Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2020 March 17

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March 17

Which fictional characters are either directly or indirectly named after real life historical figures?

Which fictional characters are either directly or indirectly named after real life historical figures? So far, I can think of Garfield the Cat, who was named after Jim Davis's grandfather James Garfield Davis, who in turn was named after US President James A. Garfield. 68.96.93.207 (talk) 05:40, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

We do have List of comic and cartoon characters named after people, which includes your example. -- ToE 08:57, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Possibly also of interest is Category:Fictional characters based on real people. -- ToE 09:06, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Merci beaucoup! Futurist110 (talk) 20:24, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

As an Australian, I immediately thought of John West from Power Without Glory by Frank Hardy. Our article describes the book as a historical novel, and a fictional tale. However, anyone with a knowledge of the history of Melbourne in the first half of the 20th century instantly recognised that West was very closely modelled on John Wren, described in our article as an Australian bookmaker, boxing and wrestling promoter, Irish nationalist, land speculator, newspaper owner, racecourse and racehorse owner, soldier, pro-conscriptionist and theatre owner. Funnily enough, there were suggestions that some of his activities were not 100% legal. It was interesting times. HiLo48 (talk) 09:32, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

James Bond (the fictional spy) is named after James Bond (an ornithologist). Iapetus (talk) 10:36, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

There are several from Fleming, Goldfinger perhaps the most famous. One got him into trouble with MI6 (He implied something about someone within 6, which was public knowledge within the office, but officially they weren't asking and no-one was telling.) Andy Dingley (talk) 19:12, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

I expect there could be a lot of them. One that comes to mind is in the book Superfolks, in which the hero's name is David Brinkley, originally from the planet Cronk, so of course he fears the element Cronkite. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:33, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Ha! From that article I learned of the relevant article Tuckerization. -- ToE 21:43, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Harry S Truman of twin peaks Temerarius (talk) 18:39, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

The character John Malkovich in the film Being John Malkovich.  --Lambiam 19:54, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Playing a fictionalized version of himself. As with Jerry Seinfeld on Seinfeld. Or Drew Carey on The Drew Carey Show. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:27, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Note that the real John Malkovich is named John Gavin Malkovich, while the fictional character is named John Horatio Malkovich, so the actor is not playing himself. I strongly suspect that the similarity is not coincidental, but that the character was named, with an easily overlooked alteration, after the actor.  --Lambiam 04:09, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Or Lucy Ricardo in I love Lucy. Though I'm sure that's way before your time Bugs. HiLo48 (talk) 01:15, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Au contraire! But that's just a first name. As with Mary Richards in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, or Andy Taylor in The Andy Griffith Show. [Or Bob Hartley in The Bob Newhart Show.] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:25, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

But Lucy's surname, Ricardo, presumably came from her real life husband. HiLo48 (talk) 03:42, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

In the show, her maiden name was McGillicuddy. And the name "Ricardo" appears nowhere in Desi Arnaz's full name. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:31, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Yes, you're bringing back memories. Interestingly, what you say contradicts the lead of our article on the show. HiLo48 (talk) 05:12, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

The lead looks fine, so I don't follow what you're getting at. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 06:23, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

You're right. I misread. HiLo48 (talk) 21:19, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Golden Age comedy teams such as Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges, Burns and Allen, etc. often used their real names in their acts, albeit fictionalized versions of themselves. In contrast to W.C. Fields or the Marx Brothers, who usually played characters under different names, although sometimes with names close to their own nicknames, such as Chico playing "Chicolini". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 08:45, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

(And probably straying a bit from the OP's original premise.) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 10:30, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

The name Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four "is usually taken to come from Winston Churchill". AndrewWTaylor (talk) 10:28, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Winnie-the-Pooh was named after a teddy bear owned by the son of the author A. A. Milne, which in turn had been named after Winnie, a Canadian black bear at London Zoo. (Does a bear count as a "real life historical figure"?) The bear was named after Winnipeg, Manitoba. It's a long story. HiLo48 (talk) 21:26, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

This reminds me of Adrian Mole writing in his diary that his neighbour Mr. Singh was correcting his copy of A. A. Milne's Winne-the-Pooh by replacing "Winnie-the-Pooh" with "Winnie-the-Shit", explaining "I hate ambiguity". JIP | Talk 22:42, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

One example is The Cosby Show, named after the real-life surname of the principal actor Bill Cosby, although the name of the character he played was Cliff Huxtable. I have never understood why, when he named the entire show after himself, he did not actually use his real name. JIP | Talk 22:45, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Not so unusual. The Dick Van Dyke Show's leading man was called Rob Petrie. Bob Newhart's second successful series was called Newhart, even though his character's name was Dick Loudon. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:05, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

Googling the subject "tv series named for people" yields a number of items, including this list of 25 sitcoms named for their lead player, whether that player's name was used in the show or not:[1] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:09, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

For some reason, it does not list The Jimmy Stewart Show. —Tamfang (talk) 03:00, 22 March 2020 (UTC)

In The Bing Crosby Show (1964 TV series), Bing played a character called Bing Collins. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 10:31, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

Shrapnel, one of the Insecticons in Transformers, is named after the shrapnel explosive charge, which in turn is named after its inventor Henry Shrapnel. Does that count? JIP | Talk 22:48, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

In George Orwell's novel Animal Farm, the the leader of the rebelling animals is named Napoleon. --69.159.8.46 (talk) 04:37, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

There's Calvin and Hobbes, who, as our article explains, were named after John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes.Turner Street (talk) 13:58, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

Sony DADC UK - releasing DVDs

How long does it take for Sony DADC in the UK to release DVDs? 86.135.188.254 (talk) 21:38, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Question about pain

Yesterday evening I accidentally pushed a ballpoint pen with the tip erect right into my thumb, breaking the skin and bruising a blood vessel. What is amazing here is that I did not even feel it, there was no pain. I only noticed the whole thing when my thumb started bleeding. How does such a thing happen? Why was there no pain? JIP | Talk 23:11, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

It's possible to get bangs and bruises without much sensation, depending on where they happen. But that generalization doesn't rule out the possible need to see your doctor. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:29, 18 March 2020 (UTC)

Sounds similar to a paper cut. You only have to breach the epidermis, which is dead and therefore has no nerves, to potentially cause bleeding. A ballpoint pen is somewhat sharp. Unscientific anecdote: I've had intramuscular injections where I barely felt a thing. Similarly, I've read of people receiving deep stab wounds and not realizing it was a bad wound until they noticed blood gushing out. It's all a matter of how many pain receptors get activated and to what degree. Other things influence the perception of pain as well: sympathetic nervous system activation (such as an "adrenaline rush") decreases perceived pain. Going back to the topic of bleeding, remember that capillaries are microscopic. Breaking capillaries will cause bleeding but not necessarily pain. (Good example of this: subconjunctival bleeding). Nitpick on terminology: scientifically, a bruise is bleeding under the skin. You can only bruise larger blood vessels, which have multiple layers, and if you have blood "coming out", that's not a bruise. You might not be a native English speaker, of course, and even native speakers are often inconsistent with this. --47.146.63.87 (talk) 18:09, 21 March 2020 (UTC)