Archetypal name

An archetypal name is a proper name of a real person or mythological or fictional character that has become a designation for an archetype of a certain personal trait.[1] It is a form of antonomasia.

Archetypal names are a literary device used to allude to certain traits of a character or a plot.[1]

Literary critic Egil Törnqvist mentions possible risks in choosing certain names for literary characters. For example, if a person is named Abraham, it is uncertain whether the reader will be hinted of the biblical figure or Abraham Lincoln, and only the context provides the proper understanding.[1]

Archetypal names for persons

Archetypal names for groups

A name may also be an identifier of a social group, an ethnicity, nationality, or geographical locality.[1]

Some of the names below may also be used as ethnic slurs.

Archetypal names for traits

Real persons

Fictional or biblical characters
gollark: PotatOS cannot be killed becaues potatOS can never die.
gollark: Oh, by Faldo.
gollark: Is it claimed?
gollark: Hmm, weird, what's a "MOL"?
gollark: Yes, they do.

See also

References
  1. Egil Törnqvist (2004) "Eugene O'Neill: A Playwright's Theatre", ISBN 0-7864-1713-7, Chapter 8: "Personal Names and Words of Address"
  2. "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow". arf.ru. Archived from the original on 22 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  3. Handy, B.; Swaeny, G. (2003-08-18), The Summer of Bruce, Time Magazine, retrieved 2008-03-10
  4. Takeda Hiroko (2004) "The Political Economy of Reproduction in Japan", ISBN 0-415-32190-5
  5. Ehrlich, Eugene (2014-01-28), What's in a Name?: How Proper Names Became Everyday Words, Henry Holt, retrieved 2020-08-04
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