What if people had Obviously Evil names?

I know in cartoon world that you tell who is a villian by what their name is but in real life its harder to do.But what if real life villians and unpleasant people had Obviously Evil names that could warn someone that they were not a good person to trust.

Well, I imagine people would know to keep far, far away from you.

:P

edited 24th Sep '11 9:06:34 AM by ekuseruekuseru

It would be very silly.

I don't imagine they'd be terribly successful villains.

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Indeed! Somewhat off-topic, but this one always wondered how fictional Always Chaotic Evil species manage to betray and backstab each other, considering that they all know fully well that their kin is Chaotic Evil and so shouldn't be trusted

If we disagree, that much, at least, we have in common

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy if those names were given at birth. Since everyone knows those names are Obviously Evil, the victims would get treated like a Complete Monster from birth, and have little choice but to fall into their appointed role, even if at heart they were good people.

More amusing might be if people who demonstrated villainous personalities and behavior were legally required to change their names to be Obviously Evil.

They're chaotic evil, so they reject the pattern.

To be honest, though, I think that unless we have linguistic relativism, this idea is impossible from a perspective that deems morals to be relative.

This probably falls more under Significant Monogram, but in doing a part-time job involving making a database of names for a local college, I've seen at least a few people with the unfortunate initials KKK. I have no idea what those people are like, but if any of them ever got involved in crimes they would potentially be considered "villains" with evil initials.

Of course, as Hitler shows, sometimes just being significantly famous and dangerous enough can put one's name into the Names to Run Away from Really Fast category.

Whether or not having an Obviously Evil name is an asset or a liability for a real-life criminal would probably depend on the nature of the crimes. If it was someone who wanted to be able to trick people and be very secretive, it would probably be easier if they didn't have a name that made people suspicious of them. On the other hand, someone who wants to sound more intimidating could potentially like having such a name (or go by an "evil" nickname like Voldemort did in Harry Potter).

edited 24th Sep '11 11:22:50 AM by Rainbow

Judging by the real life section of Obviously Evil, there's nothing stopping someone from taking on an intimidating moniker or image willingly. Being given an evil name at birth would depend on the culture; a name that means noble warrior in one culture might be looked upon with disdain in a neighboring culture that has warred with them for generations. But then we're getting into prejudice and culturally mandated morality... which is the origin of morality and evil anyway, so it still fits.

Well theres this kid my little brother used to know that everyone called "Hitler". when they said hi? "Hey Hitler!". some times with the Roman/Nazi salute. and apperntally one time they did a nazi-style march down the Hallway. Yea, this seems like it's going in a GREAT direction

I'm baaaaaaack