What's In a Name? Why Character Names Matter 

I love that, to quote Romeo & Juliet, we go “all the way back to 1997”.

Something you didn’t mention about naming in Succession is that the Roy children are all given names or nicknames that imply violence or criminality except Kendall. Connor “Con” Siobhan “Shiv” Romulus (Roman’s actual name, the man who murdered his brother and founded Rome) I really loved the reveal that Kendall’s name is Kendall Logan Roy, meaning his initials are KLR, or “killer,” the thing Logan always told him he wasn’t. Their names all feel like reflections of their father’s expectations for them.

A great example of names being used to establish character dynamics is in Whiplash. Andrew Neiman introduces himself by pronouncing his last name as "Nayman". And yet, every time Fletcher references him, he pronounces his last name as "Nee-man", which is arguably weaker. Very subtle, but. Damien Chazelle specifies it in the script, so it is intentional.

Better Call Saul is also a good example, especially with James McGill. Nobody actually calls him that. It's always 'Jimmy' which is both slangy and belittling. Most of what he tries to do is become worthy of the name but fails to do so. Eventually, he gave up for numerous reasons to become who he used to be and can be: Saul Goodman.

Thanks for putting in both "you can't make a tomlette without breaking a few greggs" and "thank you for the chicken" 👏

J. R. R. Tolkien famously gave a huge amount of thought to the names and languages that underpin The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In his words, "to me a name comes first, and the story follows."

Ah yes, “what’s in a name” - that famous Baz Luhrmann quote

Absolutely love referring to R+J as a 1996 movie.

Hannah Lee Kidder gave a really great writing tip in one of her youtube videos that when she feels she's being too unfair to a character she gives them the name of someone she knows so she's forced to be fairer. So character names can have a powerful effect on how the writer treats a character, too; not just the audience.

You didn't mention it, but even the name "Roy" is obviously derivative of the French "roi", which means "King"; an apt surname for a show called "Succession". Fun fact: it is also where the surname Fitzroy comes from, as it was often used by a bastard "son of the king", especially during the reign of the Anglo-Norman kings who ruled until the 1400s after the French duke William I conquered England in 1066.

Lilly Wachowski admitted it wasn’t written with the allegory in mind, but she admitted that interpretation definitely works.

father in german is vater or papa, not vader. vader is dutch

One of Mad Men theme’s is about the power of a name - Don Draper. The kerfuffle with all partner names. Joan naming her business after her two surnames Holloway Harris (maiden and married). And I always remember the moment Peggy starts calling Don Don, instead of Mr Draper.

A name can really speak volumes about a character, and tell you a lot about their personality, without a single word being uttered.

I love how a lot of video games do this so effectively too. Especially from software games where a lot of the lore and story needs to be dissected by the player including character name/location name origins/meanings.

Wonderful vid but ughhh the “Vader means father in German” thing drives me crazy cause it’s just not true. The actual word is “Vater” and the way you pronounce that sounds completely different from “[Darth] Vader”. I feel like I’m Ryan Gosling in the papyrus SNL sketch with this, hope the Pitch perfect screenwriter knows what they did to me 😂

My favorite character from _Harry Potter_ is Severus Snape and his name is so interesting. His first name is derived from Latin and his last name originates from the Norse word _sneypa_ , so his full name can translate to "severe/harsh, outrage/disgrace/shame" which describes a key part of his character in the books along with the outrage he produces among fans. "Harsh disgrace/outrage/shame" would also describe what was done to Snape throughout his life. It's not hard to feel bad for Snape, 1 of the 2 canonical male sexual assault victims of the series. In a more lighter note, Snape's first name is pronounced like "Sev-Rus" which is interesting because it makes you wonder what Snape's nickname growing up was when he grow up in his impoverished working class background. There's the common and cliche "Sev" but I can also see "Rus/Russ" also being a common nickname, especially among Muggle neighbors.

Also, Darth Vader's name could come from the word "(Space) Invader"

Tom Wambsgan makes me think of Evan Kelmp in Dimension 20's Misfits and Magic. The whole cast loses it every time he says he full name since it's so uncomfortable to say. "It's a name you swallow."

now i want a video about the same concept but for internet usernames

I always noticed that the names of Sith in Star Wars simply take a word that implies evil such as invader or insidious then simply removes the "in".

The thing people don't realise is his surname isn't Wambsgans its Quinn... He's in deep cover.

For everything that Succession does right I will never forgive Jesse Armstrong for outright confirming it was an underline and not just leaving it up in the air

Fantastic video!!! You’re so talented

Good stuff as always

I haven't finished Succession yet so I'll have to come back and finish this video when I do, but great video so far and fascinating topic that needs more serious discussion!

Thanks for useful video ❤❤❤❤❤❤

new video from the wonderful Now You See It, you love to see it!!

I fall in love with, or despise, characters in media depending on their names. Sometimes a striking name sounds "just right" and it completes the character, sometimes, just for you.

May favorite name moment was in “last man on earth” when Phil Miller finds that one of the few remaining people on earth also happens to be named Phil Miller… the decision to go by his middle name “Tandy” is not just a throwaway joke but emblematic of his dramatic character transformation.

I always wonder how different my life is because of the simplicity of my name being Joe

Succession is all about modern ROY-alty, I guess that was too obvious to mention?

I love your channel 💖

Thanks, I wanted to sub to Nebula for a while now and I was only waiting for one of my subs to post a Nebula sponsorship

Very cool!

As a German, who knows a girl named "Wambsgans", I always wondered how such a odd name came to be.

It's supposed that the line "that which we call a 'Rose' by any other babe would sell as sweet" - might have been as dig at their rival theatre "The Rose" which had a bit of an indoor plumbing problem and stank of shit.

1:17 bruh

Did you not credit Shakespeare for "what's in a name?"???? That goes back to the 1597 Play!!

If he really likes deliberate choices in names in media, someone's gotta introduce him to the work of Hideo Kojima. Examples include: Diehardman, Amalie, Skullface, Paz etc etc.

Movies that have too many names floating around, especially if they're atypical names that keep referencing characters off screen or that we've yet to even meet, tend to be on the fast track for losing my attention.

Dude’s gonna flip when he finds out Romeo and Juliet existed 400 years before 1997

There have been some neat essays on this. A lot of writers name their characters "John" or "Joe" because it is often associated with the everyman. Occasionally we'll get J variants like "James" or "Jason" especially for action movies, and subconsciously it is believed to make the protagonist more rootable. Same with bad guys having names that start with the letter V. Personally, I always liked the naming in scheme in Reservoir Dogs (Mr. Pink, Mr Blonde etc) and the general way Tarantino names the characters in his movies, is always interesting.

I see Tom in the thumbnail, I click!

Finally someone acknowledging the power of name, as a person who always get so wrapped up naming characters in my little stories I can’t even being to explain the power, the foreshadowing, theeeeeeee IMPORTANCE of simply naming a character whatever you name them. 🙏🙏🙏🙏

This is one the funniest episodes yet lol...Riley is a continental treasure.

You forgot to put the link in the description on Nebula.

An interesting video, as always. Sometimes, screenwriters overdo it with the names though and I feel they make it too obvious...

No mention of Marlo Stanfield?

Nice

we need subtitles not just auto generated!

i am a firm believer that the show would not have been named "succession" if that did not also name it "suck session"

Having taken two full weeks to name my son I can assure you names matter

Feels really weird describing Romeo and Juliet as a movie.

Wrote an essay on names for a class I took called Pop Culture As A Text. Was delighted to see in this video that Romeo and Juliet is mentioned, I discussed the same passage of Juliet's soliloquy mentioning the rose. In the same soliloquy she says "‘tis but thy name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself, though, not a Montague. What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face, nor any other part belonging to a man.” I think that along with the rose part, it's the most inspired musing on the abstractness of names - they're an entire person or thing, yet remain intangible. Romeo also responds to this by readily denouncing his name: "“my name, dear saint, is hateful to myself, because it is an enemy to thee: had I it written, I would tear the word,” which further hammers home that their names are the only thing keeping them apart. I'm honestly surprised you didn't dive deeper into Star Wars beyond just Darth Vader's name sounding scary, because Vader/Anakin's arc is so intrinsically tied to his name, and Star Wars in general is a gold mine for name symbolism. The prequel trilogy chronicles Anakin's fall/corruption arc, and he's given the name Darth Vader to mark his transition to the Dark Side; the person that Obi-Wan and Padme knew is gone. In the Kenobi show, Vader even says that he killed Anakin, showing that he sees Anakin as a completely different person, and considers him his first victim. And say what you will about the sequel trilogy, but they got this right too. Look at Kylo, Vader's grandson, who follows in his footsteps and undergoes a similar character trajectory: he was born Ben Solo, but assumed the name of Kylo Ren after taking leadership of the Knights of Ren and becoming Supreme Leader Snoke’s apprentice. In his and Vader's respective trilogies, each respective character eventually finds the goodness inside of himself, and reclaims his identity under his old name - the one he was born with, and the truest reflection of who he is. Finn is another great example of how Star Wars shows characters' identities through names. He starts his life as FN-2187, even telling Poe that that's the only name he's ever had. Robbing people of their names and instead reducing them to numbers robs them of their personhood, and is emblematic of how the fascist First Order doesn't see storm troopers as people, it sees them as machines/pawns. In the beginning of the movie, we're introduced to FN-2187 partially through his superior, Captain Phasma, who exudes power largely by virtue of having an actual name, instead of a number. When FN-2187 helps Poe escape The First Order, he's going against his training and conditioning, and upon learning that he has no other name, Poe dubs him "Finn." Now, having taken control of things, Finn has a name representative of his newly forged identity as a member of the Resistance, and is inextricable from his friendship with Poe. In any case though, great video as always! I loved the deep dive into Succession's use of names. I noticed that when Greg tries to go by Gregory no one takes him seriously, but I thought this was a relatively minor detail just showing how everyone rolls their eyes at him; I never placed it in context with the rest of the show, going as far back as Logan mispronouncing his name in the pilot! I also never really made the connection of the foreshadowing in season 3 of "the name on the piece of paper," and how pivotal the name on the piece of paper is in season 4. But everything in that show is so intentional, so being illuminated to all that by this video is no shock. Very perceptive analysis, as usual! Shiv's name also reveals a lot about her character; Siobhan being a Scottish name and her having the special pet name from Logan (unlike the other children) shows that she's always sorta been Logan's favorite.

notable that after the seemingly one-off of greg asserting that he's going by gregory now, one person DOES begin to call him that, and it's tom :)

Here I got my oc named “Brendan Charles Jr” from a project I created called “FlyBoy” is about flight powers obv Brendan means “A Crow” or “Little Raven” which means change, Charles on the other hand means freedom, Jr suggest he’s not the first to get it In the story, most people calls him Brendan as in Flyboy wether knowingly or unknowingly his family calls him Jr the ones that he’s closes to calls him Charlie, I like to think it’s bc people knows him more than just Flyboy

I have always loved naming characters, and of course thinking about what I might name my hypothetical future child/children, because of all the symbolic meaning that’s held in a name. I for example was named after Madeleine Albright and I’m going to become a lawyer lol.

Hannah Montana is a good name.

I didn't expect to get a nice trans positive vibe from a video about names lol. Love your content!

A thing that always bugs me is the names of the characters in every forgettable Kevin Hart/Dwayne Johnson/Ryan Reynolds movie, especially when they are just playing themselves. They are so meaningless and uninspired, so why just not name the characters the same as the actors?

As Mr. White might say "If you add ricin to a pizza, it ruins the pizza."

meanwhile, I just name my characters the first thing that comes to mind

And than there’s names like Evan Kelmp, those who know, know.

Not much, wambsgans with you?

Thank you for the chicken

Siobahn's nickname "Shiv" indicates her name as a backstabber.

I wish my parent's hadn't named me "Richard Wrinkle"

Where is Heisenberg fan when you need him :D

Winston Burp

This is the best video I’ve ever watched in RU-vid.

In one our believes names is the one gave us character. But it wasnt the name meaning, instead certain names bring certain characteristic. And how you lived will define your figure, like you born with sense of belonging, it can become either prudent or just plain stingy. Or Born intelegent can make you either wise or just sly, it depend on the life you've been through. But being Intelegent, or curious, or naive, gentle or though, it something the name brought. That is why peoples with same name have similar trait on them. But it was nonpopular believe, some people studied it like horoscope etc. but mostly dont even believe it at all. Ps: what i mean by intelegent is not revering to the brain capacity, but more likely how we willingly use our brain.

All the way back to 1996... very funny.

You should have mentioned Doctor Who.

Roy means king

I always thought that he had a German surname because he comes from the Midwest and that the contrast between this name and the Anglo-Saxon Roy was supposed to make him stand out even more. He also never really loses his Midwestern accent throughout the series and this makes him sound different from the way the Roys speak. The Roys love to point out he is not from New York by making reference to the twin cities when they make up mocking titles or nicknames for him. They also mock his clothing and portray him as a Midwestern farmer. All of this makes me think the name is more of a hint at his roots than anything else.

To some people, names show other people that you have power, or your place in a hierarchy. Like if you found out some has the last name: Rockefeller or Rothschild

Why is RU-vid hiding your videos from the world! 😢

Cousin Craig

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:00 🎬 Names crucial for character identity in storytelling. 01:22 🌹 "Romeo and Juliet" names' impact and symbolism. 02:32 🧪 Analyzing deliberate name choices in "Succession." 04:49 🗳️ Significance of Tom Wamsgans' last name and identity struggle in "Succession." 05:46 💼 Walter White's evolving identities through names in "Breaking Bad." 07:24 🕶️ Symbolism of Neo's name change in "The Matrix." 08:07 🦋 Personal growth shown through name changes in "Lady Bird." 08:48 🔍 Characters' identity struggles with names in "Succession." 09:58 🖋️ Emotional impact and desire for recognition tied to naming in "Succession." Made with HARPA AI

A Now You See It by any other name would smell as sweet, but probably be taken down for content violation :)

How can you not mention the literal meaning of what "Wambsgans" sounds like - "womb's guns"? That's his winning move (impregnating the baby lady) and also encapsulates the whole show - the purest form of love, that of a family, turned perversely into an arms race

3:28 Uhm, no. Vater is father, Vader is a different word.

inb4 all the shakespeare-heads run over to type that Romeo&Juliet wasn't actually a movie at first (because subtext is for cowards)

5:27 The curves on Shiv

Je mange des cornichons à montluçon !

You know a character has a perfect name when you can’t possibly imagine anyone else with the same name: Michael Corleone Optimus Prime Ethan Hunt Iron Man Etc

I just gotta comment, I absolutely LOATHE that that pitch perfect defenition of darth vader. Its so stupid and just plain false.

Trans Allegory… wow🤣🤣🤣

"The importance of names in storytelling goes as far back as 1996 Romeo and Juliette." Eh. I doubt that's true. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's not true. Actually, I'm sure that's false.

Vader is not father in German, they use a t, but dutch

Mentioning Romeo & Juliet as a movie reference when it's one of the most well-known plays (first and foremost) is at odds with the usual quality of your videos.

unrelated, but i’m black 👍🏽

lolll The Matrix is a trans allegory just like Dumbledore is gay

What a shame that something as sweet as the first Matrix movie would be stained by the narcissistic bullshit of deludes.

The Wachowskis did not confirm that the Matrix is a trans allegory, that is common misinformation spread by trans activists who want to insert themselves into everything. They have said that fans are allowed to interpret it that way. Lilly has stated, and I attempt to quote: "If we were [writing it as a trans allegory], we were at least not doing it knowingly".

Good video. Could’ve done without the trans propaganda, but still good overall.

All the way back to 1996... very funny.