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Author Topic: Oh villian, who art thou?
Rocklover
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TaShaJaRo submitted a post on renaming. This brings me to ask for help with my dilemma. I have a villanous male character who is a nasty, rich, trafficer in illegal goods. He is sophisticated on the surface but underhanded and vengeful underneath. I want a nasty tough-guy FIRST name for him. His last name is Kaine. Does anyone have any ideas? Maybe I'm weird but I think some consonants sound more evil than others, like D and K and V. Anyway, if any of you have some suggestions, I could use help here.
Judith

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Beth
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Victor Kaine sounds pretty evil to me.
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theokaluza
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How about Seth Kaine?
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Jeraliey
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Davis Kaine?

(I'm a little weird, I suppose, but I like last names as first names, sometimes. As long as they're not overdone.)


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JBSkaggs
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This name sounds sissy but I think it has a sinister ring. Robin Kain
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SteeleGregory
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Slagg Kaine sounds tough.
Hmmm... Rod Kaine,
Spike Kaine,
Graft Kaine,
Thrash Kaine,
Smoke Kaine,
Nash Kaine,
Fester Kaine,
Axle Kaine

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TaShaJaRo
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I think Arthur Kaine has a sophisticated ring to it and if you want to highlight his "evilness" at any one point in the writing, you can use just the last name, if you establish a pattern of that.
I also like Jeffrey Kaine or Russell Kaine. Both are semi-harsh sounding but not as harsh as the K in Kaine.
I personally do not like to have a very harsh first name paired with a very harsh second name.
I am reading an author now, Peter Robinson, who has a detective, Alan Banks, and he almost always refers to him simply as Banks. It is kind of neat. You could do the same thing. Have a sophisticated first name with a harsh, "evil" sounding second name but use the first name only once in awhile to remind the reader that he is a "first class" type of person.

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Kickle
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I agree about the evil consonants. But personally, I also like to put backstory into a name. I like to think about what name their parents would of chosen - where did he come from and what sort of heritage? Does he have an ethnic or wimpy first name that is embaressing and, as was suggested above,does he choses to change it or use only his last?
How about a nice plant name? like Shade after nightshade? or a rock, Slate - maybe his father owned a quarry where he nows buries his victims.

[This message has been edited by Kickle (edited February 26, 2005).]

[This message has been edited by Kickle (edited February 26, 2005).]


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Jeraliey
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I'll put my vote in for Robin. That's a good one.

I don't like to begin or end my character names with the same sound, but I think this one works.

[This message has been edited by Jeraliey (edited February 26, 2005).]


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rickfisher
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I think you should call him "Sugar."
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Isaiah13
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Vaulgo Kaine?
Vesper Kaine?
Damon Kaine?
Dylan Kaine?
I agree with you about the d's and v's sounding more villianous.

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Jeraliey
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BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

*cough*

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!


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Isaiah13
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LOL Okay, I take back Vesper. That one is definitely worth a boo or two. I'm standing by the others, though.
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franc li
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Ivan Kaine. Or is that too Russophobic? The guy I hate named Ivan wasn't Russian at all.

Sugar- now I'm remembering what someone called booger sugar = Co Kaine.

Do you know this guy is bad from the get go or is it revealed in the story?

I think you need to go more than one syllable.

What about Richard?

I never got the evil/good consonant thing. Consonants are either boys or girls, you weirdo.

[This message has been edited by franc li (edited February 26, 2005).]


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Jeraliey
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Isaiah, the boos were aimed at Rick. Sorry for the misunderstanding!
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Beth
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fanc li, all consonants are male. vowels are female. we learned this in kindergarten. Miss O is Ornery, I remember that, too.

Actually I like rick's idea. I don't like villains with names that sound too evil.


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ChrisOwens
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How about Caine Kaine?

What kind of parents would do that to there child? No wonder he's evil!


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Jeraliey
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Beth, say Rick's proposed name out loud.
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Beth
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yeah, I know!
If that were my name, I'd go out of my way to be evil.

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Jeraliey
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Hee hee. I can't say I wouldn't.
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MrClean
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I'd have to agree with franc li. Ivan always has a sort of evil sound and not just because I have the same issue as franc li. The person I hate most in the entire universe is named Ivan so it's easy for me to think of the name as evil.

Vincent Kaine
Vladimere Kaine
David Kaine
Damion Kaine

Anyway. There's some suggestions.

MC


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Pyre Dynasty
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Beatumwith A. Kaine.

Viktor Kaine
Tyr Kaine
Ashley Kaine(All guy's I've met named Ashley were evil.)
Fluffy Kaine
Frodo Kaine


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Josh Leone
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I like Simon Kaine. Or maybe Brandon Kaine.

Josh
www.JoshLeone.com


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Survivor
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I'm going to second Beth and MrClean here.

"Victor", "Vladimir", and "Vincent" all sound both sophisticated and evil. They reverberate with associations of princely wealth as well as villainy. "Richard" is too outdated, it's only for minor characters anymore. "Ivan" is fine as long as you use the Russian pronunciation (which is hard to indicate without being obvious), otherwise it's passe as well. And it never had a lot of depth as a name for evil characters.

Some additions suggested by your prefs,
Vaughan
Wagner (German pronunciation)
Wilhelm (German pronunciation)
Derek (or perhaps Didrik, an obsolete and rare one)
Diocletian (Diocletianus)
Dominic (Dominick)
Duncan
Karl

Some other names that struck me as good,
Uriah, Elijah, Ezekiel, Gideon, etc.(strong sounding Biblical names associated with warriors and "war-prophets")
Nikolas, Nikolai
Maximillian
Rex
Leo


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Isaiah13
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Intentional or not, I still think Vesper deserved a boo.
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Jeraliey
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You're too hard on yourself, friend.
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Survivor
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Perhaps he is, but not in this particular case.
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MCameron
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Heh, you guys can be my backup. My husband thinks it would be a great idea to name our next daughter Vesper. My answer was an emphatic "no". Not even as a middle name.

--Mel


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Survivor
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At the very least it should be "Vespera", for heaven's sake
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Beth
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except, well, that's still pretty awful.
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franc li
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What about Gerald? Personally I think the last name of "Kaine" is too caricaturistically evil. Should I have warned the adverb sensitive to have some antibiotic cream handy lest they claw out their eyes reading this post?

On the baby name idea. I think Vesper is kind of cute. I don't know why it isn't as popular as Martin. Or am I thinking of Matin? Nevermind.

Babies should be named by computer algorithm based on their date, time, and GPS coordinate of birth. It would save so much prenatal worry and angst.

P.S. I knew someone who was quite convinced that people liked her less because her name was "nancy" which you can't say without sneering, apparently.

[This message has been edited by franc li (edited February 27, 2005).]


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Nick Vend
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I like Survivor's suggestion of Karl. K's are definitely evil. How about Karl Kenneth Kaine?

[This message has been edited by Nick Vend (edited February 28, 2005).]


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djvdakota
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Ick! Karl Kenneth Kaine? You're joking, right? What an overtly obvious allusion to one of recenty histories evils--the KKK.

Cough! Hack! Gag!

And I don't like Victor Kaine either. It sounds WAY too soap opera to me. I do, of all I've read above, like Axle Kaine the best.


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franc li
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Victor Kaine is too Soap Opera but Axle Kaine ain't? Pshaw. And I don't use that word lightly

I'm increasingly of the opinion that "Kaine" is too evil sounding by itself. Did we try Alexander yet?


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Jeraliey
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JoeBob. JoeBob Kaine.
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Robyn_Hood
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My first thought was Damien (I think this has already been suggested).

I looked through my employee database and came up with a few others:

Dettmar
Dylan
Geoffrey
Graham
Kamel
Kingsley
Kristian
Virgil
Travis


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djvdakota
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Now, franc li, I DID say 'of all I've read above.' Which means that of all the less than stellar suggestions I thought Axle was the best.

Not that I have a good suggestion of my own...

Although, you know, come to think of it, Orson has a nice sinister ring to it...

[This message has been edited by djvdakota (edited February 28, 2005).]


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Rocklover
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Yeah, you get he's evil right from the go get. The Kaine is deliberately intended to be double-barreled evil since this guy is actually Satan's firstborn of flesh.
And i also agree that the first name needs to be sophisticated rather than evil because this is how he wants to be perceived in the mortal world and cause I don't wanna overdo it.
I'm leaning toward Victor or Karl but I also really like Axle. Dunno yet.
I'm flabbergasted at all the great suggestions and choices. This is goning to be fun deciding--sorta like going to Village Inn and trying to select a pie.
Thanks everyone!
Judith

[This message has been edited by Rocklover (edited March 02, 2005).]


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Jaina
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Personally, I'm leaning towards Victor. Dunno why--maybe being a Star Wars fan has my mind going V=EVIL.
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DavidGill
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Give him a last name for a first name.
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