Character Naming

This morning I woke up sometime before 6am with back pain. Most of the time I just take some ibuprofen and go back to sleep. After sleepily deciding that it would be in my best interest not to take pain medication all the time I started to think. Thinking is one of the greatest evils when you want to get back to sleep. The only thing that stuck in my head was that some of the naming in the Hunger Games was actually quite good. I've had a friend tell me that Suzanne Collins was being very obvious with the naming; everyone named after a plant is good, the name Haymitch would be something you say to a drunk person, Effie Trinket was witty because it means fuck toy. If Collins just created characters with bland names I probably wouldn't be as drawn to them but I'm able to articulate what I mean in the moment so I just shrugged and agreed. Today I argue that Collins did think about what she named each character.

 Not all of the characters named after plants were good. There was a girl from District 2 named Clove that kept trying to kill everyone. Though killing Katniss would probably have been an act of mercy. Cinna could have either been named after the spice cinnamon or a nickname for Julius Caesar's father-in-law's family. Aside from Katniss' family (which would explain why she and her sister were named after plants; parents name their kids crazy things) no one else seems to have the name of a plant. Other "good" characters have names similar to names that are popular today for example Gale is like a strong wind pulling at Katniss' heart but also a name we use today. Peeta is named after the pita bread that you would find in his family's shop but also shows you how Collins wants you to pronounce Peter. If The Hunger Games were to be read in England the name Peter would be read as Peeta which makes it witty, however since we live in America we would see it as Peter with a hard "R" sound. Which leads to...

 Hamish. No, I didn't spell Haymitch wrong, that's the Gaelic name for James. I probably wouldn't have thought anything of the name Haymitch except for the fact that when I was a child I was really into murder mysteries; one of the mystery series I enjoyed was the Hamish McBeth series. When I read these novels I kept reading his name as "Ham-Ish." A few years later I found a Television version of a few books and rented it. It turned out that the name Hamish is pronounced "Hay-Mish." So why not name him James; because it needed Hay in the name to denote that he's good unless he's from district 2... wait, no, because she wasn't using current common names.

 Effie Trinket, the fuck toy, so much make-up plastered on her face, the high fashion of the Capital, she's just the Capital's play thing. Or her name is Euphemia which means to speak well (English). Or she could be named after the Scottish Effie which comes from the name Oighrig which means new speckled one in Gaelic. Both seem to define the chatty little thing wearing the best and newest fashions. So instead of being a fuck toy, something Pyramid Head would like, her name is probably chatty new ornament. Seriously guys, this is a children's book.

 Whatever the meaning there was behind the names in the Hunger Game series it was probably more than, "oh, this name sounds nice, let's give them this name." To discredit the naming process, the time and effort put into naming a character, is irritating. If the names seem too easy it's either because they are (Twilight) or you're not reading into it enough. Doesn't explain what a Katniss is though.