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What's in a Name
Oct. 8th, 2015 08:19 pmThis study showed how names influence imagination.
I've always annoyed people trying to apply these tests, because I stop with, "I don't know anything more about that person. All you've given me is a name. That doesn't contain the information you're asking for." Or a picture. Or whatever. Because it could be boy named Sue or a white Irish kid named Javier.
Sometimes when I'm naming characters they just tell me. Sometimes I go looking for things that match. I like using ethnic names because it's a chance for wider representation. I often look up the demographics of a region to find locally common names and ethnic groups. But every once in a while they do something off-pattern, like sex-swapped names, or the Louisiana woman who started screaming curses in Italian.
Assumptions are bug spots that'll stop you from seeing what's really in front of you.
I've always annoyed people trying to apply these tests, because I stop with, "I don't know anything more about that person. All you've given me is a name. That doesn't contain the information you're asking for." Or a picture. Or whatever. Because it could be boy named Sue or a white Irish kid named Javier.
Sometimes when I'm naming characters they just tell me. Sometimes I go looking for things that match. I like using ethnic names because it's a chance for wider representation. I often look up the demographics of a region to find locally common names and ethnic groups. But every once in a while they do something off-pattern, like sex-swapped names, or the Louisiana woman who started screaming curses in Italian.
Assumptions are bug spots that'll stop you from seeing what's really in front of you.
