Thread: The pain of the protagonist's surname

My main character is called John Kolhagen. It sounded nice to begin with, but I'm growing a bit sick of it. It's a bit of a mouthful - it only really works if you say it in a particular way (and I can't even remember that way now). The problem is that I can't think of another good surname. I have ideas, but they can never fulfill him.
I want him to be John, but I don't have anything that marries with that well enough:

John Fletcher?

John Rose?

John Davis?

John Carris?

I'm a bit lost, to be honest.

To put everything into perspective, the novel is Science-Fiction, but he's human and from our time. So I can't do anything weird (which is why I'm doubting 'kolhagen' a lot now). He's not the bold type of person, but rather a cautious individual who doesn't like conforming to the world's ideas.

Any ideas or advice would be really helpful right now.

With the description of him, John Carris is the one that keeps popping into my mind.

I think any of those would work. Two syllable names are generally easier than three syllable names, but I even like Kolhagen ("Coal-hag-in") so far. I could see it getting old, but... do you refer to him by his full name that often?

Originally Posted by CFFTB

With the description of him, John Carris is the one that keeps popping into my mind.

carris reminds me of the priest in the exorcist.


i've been through this on a story, though. i finally decided just to stick with the original. i figured there
was a reason that certain name popped into my head to name the character, so i may as well stick with
the original.

I think you should sincerely be more worried about his first name. We are going to hear John the entire time and that sounds like five million people everybody knows. You should make that side more unique sounding I think. As for the last name, I can see where having a name like Kolhagen could be comically strange in our time and comically accepted in the future, so you could play that up. It's that big of a mouthful if you pronounce it Coal-hey-ggin.

Of you can take the Flannery O'Connor route and give him a surname befitting of his characteristics. John Nonco (for the starting letters of nonconformist) or John Reble.

There's really nothing wrong with "Kolhagen".... I mean, no offense to you, but I think that sticking with what you already have would be better than renaming him "John Smith" or some such. The name has some character to it, while the more generic stuff like "Fletcher" packs a lot less.

If I had to take one of the list, though, I would certainly take "Carris." It's better by miles than "Rose."

Just a small thing I thought of -- I recently read "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" -- which was a best seller and has won many awards -- and it's protagonist's name is "Mikael Blomkvist." "John Kolhagen" isn't weird or difficult - please believe that your readers are smart. You've probably just been staring at it too much.

"John Carris" does sound nice too, though.

It is possible to use a character's name to give them a cultural or ethnic heritage. I am assuming your character is an American. If I'm wrong, ignore the specific examples below and just apply the general principles to whatever national heritage your character has. Many American ethnic groups are starting to intermingle. You could give your character a name like John Gonzalez to show that he is heir to a multicultural heritage. Many Americans still have only one ethnic identity. If your character is from Chicago, you could give him a Polish name. If he is from the upper Midwest, give him a Scandinavian name. If from one of the big cities on the east coast, an Italian name would work. If from Pennsylvania, give him a German name. If your character is thoroughly Americanized himself but has fond memories of a grandfather who was born in the old country, an Italian name would be good. If your character's family is so thoroughly Americanized that they no longer have any living memory of the immigrant experience, give him a northern European name. An ethnic identity will probably lead you to a religion. A person with an Italian, Irish, or Polish name will probably be Catholic. Most northern European names would suggest Protestant. An ethnic identity would also suggest what food the person likes. If your character has a German name and comes from Pennsylvania, he better know what scrapple is. An Italian American probably needs to eat pizza or spaghetti at least once in the story. Be careful of negative stereotypes, but I would not have a problem with a Jewish lawyer who admired and respected a legal tradition going all the way back to Moses, ie a positive stereotype. That's another one - some ethnic groups are associated with certain professions. There are still plenty of Irish cops out there, the sons, grandsons, and great grandsons of Irish cops. The process can work both ways - you could start with an ethnic name and build a personality around that or in your case, since you already have a well developed character, find an ethnic group that fits and give him a corresponding name. And of course if your character rejects his ethnic heritage, you could make him a Protestant Italian American who likes to eat corn beef and potatoes. Good luck. C.M.

I had a little fun with some of the character names in my last story. The three main characters are Bear, Bird and Fox. I have a group called observers and their names are all John but the last name tells a bit about the character. ie, John Dullman and John Brightman. I was thinking of doing a morgue scene where they stumble across a series of Johns or Janes kind of a play at John and Jane Doe. One of my characters is called Old Hat.

Bear is a very tough masculine character.

Bird is an elegant female that had a stroke and when she talks she clicks her tongue so that she sound like a bird.

Fox is a sultry slutty female.

The three characters have recon suits and helmets that resemble the animals. The whole idea created a very surreal effect.

The short story my novella is an expansion of has a character called Johnny Walking, which was kind of a joke and a nod to Johnny Walker Black, Red, ya know the booze.

If you are sick of a name, change it. Especially if it doesn't require any change to other parts of your story and forcing a rewrite because of it. Change it to whatever you want. Then if you decide you want to change it again, change it again. The again if necessary.

I've been down this path already and have given up fretting over names. I set it, forget it, then if it really bothers me at some point later I change it freely and without heaitation.

I recently wrote a post on my blog about this saying, "... there was the lead female character in another one of my projects. When I had to put her name down for the first time in the story I literally drew a blank. I called her HeroineX. But the third time that I had to write that placeholder forced me to come up with something other than that. I called her Tissa.

"In the course of five pages of rough draft, Tissa became Taasa which became Salene which became Karene which became Kelana which became Anagale which begat Tavia which gave birth to Tyana and finally, as of right now, came out as Tyrana."

Worry about story. Not names. Names are much easier to edit is what I am saying.

I guess I am worrying too much about his surname. Kolhagen might not be too bad, but I don't like it. Carris is really nice; I might go with that. It's a bit neutral, and relatable, but not too heavy on the tongue or too difficult to make the reader get too bogged-down in complexity.
Carris also helps because it won't get overcome by all the other names of my characters; it has a voice of its own, but it itself doesn't dominate. My antagonist is called Darius Fay, and the leader of the people he is part of is known as Czades. There are others... Dal Mars, Jsathu D'Vall, Kiresh Av'Khall, Ceris Myan. I think John Carris would fit in perfectly. Thanks, CFFTB.