Am I the only one?

Maphon

Maphon

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May 10, 2009
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Am I the only one that noticed at how there is no such thing as a normal name for a BuffyVerse main character?

Buffy
Angel
Xander
Willow
Spike
Dawn
Anya
Giles
Fred
Gunn
Wesley
Doyle
Lorne

And even most of the side characters have awesome names.

Where are the Eric's, James', and Bob's?

Note* This is not a complaint, just an observation.
 
Ha ha, i noticed that too. What about Merl, lilah, and Lindsey for a guy. The normalest names i can think of are Andrew and Jonathan.
 
I don't disagree with your main point, but I don't see Dawn as a strange name. I probably know 3 or 4 girls named Dawn. Wesley also isn't particularly outside the box, and Gunn's first name is Charles, which is my father's name!
 
Revolver said:
I don't disagree with your main point, but I don't see Dawn as a strange name. I probably know 3 or 4 girls named Dawn. Wesley also isn't particularly outside the box, and Gunn's first name is Charles, which is my father's name!
Click to expand...


Well if we go by the Gunn logic, then Xander is really Alexander, and Fred is really Winnifred. Two normal enough names. And, huh, I always thought Dawn was an odd name.
 
I agree with you, but Wesley isn't such a strange name. The first time I heard about Buffy I thought: Buffy? What kind of a name is that?
 
Seems like their might be as many strange names as normal ones....but where the heck did "Buffy" come from anyway? I've never heard of that name otherwise!!!
 
i love the names on buffy to bad i cant call my kids any of those names (when and if i have any) without sounding like a really obsessed buffy fan
 
I think Willow, Rupert and Dawn are normal. But Anya is also normal in Russian or Scandinavian way. 😉
 
I
InsaneMystic
in German, too... written with "J" instead of "Y", but pronounced just the same. I had an Anja as a classmate in school. :)
I know that Joss always said he put a lot of thought into naming his characters. I know they don't sound like names you'd hear every day, but personally, I love them all. 😀

Q: My question is this: do you enjoy coming up with names for the characters and places in the Firefly 'Verse. It seems that you put a lot of thought and meaning into the names you choose. What do you use as inspiration? Literature, other films, music etc or other sources?

Joss Whedon: I love naming, and it's VERY hard. Planets, I usually take from mythology or literature (or old names or translations) but personal names carry so much weight -- I've often been blocked for DAYS on a script because I don't have one characters name and I can't write without it. It has to sound like them, embody them.
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Interview with Joss Whedon about Serenity - Page 1 of 2
 
I've never really thought about the characters names before. I always thought Dawn was a straight forward name and like most of you have said, Xander is short for Alexander. Giles is Ruperts surname and Rupert is a common enough name if not a bit old fashioned. I always liked Faith's name for one because it was so opposite to the character she was.
 
Revolver said:
I don't disagree with your main point, but I don't see Dawn as a strange name. I probably know 3 or 4 girls named Dawn. Wesley also isn't particularly outside the box, and Gunn's first name is Charles, which is my father's name!
Click to expand...

I'd agree. Yet, names seem to play an important role in the 'verse. The names of the characters often signify something important about the character, such as the history behind how Spike got his name (we all know that story...) or Buffy Summers' or Angel's names just being ironic in the context of the show. I mean, Buffy is certainly not a "sunny" character and do I really need to say how ironic naming a damned vampire "Angel" is? Just another one of Joss' touches. 😉

The character's names in Dollhouse are pretty strange, too. And Firefly...
 
Angel's name is a nickname, his real name is Liam, which isn't an unpopular name. Its strange that even after known Angel is his alias they still call it him. The same with Spike, his real name is William, again a normal name.

And on a side note, Spike and Angel's original names are similar, to the point that Liam is a shorter version of William.
 
D
DrusillaRox
True, but aftyer Ange;l was sired his name was rteally Angelus
Well Xander is not his actual name. It's Alexander. Charles is the first name, not Gunn. Giles is also a last name, first name being Rupert.

Angel's real name is Liam, and Spike's is William. Anya is quite a normal name, as is Willow. Lorne shouldn't count, he's from a diferent dimension, so different names there. And Fred is short of Winnifred. So no...Not so many weird names at all
 
I have a Polish friend whose name is Ania, pronounced extremely similar to Anya.

I was talking to my mum the other night about old books and my mum was discussing what was refered to as 'the angel of the household'. I can't remember to many details about it, but my mum is planning on writing a journal article about the name of Angel in Buffy, and how it can be lead to represent the Angel of the house.

From wikipedia:
"Another example is in the What Katy Did novels of Susan Coolidge about a pre-pubescent tomboy who becomes a paraplegic. They are based on her own life in 19th Century America. Katy eventually walks again, but not before she learns to become the "angel in the house", that is, the socially acceptable "ideal" of docile womanhood."

It's interesting when you draw comparisons to Angel. He must become a cripple (crippled with a soul) before he can become Angel, when he becomes a deviant again, he is no longer Angel, he is Angelus.

The Angel of the house is meant to lead their life around their husband, and Angel does this with Buffy - being the Angel of Buffy's house. Selflessly sacrificing time and time again for Buffy's well being. I suppose this could also be drawn back to again in Amends, where Joyce asks Buffy if she wants the Angel or the star.
 
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