Archetypal name

Archetypal names are proper names of real, mythological, or fictional characters that have become designations for archetypes of certain personal traits.[1]

Archetypal names are a literary device used to allude to a certain traits of a character or a plot.[1]

Literary critic Egil Törnqvist mentions possible risks in choosing certain names for literary characters. For example, if a person is named Abraham, it is unclear whether the reader is hinted of the biblical or Abraham Lincoln, and only the context provides the proper understanding.[1]

Contents

Archetypal names for persons

Archetypal names for groups

A name may also be an identifier of a social group, an ethnicity, nationality, or geographical locality.[1]

Some of the names below may also be used as ethnic slurs.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Egil Törnqvist (2004) "Eugene O'Neill: A Playwright's Theatre", ISBN 0786417137, Chapter 8: "Personal Names and Words of Address"
  2. ^ a b Handy, B.; Sweeny, G. (2003-08-18), The Summer of Bruce, Time Magazine, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1005441,00.html?promoid=googlep, retrieved 2008-03-10 
  3. ^ Adams, M.V. (2001), The mythological unconscious, New York: Karnac Books, pp. 406, ISBN 1892746964, http://books.google.com/?id=trOCpekqjpIC&pg=PA406&lpg=PA406&dq=archetypal+name+-wiki, retrieved 2008-03-10 
  4. ^ "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow". arf.ru. http://www.arf.ru/Notes/Apostro/ysnow.html. Retrieved 2008-03-10. 
  5. ^ Takeda Hiroko (2004) "The Political Economy of Reproduction in Japan", ISBN 0415321905