Wednesday’s Names Are Full of Woe 🕷️
The hit show is a masterclass in pitch-perfect character names
It may be the season of light, joy and goodwill to all men, but the hottest pop culture craze of the moment is decidedly more… macabre.
Released at the end of November on Netflix, Wednesday proved an instant sensation – leaping to #1 the week it launched and remaining there ever since. It’s only the third Netflix series to clock a billion hours of watchtime in less than a month.
What’s its secret? A big part of the allure has to be the show’s irresistibly extravagant Gothic aesthetic. For an audience already in thrall to all things dark academia, it pushes the whole vibe just a little bit further towards danger and decadence.
The same, of course, can be said of the names 😍
The Addams Family franchise has always had an excellent name game – exemplified by the new (anti)heroine herself:
Principal: Wednesday is certainly a unique name. I’m guessing it was the day of the week you were born?
Wednesday: I was born on Friday 13th.
Morticia: Her name comes from a line from my favorite nursery rhyme. “Wednesday’s child is full of woe.”
Morticia is, of course, a play on the word “mortician” and other similarly morbid words from the same Latin root.
Other pitch-perfect names from the series that totally fit the Gothic vibe include Agnes, Ajax, Dalton, Enid, Pugsley and Vlad 🦇 💀
Naturally, the Berries have been having fun with this!
I started wondering what I’d name additional Addams children, and I thought it’d be fun to hear the Berries’ answers, too!
I know they got at least one other sibling in one of the movies (Pubert), but if we stick with just Wednesday and Pugsley for now, what would you name their siblings?
Tried to pick something dark and quirky (or should I say kooky and spooky…), and my feverish mind came up with these: Hemlock, Nero, Faustina, Gravelynn, Thirteen… – @Luminen
This might just be one of my favorite forum challenges of all time! Arachnia, Malady, Jackdaw, Catacomb “Cate”, Rubella = genius.
See the full list of Berry suggestions and add your own here 👇
New: Random Character Name Generator!
The beauty of Wednesday’s beguiling names is that there are no afterthoughts: even the supporting characters get cool, memorable names that we can totally see catching the eye of expectant parents too.
(No, we’re not suggesting you name your child Fester or Thing… but Noble, Bianca, Xavier, Enid? 😍)
But naming a whole cast of characters can be a challenge! If this sounds painfully familiar, check out our brand new Random Character Name Generator, created by none other than Nameberry founder Pam.
Pam is also a novelist, the author of Younger, the basis of the Darren Star TV show. Her worlds collided when she created this random character name generator one evening when she was avoiding working on her new novel.
The other day, having to invent two minor characters in one of the final scenes from scratch, she went to the generator she made and randomly created two actual usable characters with the press of a button.
Pam invites all the writers among you to try the Random Character Name Generator for yourselves, and to share the tool on your social media to spread the word among writer friends!
And from the whole Nameberry team, a very Happy Hanukkah to all those celebrating today 🕎 🥳