Archetypal name

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

Archetypal names are a literary device used to allude to 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 uncertain whether the reader will be hinted of the biblical figure or Abraham Lincoln, and only the context provides the proper understanding.[1]

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. 1 2 3 4 5 Egil Törnqvist (2004) "Eugene O'Neill: A Playwright's Theatre", ISBN 0-7864-1713-7, Chapter 8: "Personal Names and Words of Address"
  2. 1 2 Handy, B.; Swaeny, G. (2003-08-18), The Summer of Bruce, Time Magazine, retrieved 2008-03-10
  3. ↑ "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow". arf.ru. Archived from the original on 22 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  4. ↑ Takeda Hiroko (2004) "The Political Economy of Reproduction in Japan", ISBN 0-415-32190-5
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