his last name, but what everyone calls him.)
Running out of names, yet? How about:
Jonas
Kyle
Hal
Sal
Nate/Nathan
Wes/Wesley
Trip
Or you could bite the bullet and name him Clive.
Simon Korn
Derek Suede
Garth Dokken
(I like to slip in music/band references if possible)
So I think I'm going to go with...
Cole.
So I guess Ian wins. I'll name some squirrelly character after you :-)
Thanks everyone for playing....
Thanks, Scott. Glad I could help.
(Hmm... squirrelly... yeah, that sounds about right.)
Good luck with the script!
Johan (close to your John) Vanderspike (just made it up) so that is Johan Vanderspike
benedict rush
But "Cole" is such a soap opera name. Every soap from Dynasty to General Hospital has a Cole. Even "Charmed," that kitchy WB show, had a villain named Cole. Hell, even "Soapdish," the movie that parodied soaps made sure to have a Cole in the cast.
Cole, Jesse, Jagger, Stryker, Dylan: all over-used soap names.
Why not change it up at least a little bit and call him Cal or something.
Methinks The Scott has made up his mind on this. I don't think the Supernatural Thriller crowd is going to be intimately familiar with the goings on in General Hospital.
Lincoln Boatwright
Well, I'm not going to do the Cole-for-John replacement until tonight.
You have about 10 hours to change my mind.
How about Laird (first name)? If it's good enough for Sharon Stone....
Awwwwww
I was gonna suggest Cole as well, but then, like someone else said, I thought it would be too much like Charmed.
Nick
Spencer
Silas
Ian
Jude
Edgar
Or it might be fun to go with something innocuous...
Timmy
"Junior"
Alvin
Hank
Stiffler
Blanner Baines
Hayden Ash?
I think it's not a bad idea to make sure that your villain's name doesn't have a dimunitive form, like Stevie. That is, unless there's a cultural context (like Stevie Ray Long, the baddest chinaman from China Grove, Texas.). The greatest bad-guy names, to me, are foriegn but don't initially seem to push the cliche (also they become cliche afterwards): Joel Cairo, Hannibal Lector, Rene Belloq, Darth Vader, etc.
Trent Crowley ( or maybe Seth)
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