What erks you in fandom???

[Totoro]

They named her Renesmee!

No, really. thats what my expression looks like right now. Well that and this as a follow up.....

[jujubakiller]

OMG! Poor girl. What an awful name. Really, in a book it's bad enough, but knowing this girl will have to introduce herself like this for real for the rest of her life just... god. Or at least until she decides to have a name change.

[Ylva]

She could adopt a sensible nickname, like say "Renée" or "Esme".

[alexajaye]

She could adopt a sensible nickname, like say "Renée" or "Esme".

But then everyone would ask her what it stood for if she ever said it was a nickname. I sometimes tell people the first part of my first name without telling them the whole thing, but it's not like I'm ashamed of it or anything.

Renesmee is just a tragedy, unless you think about some of her good qualities.

. . . . Wait, there aren't any.

[Ylva]

Oh shit, I told them it was a nickname and now they want to know my full name. What to do, what to do...

Lie!

"Renate!"

"Esmeralda!"

"...Yeah, my parents were totally into The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Awesome book/movie."

Renesmee is just a tragedy, unless you think about some of her good qualities.. . . . Wait, there aren't any.

I liked her better as the incarnation of Elspeth in Alicorn's "Radiation".

[Rachissy]

Oh I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks it's a complete travesty to saddle this tiny girl with such a God-awful name. It's cool to be a fan and all that but don't saddle your kid with your crazy fan-ness.

[Sylvianna]

That's what I was going to say. Leaving aside that I cannot stand The Thing, the problem is not being able to leave aside your fan-ness. I cannot imagine myself naming a son of mine Legolas or Sauron, even if it's my favourite book and I've had several episodes in my life of crazy fan-ness with regards to LotR.

I know of someone who has named her girl "Bella" (not Isabella, which is OK, but just "Bella") and I find it bad enough, but Renesmee is awful. Not because the name is ugly (although I think it is) but because the only sense it had for existing was combining two real names that meant something for the fictional character who came up with that awful name. Using it as the name of a real person makes no sense. By the way, where is the father in all of this? Or is he another wimp like Edward?

[Ylva]

Maybe he, too, was relieved that it wasn't a son whose name would have been [father's name] + [wife's ex's name] if it were.

I mean, if Bella had to be such a cunt about it if it had been a boy, (don't excuse the profanity, I think it fits) she could at least have been sporty and called her daughter Tanya Isabella. (It just sounds better in that order, don't you think?)

[Rachissy]

I know of someone who has named her girl "Bella" (not Isabella, which is OK, but just "Bella") and I find it bad enough, but Renesmee is awful. Not because the name is ugly (although I think it is) but because the only sense it had for existing was combining two real names that meant something for the fictional character who came up with that awful name. Using it as the name of a real person makes no sense. By the way, where is the father in all of this? Or is he another wimp like Edward?

My daughter was born in 2005. I named her Isabelle and we call her Issy. I didn't come across Twilight until she was at least 2 and it's Isabelle not Isabella and I still worry that people will think her name was inspired by Twilight. It wasn't. I just liked the sound of it. I was thisclose to using Marie for her middle name because it was one of the few that flowed. I am so glad that we went with Rose instead.

I love Twilight but just because I do that doesn't mean my kid will and it's not fair to them. My mom is a huge fan of LOTR and while I enjoy it, if she'd named me Arwen or Eowen I'd probably never forgive her. lol


Anyways, my new irk is one someone else just mentioned. I hate stories that have little to no conflict. Where E and B meet, everything is fantastic, their courtship is smooth and after the standard 6mo to a year they get married and live happily ever after with perfect children and they never, ever fight, their children hardly cry and everything is fabulous. I love a happy ending and I don't mind a fun, happy story. It doesn't have to be all angst all the time but no one stumbles upon their soul mate and lives happily ever after with zero conflict ever. Even the most perfectly matched, happy couples fight, no two people will agree on anything all the time. Children cry, sometimes for no reason and shitty things happen to good people. That's life.

Everyone in awhile I run across a story like this and I always get duped into sticking around, thinking something is going to happen to test these characters but nope, they continue to be so perfect and sweet it gives me a cavity by the end. To each her own I suppose.

[Ylva]

I actually considered changing my name to Eowyn when I grew up. I ended up not doing that.

I'm not going to name my children, if I have any, anything specifically normal or specifically for another person unless they definitely warrant it. When my sister was born, my parents could tell by looking at her what her name should be, or so they tell us. People still tell my sister, who is twenty, that she looks like her name is what it is. (Sorry about the vagueness. Her name isn't exactly English.) Since my brother and I came first we got stuck with the names our parents liked best instead.

So basically I decided to see what names they come with. I refuse to even hypothetically pick a name before the kid is born and in my arms.

There are a ton of different naming strategies, though. I sometimes have a problem with it when, even in regular published novels, all the main characters have meaningful or original names, but none of the peripheral characters do. Like only those characters are marked as special, because somehow the universe knew they were going to save the world and influenced the ignorant parents to give them special names. I know there must be lots and lots of characters sometimes, but it irks me when authors just slap names on them.

It's sort of a Mary Sue irk, only in reverse.