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| Survival is tough in AMC's 'The Walking Dead' |
Recently I had a really strange dream. I know a lot of boring conversations start this way - but stick with me, because I promise it’s name related!
The world had just
gone through a zombie apocalypse (proving that this dream is directly
related to the type of movies I watch) and in the aftermath our group
of survivors found ourselves in the position of trying to
re-establish some sort of community and re-start civilisation
(somehow the zombies had either been wiped out or we were in a
guaranteed safe zone. Don’t ask how).
As the group of the
nine or so of us were discussing how to start, someone pointed out
that since the world as we knew it was gone, if we wanted to change
our names, now would be the time. They pointed out that none of us
knew each other before the disaster, and what we had gone through had
changed all of us, so maybe we felt our new lives deserved new names.
One girl who had
been named Erin wanted to be known as Aquarius, because that was her
star sign. A guy named Chris wanted to be known by a kind of
non-committal grunt sound. Which I protested because how would I get
his attention when I needed to call out to him? But I was over-ruled,
as the spirit of the activity was that you could be whatever you
wanted, none of the old “rules” applied. Everyone in the group
chose to change their name. Everyone but me. For some reason I was
quite happy to keep my name Brooke as my post-apocalyptic moniker. Go
figure.
But this dream led
me to think about post-apocalyptic naming in general. Would survivors
feel the need to change their names, like we did? Would the names
passed on to further generations carry on current naming trends in a
bid to hang onto the old order? Or would they reflect what the world
had gone through, or what the new mode of living was, or our hopes
for the future?
I’d imagine that
these are things that any writer in the post-apocalyptic genre must
consider when naming their characters. So in the spirit of fun, I
thought I’d consider some of the possibilities.
“Power of Nature”
Names
It might not be a
man made disaster that brings abut the collapse of the world as we
know it. Many people believe the world changing event will indeed be
natural - be it solar flares; a meteor strike; shifting tectonic
plates causing earthquakes and volcanic eruptions; or climate change. Nature names are already popular, but if
brought to our knees by the power of nature we could see nature names
taken to a new level.
| Avalanche | Hurricane | Tornado | |||
| Blizzard | Monsoon | Tremor | |||
| Cyclone | Quake | Tsunami | |||
| Force | Tempest | Twister | |||
| Gale | Tidal | Volcano |
“Thank Our Lucky
Stars” Names
How about if we
survived a disaster of massive proportions that left people thinking
what a miracle it was that they survived. We could probably expect to
see more miraculous and religious themed names. We already see some
evidence of this today. And if everyone is doing it, suddenly some of
the names used in 'The Hunger Games' such as Marvel might not seem so
extravagant and self-indulgent. They might even seem humble, in
deference to a higher power.
| Amaze | Miracle | Saviour | |||
| Awe | Phenomenon | Sensational | |||
| Blessing | Prodigy | Trinity | |||
| Godsend | Rapture | Wonder | |||
| Halo | Reverence | Wow |
“Tough” Names
 |
| Kate Mulgrew as Red in 'Orange is the New Black' |
| Anarchy | Frenzy | Rebel | |||
| Bayonet | Fury | Sassy | |||
| Bloodrayne | Gunner | Scrapper | |||
| Bruiser | Hatchet | Tank | |||
| Cannon | Machete | Viper |
“This Is Me”
Names
Not everyone has to be a fighter, although choosing a name that
instantly communicates something about ourselves or projects a
certain image is a common theme in post-apocalyptic stories. 'The
Walking Dead’ featured The Governor. The boy in charge of the
cooking in ‘The Maze Runner’ is named Frypan. And it's not just a
post-apocalyptic theme - think of Red in 'Orange Is The New Black'.
The only problem here is that people are always so much more than any
one thing that this feels like a mask of sorts.
| Catcher | Engineer | Karaoke | |||
| Curly | Farmer | Mother | |||
| Doc | Foxy | Nomad | |||
| Dreamer | Gorgeous | Plaid | |||
| Enforcer | Greenthumb | Sheriff |
“Origin” Names
Maybe survivors
would want to shed their old identity, without losing sight of where
they came from. Or maybe it’s nothing more than a quick way to
convey information about your previous life. They went this route in
the movie ‘Zombieland’, where the four main characters are known
as Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita and Little Rock. And there’s a
character in the ‘Resident Evil’ movies named K-Mart, as that’s
where she was found by her fellow survivors.
I could only see
this working in a world were very, very few people survived, or it
could get confusing quickly. But I love that this potentially makes
us reconsider which place names make for “suitable” given names.
People I might meet in my area if the apocalypse happened tomorrow
could be:
| Armadale | Elwood | Stonnington | |||
| Burke | Frankston | Summerhill | |||
| Chadstone | Malvern | Tarneit | |||
| Coburg | Melbourne | Wattletree | |||
| Dandenong | Richmond | Yarra |
**disclaimer: these name suggestions are in the spirit of fun - I am not recommending that they are all suitable for a person**
