Making a Bad Name

In a book or movie, an author must choose names for characters. Sometimes it's just a matter of convenience. A character has to have a name, after all. Other times, the name is chosen with some purpose, because of its sound, or associations, or a silly pun. Sometimes the name can add something to the portrayal, and sometimes it's a distraction. Occasionally, though, an author betrays a real tin ear, picking a name that just sounds so wrong or stilted or inappropriate that it sours our memory of the character, the book, and the author.

• Duncan Idaho, of Frank Herbert's Dune
• Father Time, as the oldest child was known, in Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure
• Jacks, the first name of Keanu Reeves's character in Feeling Minnesota, a movie with a bad name all its own;
• Justice, the name of Janet Jackson's character in Poetic Justice;
• Skeeter, who becomes a sort of second son to Rabbit in Rabbit Redux, by John Updike;
• Yurassis Dragon, from The Eiger Sanction by Trevanian, submitted by Stephen R Elliott;

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