Charles Dickens' History

The renowned writer Charles Dickens was a very meticulous chooser of his character’s names. He was a guru at choosing names, which would give the readers an idea of what kind of person the character was. You would know about Pecksniff, and Fagin if you read some his books.

Take a random person in the streets and ask him a simple question about his favorite sounding names. You will hear all sorts of fancy words but these will often not feature a K or G sound. You can argue that most of the K & G sounds do not have a glamorous and classy sound to them. The same applies with how Charles Dickens chose names for the people featuring in his books. The people like PumbleCHook or the more conspicuous Fagin were villainous characters. The same works for Montague Tigg and Quilp and Bill Sikes.

For the person in the luxury, beauty and romance sector, it stops being a storybook. There is no forgiveness when your brand has those harsh sounds like G and K.

Charles Dickens was a believer of this theory but something else too. Some names give the listener a reminder about some other word or scenario. This is why some Dickensian names worked well. For that, thinking Mr. Pickwick’s name does not mean he is a villain. He is instead a loved character.

The expression that flickers in our mind when Dickens named a character Gradgrind is nose to the grindstone. Not the softy character at all. Pecksniff is another perfect example. Put the words peck and sniff together and see a character who has inconsequential traits. Headmaster Wackford gives the sound Whack.

During the 19th century, the word screw was commonly used to mean miser. It is the right fit for Scrooge.

Analyzing other names in the series, for example Tom Pinch, Little Nell and Pip Pirrip shows that they were good-natured characters. They have the e, I alongside the o in common.

Writers therefore observe this simple trend regarding a character’s name. Villains will have certain sounds while nice guys will have others. Simply put, the reader or the person on the receiving end should be assisted to see through a character by his name. Brand names need to do that too since they deal with customers.

Charles Dickens' History