On #13, is it a “Mary Sue” just for being flawless and hyper-capable, or does the character need to be an author avatar? On #2: Is “Chatty Cathy” truly alliterative? I have been under the impression that alliteration was the repetition of the initial consonant sound, and though the two words start with the same consonant, they do not actually share any consonant sounds. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:ģ Responses to “20 Archetypes for People Based on Names” Typhoid Mary: a person who spreads disease or another undesirable thing named after Mary Mallon, an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid Smart Aleck (or “smart alec”): a know-it-all apparently inspired by a nineteenth-century con man the police called “Smart Alec”Ģ0. Simple Simon: a gullible, unintelligent person derived from a folk characterġ9. plain Jane: a girl or woman of average appearance, or any unprepossessing object inspired by rhyming a common name with a descriptive labelġ8. Peeping Tom: a voyeur based on an apocryphal story of an onlooker (identified with a common name) during the based-in-fact tale of Lady Godivaġ7. Nervous Nellie: a timid, easily upset person of either gender originally, a reference to a high-strung racehorse, influenced by Old Nell, a name associated with nags, or older horsesġ6. Merry Andrew: a clownish person based on an archetypal clown actġ5. Mary Sue: any main character in a story who is unrealistically capable and flawless inspired by the name’s all-American, wholesome, winsome associationsġ4.
Joe Six-Pack (or “Joe Sixpack”): (see “Average Joe,” imagined as a working-class man who enjoys drinking beer, thus the reference to a six-pack)ġ3. Joe Cool: someone who presents a fashionable or unflappable persona probably originated with the name of an alter ego of the character Snoopy in the Peanuts comic stripġ2. Jack-the-lad: an arrogant, carefree young man probably inspired by the name of a thief who became a folk hero because of multiple escapes from prisonġ1. Handy Andy: a person with useful skills inspired by rhyming a common name with a descriptive labelĩ. Good-Time Charlie: a hedonist probably based on a reference in a Damon Runyon story about a speakeasy by that nameĨ. Gloomy Gus: (see “Debbie Downer”) based on a cartoon character named by joining an alliterative common name with a descriptive labelħ. Dumb Dora: a dimwitted or foolish woman, from early-twentieth-century slang coined by joining an alliterative common name with a descriptive labelĦ. Doubting Thomas: a skeptic inspired by the name of one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, who refused to believe in Jesus’s resurrection until he saw himĥ. Debbie Downer: a naysayer or pessimist coined by joining an alliterative common name with a descriptive labelĤ. Chatty Cathy: an annoyingly verbose woman coined through alliteration and rhymeģ. Average Joe: the average man from a demographic viewpoint from the ubiquity of the name JoeĢ. Here are twenty such appellations and their definitions and (sometimes only probable) origins.ġ.
Various expressions have arisen, sometimes from folkloric or historical origins, to describe types of people by assigning them with personal names. 20 Archetypes for People Based on Names By Mark Nichol