8 Ridiculous Origins To The Names Of Iconic Movie Characters

Getting a movie character's name right is more important than you realise. You can have an amazingly nuanced plot with endless twists and turns and dialogue that leaps all the way across the room, but no Hollywood executive will green-light, no actor will sign onto, and no audience will go see a film if the protagonist goes by Stinks McGee (no offence to any Stinks out there).

But what makes a cool name then? After all, so many famous character monikers gained weight over time, becoming highly regarded despite being rather bland, meaning that when stripped of context they don't quite hold up; the respective self-titled movies for John Carter, Jack Reacher and Jack Ryan all felt incredibly insipid precisely because they sounded like they were named after some disinteresting bloke from down the pub.

Writers love to dip into Latin or other foreign languages for inspiration, finding attractive terms that carry some underlying meaning, although then you risk populating a world that's supposed to grounded with a bunch of mumbo gumbo names. It's a minefield, so no wonder creative types have turned to some odd places for names when bringing the most beloved and iconic characters to life, from the shockingly simplistic to the obscenely convoluted.