My favorite name
is District 12’s Madge Undersee, Katniss’s friend who gives her mockingjay pin.
This name is fun to unpack. Madge gives her the badge and M for
Mockinjay. Her last name comes from her father, who, as mayor of District 12,
is supposed to oversee everything. But since he and his family let Katniss get
away with poaching, it could be said he undersees everything.
Effie Trinket’s name gives us even more to unpack than Madge’s. First, let’s look
at her first name. I always imagined Effie was a nickname for Frances. A google
search tells me it’s short for Euphemia-a Greek name for well-spoken. But never
mind meaning or origin. All that matters is that Euphemia is an old-fashioned
name no modern woman would ever saddle her child with ever. There’s something
beautiful about it, but it’s a stuffy, antique kind of beautiful. Euphemia
sounds like a Victorian lady of wealth, influence, and reputation. Additionally,
it puts me in mind of the word euphemism-a polite term for something dreadful.
But Suzanne Collins doesn’t call her Euphemia Trinket. She’s Effie. “Effie” sounds to me like Euphemia or her parents looked
at this name and said, “How do I make this cute? How do I make this trendy?” and
the resulting Effie was the best they could come up with. I can’t imagine any
modern parents calling their daughter Effie, but the name might work for a
poodle. Effie, as a whole, sounds like an older, wealthy lady trying (and
failing) to be stylish.
Her last name, Trinket, is a real word. Trinkets are jewelry
of knickknacks, sometimes expensive and never useful. Decorative. Showy. Not a
weapon you’d fear and not a tool you’d go to for help. Trinkets are there to
sit still and look pretty. The site MyHeritage tells me it is, in fact, used as
a surname in our world, but unless you have a friend by this name, you’ll
probably think jewelry before people.
Now, who is our woman? She’s a resident of the Capitol,
which makes her wealthy. Her job as Reaping announcer and pre-Games escort puts
her in the public eye, but she’s a pseudo-authority rather than an actual one. She
selects contestants for the Hunger Games but can’t be held actively accountable
for their deaths. Katniss doesn’t feel the same disdain for her as she does Capitol
politicians and gamemakers. Unlike Cinna, Katniss’s stylist, and mentor
Haymitch, she’s useless in terms of tactical game preparation, image control,
and outside assistance. Her role is to accompany rather than coach. Her hair,
makeup, outfits, and accessories aim for the height of fashion but hit a
ghastly kind of flamboyance. And overall, she’s a walking euphemism. She’s the
reader or viewer’s first introduction to the games, a fight to the death
couched inside the glamour of reality television. She knows Katniss is slated
to die, but perkily downplays every pre-game milestone as “a big, big day.”
Overall, Effie Trinket carries with it the airs of:
Wealth
Influence
Triviality
Glamour
Tackiness
Old-fashionedness
Sugarcoating
Try following this pattern to create a name for a similar
character. Let’s start with the name Frances. We’ll bypass the common name Fran
the same way Suzanne Collins doesn’t pull the ordinary Mia out of Euphemia. If
we go to the end of Frances instead, we could turn it into Sissy, a weak woman who could be cute but certainly isn't useful in a fight. Now let’s
brainstorm words similar to Trinket:
Treasure
Antique
Jewelry
Bauble
Decor
Knickknack
My favorite from this list is Bauble. If we change the
spelling, that gives us bobble. Bobbleheads are bouncy, entertaining, decorative, and useless. Sissy Bobble sounds like a silly, useless sort of woman.
Writing prompt: Imagine a character who is Effie's opposite in every way-powerful, dangerous, modern, youthful, and sloppily dressed. Now, give her a name.
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