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Archetypal name

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Archetypal names are proper names of real, mythological, or fictional characters that have become designations for archetypes of certain personal traits. They are a form of antonomasia.

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Archetypal names are a literary device used to allude to certain traits of a character or a plot.

Literary critic Egil Törnqvist mentions possible risks in choosing certain names for literary characters. For example, if a person is named Abraham, it is unclear whether the reader is hinted of the biblical or Abraham Lincoln, and only the context provides the proper understanding.

Archetypal names for persons

  • Bruce, a male hairdresser or interior designer
  • Nanook, an Eskimo
  • Tex, a cowboy
  • Hanako, an archetypal Japanese name for girls.
  • Jeeves, an archetypal name for a butler.
  • Archetypal names for groups

    A name may also be an identifier of a social group, an ethnicity, nationality, or geographical locality.

    Some of the names below may also be used as ethnic slurs.

  • Irishmen: Paddy, from Saint Patrick, the patron of Ireland
  • References

    Archetypal name Wikipedia


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