Should I change my MC's name?

As long as his last name isn't Drake and he doesn't pal around with ladies named Elena and Chloe, you should be ok. Not everyone is a gamer, and not all gamers have played Uncharted. So unless the plots are eerily similar, I wouldn't worry about it.

Worse comes to worse, rent or borrow the first game and reassure yourself that your execution is different.

The MC in my novel Final Flame is Christian Charles. I am not chaning it cuz of some dumb Twilight bdsm bullsh^^. He IS Christian. Tough crap! Plus, you're assuming you're going to get published. LOL (no offense meant, but it is another reason NOT to change it!)

I would probably change the name. Especially if I thought the games audience and my reading audience would be the same/similar.

If you decide not to change it, could you use a nickname more (or less) to distinguish it a little more?

Lidiya,

personally I might change it just because I'm not all that attached to a name. That's just another variant of being unwilling to kill your babies, in my opinion. But I suspect you're probably safe, as Nathan is very common and Uncharted isn't exactly in every single person's collective awareness. How much an issue depends a bit on more specifics though, and how similar to the game your book appears to be. That we can't answer. So it is up to you.

My biggest name peeve is where an entire high school or whatever has names like "Drake Moonfyre" and "Datura Nightshade" and I find my eyes rolling as I think "really? in what fucking world?" (of course, less relevant in fantasy, but in "real-world" genres, it starts to look like author indulgence.)

Lidiya said:

So here's the problem.
A few months ago I started writing a novel about a man who has to save his father, but to do that he has to find a certain object. He travels around the world and basically has a whole adventure.
I named my MC Nathan.

A few weeks later, I find out about the Uncharted games and I've felt like ripping my hair out ever since.

I guess I need to change my MC's name, or people are gonna really compare it to the video games. The problem is, Nathan suits him so damn much! I can't imagine him with any other name...

Do you think I should change his name? I can't think of anything that suits him, the name's just rooted to the character and won't go away

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A name is a name. Change if you want to, otherwise don't worry about it. I doubt anybody is going to compare it to video games.

I wouldn't change it. There are lots of Nathans. Almost any name you choose could be linked to some famous character somewhere. Where does it all end?

Do a search sometime to find out just how many Nathans there are. It's a pretty common first name. As long as you don't make his last name Drake, like KateSmash said, you should be fine.

There are reasons to do either.

I've decided to change the name of the MC in my current wip. I had 'invented' the name a few years ago. Which is to say that it's a name that doesn't come from the real world and I'd never heard it used before. However, a few weeks ago, I saw a book that had the same name on the cover. I read the back cover and based upon that, I decided to change the name.

Did you ever think of spelling it differently? Nathen. Sometimes it can be that simple.

As a reader, I don't care much about names, unless it is obvious the writer tried to be overly clever or artsy, which makes me either fake-gag or laugh. As long as I can tell the characters apart, there is no issue. It is the author's job of characterization that is important, not the names the author hung on those characters. And common names are common names. They will be used in various places. That is not a bad thing, that is not a good thing. It is just a thing of no consequence to me when reading a story.

NeuroFizz said:

As a reader, I don't care much about names, unless it is obvious the writer tried to be overly clever or artsy, which makes me either fake-gag or laugh. As long as I can tell the characters apart, there is no issue. It is the author's job of characterization that is important, not the names the author hung on those characters. And common names are common names. They will be used in various places. That is not a bad thing, that is not a good thing. It is just a thing of no consequence to me when reading a story.

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I have the opposite thing going on. If I read a back cover and the name of the MMC is an ex-boyfriend or a name I do not care for, I will put it down. Yes, I am THAT self-centered and have probably missed out on some good stories. I just can't dismiss it.

ccarver30 said:

The MC in my novel Final Flame is Christian Charles.

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I have a character (minor) named Charles Christian, who happens to be a rich kid. I thought of changing it for the same reason as you...

It will likely get changed anyway, I got the name from a brandy bottle...

Jeff

It's up to you if you want to change it, but if you think you should, don't worry that you won't like the MC's new name as much. I had that problem once; I named a character Melanthe, thought it was spiffy and unusual, then a few days later found a character in the same genre, serving the same general role*, as my Melanthe. I changed it to Mallory, and it was awkward for a few chapters, but after that, her new name became her real name and I couldn't imagine her as anything but Mallory.

*Their personalities and looks were completely different, but they were both the main villain's right-hand accomplice.

I've played those games and from the sounds of your story, I probably wouldn't have noticed it. And a lot of people wouldn't have played those games.

Besides Nathan is a relatively common name.

Its up to you - and I know how a name can just suit a character too - so if it is bugging you change it.

IAMWRITER said:

I've played those games and from the sounds of your story, I probably wouldn't have noticed it. And a lot of people wouldn't have played those games.

Besides Nathan is a relatively common name.

Its up to you - and I know how a name can just suit a character too - so if it is bugging you change it.

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Yeah, I have no idea what the game/story/name/guy/thing is. lol

The only important thing about choosing a name is it shouldn't hold us up from writing the story.

Nathan is a nice name, and a common name too. Keep it. If you can't imagine him with any other name, then that means, your character's name is Nathan.

ccarver30 said:

Plus, you're assuming you're going to get published. LOL (no offense meant, but it is another reason NOT to change it!)

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Actually, this is an excellent point. Wait until you get a contract and then have that discussion with your publishers.

My main character name is Jake. In a book that will feature vampires. I refuse to change it because it fits!

August Talok said:

Did you ever think of spelling it differently? Nathen. Sometimes it can be that simple.

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As someone whose name is "Nathaniel" I would quit reading this as soon as I saw that. But you could do Nate.

Hmmm, no advice. I'd keep the name unless and an agent or publisher said otherwise and then I'd change. Unless you are afraid the agent or publisher won't read it due to the name... mmm, no advice. (But don't change it .... no, back to no advice. .... No, don't ch... no, no advice.)

Theundergroundauthor said:

My main character name is Jake. In a book that will feature vampires. I refuse to change it because it fits!

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What if that were the only point keeping it from publication?

Lidiya said:

I guess I need to change my MC's name, or people are gonna really compare it to the video games. The problem is, Nathan suits him so damn much! I can't imagine him with any other name...

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Rookie.



Come talk to me when you've got a book of a certain genre, already through multiple editing rounds, and then discover that the names of your 2 male leads just happen to be the names of pivotal characters from 2 hugely popular books in the same genre, but you hadn't paid it much notice since 1 of those characters is a girl and the other went by a nickname so often you didn't know his "real" name. Have that conversation with your editor, then talk to me about how "attached" you are to a name and whether or not someone will think you got the name from another source.

Honestly, it's not that bad. I kept one name and altered the other, but the point is that THESE THINGS HAPPEN. Editors know they happen. (In fact, I was the one who asked my editor if the names should change rather than the other way around) Readers know they happen, which won't keep a few comparisons from coming anyone.

Worry less. Write more.

woozy said:

Originally Posted by Theundergroundauthor
My main character name is Jake. In a book that will feature vampires. I refuse to change it because it fits!

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What if that were the only point keeping it from publication?

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Then yeah, of course! I meant that as I was writing, I realised that a fairly famous book has a character with this name with elements similar to mine (although totally different in nature - they don't SPARKLE, Goddammit!). Anyway, I wondered if I should change it and decided no. But if it were the make/break of being published, then of course. But let's cross that bridge when we come to it!

Cyia said:

Worry less. Write more.

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This is such great advice. I think it could apply to so many questions here on Absolute Write. Now if I would just take this advice and write.

Lidiya said:

The problem is, Nathan suits him so damn much! I can't imagine him with any other name...

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Then you're not using your imagination well enough. What "Nathan" means to you is almost certainly different from what "Nathan" will mean to any reader. If the name (which is pretty common) conveys any meaning at all to a reader. I know several Nathans, and nothing about that name conveys anything about their character.

Much the same would be true for other currently common names. Some first names carry meaning from the character's family culture, ethnic background, religious background, etc. "Nathan" doesn't strike me as one of those, any more than, say, "Michael", or "Richard", or "Brian".

If it's bugging you, change the name. I really don't think that's necessary, because "Nathan" is so common that it's unlikely a reader will make the instant connection you seem to have made to this game character. Do you really think that naming a character "James" would instantly cause readers to connect it to Star Trek's Captain Kirk?

Worry more about what your MC does.

caw