Thread: Can Character names be copyrighted?

I just read a story on Figment, and someone reviewed it, telling the author that she stole another character's name, and that doing so is illegal. But I heard that names can't be copyrighted. I am going to give my MC a friend named Lily Brown at the end of my book. There is a famous actress named Lily Brown, and a picture book character named Lily Brown. I won't get sued if I name a character in my book Lily Brown, even if I giver her original physical attributes and other details, right?

There's technically an "all persons fictitious disclaimer" that almost every novel I've ever read has on the third page. It, for the most part, always says this:

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

I don't think it's important what you name the person, but how you make them, excluding heavy hitting names like Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Harry Potter, etcetera. If the name is worth half a billion dollars, probably a good time to switch up names. However, I have a character named Ashélia Raélynn, named after my daughter-to-be. I love the name, and it's stuck with me a long time. However, it's a name that was used in an rpg game a few years ago. Does my character look, act, or having anything to do with that rpg character? No. So, I don't really care. I didn't even realize the resembling name until it was pointed out to me several years later. So, like I said, unless it's a huge, important name that's been around forever, I don't see the harm with that above disclaimer. Just no Edward Cullen or Sherlock Holmes.

I decided to change the spelling of this character's last name and add an "E" at the end. I checked and didn't find anyone super famous with the name Lily Browne.

All's well that ends well. I've never heard Lily Brown, so I didn't see the issue. Browne just made me hungry though! lol (Brownie)

My understanding is that names can't be copyrighted, but they can be trademarked. So, naming a character Harry Potter wouldn't be possible due to trademark, not copyright. If the name hasn't been trademarked, anyone can use it.

Originally Posted by shadowwalker

My understanding is that names can't be copyrighted, but they can be trademarked. So, naming a character Harry Potter wouldn't be possible due to trademark, not copyright. If the name hasn't been trademarked, anyone can use it.

Makes sense to me.

That's ridiculous, you can't copyright a name, no court of law would allow it hahahahahahhahaha!

It would likely have to go beyond the name, such as similarities in appearance and character attributes. By that time it would be an act of plagiarism, I guess.

Names can't be copyrighted, but characters can be trademarked, which commercially has the same effect. You can say that a person in your story is a superman, but you can't say he is Superman™. Alan Jones, or Anne Featherstone are just a names, they have no commercial clout, Spiderman™ on the other hand... Keep the names simple and ordinary and you will be all right.

Originally Posted by Bloggsworth

Names can't be copyrighted, but characters can be trademarked, which commercially has the same effect.

Ah, this is what I meant - thanks for correcting that.

I decided to change my MC's last name from McCarthy to Murray. However, there is a pageant who has just been crowned Miss. Delaware with the same name as my MC (Alyssa Murray). It's okay to use that name for my MC as long as it has nothing to do with the pageant. I don't think she's as famous as someone like Justin Bieber is, anyway.

Originally Posted by sunaynaprasad

I decided to change my MC's last name from McCarthy to Murray. However, there is a pageant who has just been crowned Miss. Delaware with the same name as my MC (Alyssa Murray). It's okay to use that name for my MC as long as it has nothing to do with the pageant. I don't think she's as famous as someone like Justin Bieber is, anyway.

Yes. So long as your character isn't a representation of that person, the names are a coincidence.

Actually, I changed it back to McCarthy.

I'm sure you could, to borrow our hypothetical, have a character named Harry Potter, so long as he wasn't a teenage wizard. There are Potter families out there, and it's possible one of them named their child Harry at one point. The question is, why would you bother? There are plenty of names that you can use, why saddle yourself with one that has other associations in your readers' heads?

I now have suddenly developed a terrible fear of someone stealing my characters names -_-