What's in a name?

I was asked about the names of my characters in Gray Song. Most have a history, some as long as the characters themselves. Other names are just random.

Jonathan “Tucker” Tucker Junior. Tucker was originally Taylor, which I took from the original Chuck Heston Planet of the Apes and for the longest time had Mike shouting “Take your stinking paws off me you damned dirty ape!” from the back seat of the Bronco. It really had nothing to do with the story so out it went. I killed that darling as they say. “Tucker” is an old Swamp Yankee name from South County, but then I made his father a southern Baptist strip mall church preacher from Alabama and that fit even better, last name and nickname all in one. Tucker is a Junior because we are all sons of our fathers and we make the same choices, good and bad, as they do. Life is relentlessly cyclical. Tucker’s first name is Jon, Jonathan, a variant of John to go with Mary to keep their love story totally traditional and as old as water. Didn’t they have a ton of John and Mary’s in cartoons? John! Mary! JOHN! MARY!

Mary Tucker. Mary was there from the beginning and lifted without shame from “Thunder Road” by the Boss. “The screen door slams, Mary’s dress waves, Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays…” “Thunder Road” was the title of Part II for the longest time until I changed it to “Butterfly Might.” I don’t reveal Mary’s maiden name because it can be whatever you want it to be. She’s a Tucker now. That’s what serves the story, and it adds to the complexity of her character when Tucker is suddenly out of her life. This, of course, is in direct contrast to who she is as a character - incredibly independent and strong.

Catharina Primrose Tucker. This was a late change to Gray Song. She was always “The Woman” since the very first draft, very mysterious, as a play against the dragon and The Woman and the Dragon verse in Revelation with no real name. I finally let go of that (what’s the point of the story again?) and pushed forward the lore and history of Block Island instead, especially after reading about the Princess Augusta and how it was shipwrecked on the island in the early 1800s and led to the famous ghost story about the Palatine Light. There were two women among the survivors of that wreck who lived out the rest of their days on the island. Residents called them “Short Kate” and “Long Kate.” It wasn’t known if they were sisters, but Long Kate was well known and rumored to be a witch who could see into the future. Not much was known about Short Kate, so I made Catharina a descendant of Short Kate and a sister of Long Kate with her same abilities. World building is fun. People also assumed Kate was short for Catharina, a popular name at the time. Voila! “Catharina.” Catharina is perfect. I wish I had found this earlier. Primrose is an alternative to Rose, which is a famous settler family name on the island.

Tavish “Uncle” Primrose. Uncle is my own dad, Whitney, who was affectionally called “Uncle Whit” by my cousins. I chose this character to be Tucker’s uncle to raise him after he becomes an orphan, in essence, and because being raised by an uncle is just different than being raised by a stranger or foster parent. My father was also a caretaker for those who knew him, especially as a sponsor in AA. He was also very close to his own sister, my aunt, and I wanted to explore this same brother-sister bond between Uncle and Catharina. Uncle’s real name, Tavish, is an old Scottish name meaning “twin” or “hillside.” I think I first read that and said to myself, “Oh! Twins! They’re twins!” Even better to explore that brother-sister bond thing. Tavish and Catharina Primrose. How classically New England settler ancestry-ish! I love it.

James “Toronto Jim” Simcoe. This was straight up me making shit up. I have no idea where it came from. But the quirky name stuck, and it matched the quirky character that I’ve grown to love. It was important to make Toronto Jim a misfit like Catharina. He is not Navajo but married a Navajo woman (and adds to my overall message that love is all that matters in the end). He is an outsider, a misfit, a little person, a widow. Catharina is also a misfit with her cloud curse, an outsider, an island girl living in the desert, also a widow. Toronto Jim’s character is also a nod to the Mohegan Indian concept of the “Makiawisug” (muh-kee-ah-wee-sug). Or “Makki” singular. Makiawisug are the Little People of the Mohegan and Pequot tribes. "They can be dangerous if they are disrespected but are generally benevolent nature spirits, carve symbols on rocks, and have magical powers including the ability to make themselves invisible.” (from http://www.native-languages.org/makiawisug.htm) Simcoe is a famous surname from the Toronto area.

Michael “Mike” Alvares. Mike at first was me just making shit up again. But I grew to accept the idea that Mike is in fact a variant of the Archangel Michael, who is now a lovable orphan best friend to Tucker. This is not an overly religious story but I still wanted some faith-based undertones to it, much how we live and view our reality in the real world. Mike’s mission here on earth is to get Tucker back with Mary, to preserve this true love, rather than literally battling demons and the devil. “Alvares” is Portuguese meaning "faithful" and "honest."

Captain Olin Eriksson. For Olin, I wanted him to be a Viking and chose a Viking name. Not much more than that. He started as a fifth-wheel character but that grew annoying, so I made him a third instead, the piece of the triangle, which for you Ancient Aliens fans is a universal mathematical constant. A triangle is incredibly strong. Any weight placed on them is evenly distributed on all sides. I also wanted a nod to the Christian notion of the trinity. I wanted three equals, instead of the familiar hero and his sidekick, to get a solid guy-ball-busting-thing going between them. The rest grew from there. Olin and Jo have the familiar standard nuclear family in direct contrast to what Tucker and Mary do not have. Erikksson is a traditional Norwegian surname.

Jo Nguyen Eriksson. At first I made Jo as this ambiguous unclear partner to Olin. Was Jo male? Female? They were a couple in love; genders didn’t matter. But that went away and was overtaken by the need to show the family contrast instead. Jo comes from money. Her family owns the ferry company, which makes things easier when Tucker commandeers the ferry Rebecca Keen and destroys it. And I wanted another contrast to this notion of rich people on the island being all selfish and evil; Jo and her family are good people. Nguyen is a common Vietnamese name, a heritage that hails from the opposite end of the earth from the North Sea. More stark contrasts within the gray ambivalent nature of a cloud.

Cochise and Tecumseh. The dogs were always special. They are Spirit Animals. I’ve gone back and forth, doubting and reassuring myself, that keeping names of famous Native American icons was appropriate as names for dogs. But these guys were sent to guide, guard, and ease people’s pain, and they ultimately lead Mary back to Tucker. This is their mission on Earth. You can call them Angels if you want but Spirit Animal and Angel is one and the same to me.

Rebecca Keen. I originally took the real-life ferry name Carol Jean that we’ve all ridden on a hundred times to the island and made it Norma Jean. But that name was too similar and I wanted a nod to the Rebecca statue on the island. "Keen" means sharp... Rebecca Keen rhymes with Carol Jean... all good! Then I Googled it to make sure it wasn’t a real-life boat name. It's not. Not yet.

Butterfly Might. This was refrigerator magnet poetry. Remember those? I put words against “Butterfly” until I found one with a good ring to it. Then I Googled it to make sure it wasn’t a real-life ship name. It's not yet.

Dappy's. I made this up in the beginning and then eventually discovered that Emily's babbling words sounded like "Daddy." Ever have one of those writing moments? When you don't know why you make the choice you make and then it comes out, it all makes sense, it fits perfectly? That was Dappy's. And I'm a breakfast joint guy at heart.

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