Billy Birdflu & Sally Sepulcher

October 18, 2008 8:10 PM

I'm writing a story in which death and illness is a major theme, and I'd like to name my characters accordingly.

Specifically, I need surnames. I'm looking for something more subtle than "Mr. Mausoleum" or "Mrs. Obituary" or "The Bubonic family."

For example, so far I have "Heriot" (a fine payed to a lord after the death of a tenant during feudal days) and "Howe" which may or may not mean "burial mound," according to some random internet genealogy site.

All languages are welcome, especially if there's some run-of-the-mill word in another language that sounds like a normal last name. Thank you!

posted by jschu to writing & language (19 comments total)

Anitya? Sam and Sara? Ennis Tropy? Hera and Cletus?
posted by phrontist at 8:18 PM on October 18, 2008

Dood (like d00d!) means dead in dutch. Charon was the boatman for the river styx (which you crossed to get to Hades) in greek mythology. Mort means death in french (I'd assume is the etymological forebearer of "mortician" and "mortuary"), and it's a common nick name in English. Tod (pronounced with the o sound english doesn't have... like "ought" and the d as a t) means dead in german.
posted by phrontist at 8:27 PM on October 18, 2008

Death: Mort (French), Mors (Latin), Thanatos (Greek).
posted by bru at 8:27 PM on October 18, 2008

Wurgen sounds like a german last name, means "strangle" in dutch. "Branden" is the verb "to burn" in Dutch. Kanker dutch for cancer, and a plausible last name.
posted by phrontist at 8:38 PM on October 18, 2008

Mictecacihuatl
posted by phrontist at 8:40 PM on October 18, 2008 [1 favorite]

Barrow - a mound raised over a burial site
posted by MasonDixon at 8:46 PM on October 18, 2008 [1 favorite]

Graves is a pretty common last name and sufficiently morbid.
posted by platinum at 9:10 PM on October 18, 2008

Albert Pierrepoint was Britain's most prolific executioner, and ended up hanging most of the Nazi's sentenced to death at Nuremburg. So, Mr Pierrepoint would certainly have a deathly ring to me.
posted by twirlypen at 9:28 PM on October 18, 2008

Thane as in thanatos
posted by furtive at 9:34 PM on October 18, 2008

Tousse (french for cough)
posted by furtive at 9:35 PM on October 18, 2008

Lazaretto
Lancet
Catlin
Stent
Noyade
Murrain
Spavin
Cromlech
Morana
Athanasius
Mott
Valdis
Enma
Morrigan
Daena
Veles
Cyrus
Cillian (pronounced "Kill-ee-an")
Curtin
Buckett
Downey
(RIP)ley
posted by Iridic at 10:50 PM on October 18, 2008

Tod is death in German.
posted by brujita at 12:10 AM on October 19, 2008

Mortimer.
posted by halogen at 12:26 AM on October 19, 2008

There are several names that sound like killing verbs: Lance, Crash, Pierce, etc.

First names:
Angel, Angela
Alma (soul in Spanish)
Winter
Heaven
Damien
Diablo
Anything with "mal" (French for "bad") - Malcolm, Mallory
Judas
Kane

Surnames:
Mort, Morton, Mortimer
Slaughter
Grimm
Grave, Greave
Burns
Boyle (Boil)
Gunn
Pallor
Coffin
Ash

Also, the number four is unlucky in Chinese as it sounds like the word for death- so maybe a character like Mortimer Kane the Fourth? Here are some more Chinese supersitions that you might find inspirational.

Here's a Morbid Name generator, there are a bunch more on Google (search using terms like "gothic", "pessimist", "goth", "dead"), and here's a list of Spooky Names.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 12:42 AM on October 19, 2008

The other option would be choosing cheery names for contrast. Like Zoe (=life).
posted by ersatz at 4:34 AM on October 19, 2008

The assorted Messrs
s
Fogg
Underwood
Digger
Hatchet
Butcher
Curdle
Church
Darkly
Dagger

First name
Mourna
Ditch
posted by watercarrier at 5:18 AM on October 19, 2008

Wow, thanks everyone! These are inspirational! I think I'll be able to use some of these as place names-- either that or I'll have to have my plague survivors repopulate really quickly :)

The other option would be choosing cheery names for contrast. Like Zoe (=life).

That's exactly what I'm doing. Some of my first names are Liv (Olivia), Enid, and Jonah. Probably Zoe and Alma now too, and I'm loving the idea of using the names Sam and Sara as for my characters' children (ie those born after the plague).
posted by jschu at 7:26 AM on October 19, 2008

The Bucknells or the Knellsons.
posted by iamkimiam at 8:11 AM on October 19, 2008

'Bing' means 'sick' in Chinese. It could make an unsuspicious yet striking, retroish sort of first name -- a la Bing Crosby.
posted by taramosalata at 1:50 PM on October 29, 2008