Harry Naming Things

[Gigglestomp]

Note: DFRC curators have permission to edit in new content as they wish since I might not be the only one who would be interested in contributing.


Poll to the audience on this one, I want to compile a list of things Harry has named.

Under the WAG that Harry might have a knack for naming things. It could be because hes Starborn, or it could be because it's his "Talent". Molly has a knack for complex subtle magic, and Harry might have a knack for naming things. Lets come up with a list of all the things he has named, preferably living things.

Try to provide the Original name, the nickname, and the book.

I try to put all of the nicknames he gives in quotes to simplify things.

One instance that goes to show Harry might have a more than normal gift: When he calls Uriel "Uri" and Uriel freaks out. He says something along the lines of don't attempt to familiarize his name with an nickname, because it is part of his nature and purpose. Uriel means "Light of God" and Harry was calling him "Light" (Hebrew)

Edit: I noticed Harry and others seem to be calling Butters “Waldo” a lot now, when it was exclusively “Butters” before. When did this start? Skin Game, or Ghost Story?

-Leanansidhe "Lea"
-Spirit of Intellect in a skull "Bob"
-Pet Cat "Mister"

Restoration of Faith
Welcome to the Jungle
Storm Front
-Marcone's man "Spike"
-Lawrence "Gimpy"
-Victor Sells "Shadowman"
-Hendricks "Cujo"
Fool Moon
-Chaunzaggoroth, renamed "Chauncy"
Ghoul Goblin
B is For Bigfoot
Grave Peril
Summer Knight
- Plant Monster “Chlorofiend”
Death Masks
- Quintus Cassius "Snakeboy"
- The Archive "Ivy"
- Martin – “Captain Mediocrity” & “Pedantic Avenger”
Publicity and Advertising
Blood Rights
-Temple Dog "Mouse"
Dead Beat
-Quintus Cassius "Liver spots"
Something Borrowed
I Was a Teenage Bigfoot
Proven Guilty
White Knight
- Lashiel's Shadow "Lash" – This gave her a bit of his soul and Free Will.
-Vittorio Malvora -  "Grey Cloak"
-Madrigal Raith - "Passenger"
It's My Birthday, Too
Heorot
Small Favor
-Polonius Lartessa "Mantis Girl"
-Named the 2nd Eldest Gruff "Tiny", using it exclusivly after that.
-Order of the Blackened Denarius  "Nickleheads"  Because he said their name gave them too much dignity and he wanted to remedy that.
Day Off
-Random Punk Villain “Darth Wannabe”
Backup
The Warrior
Last Call
Curses
AAAA of Wizardry
Turn Coat
-Genius Loci + Island - "Demonreach"
-Toot-toot  "Toot", "Major General Toot-Toot Minimus". The first was given to him early on, the second in Turn Coat.
-names Chandler "Steed"
-names one of Ancient Mai's wardens "Lucky" because Harry recognizes him as the same one who almost froze to death trying to get word from Queen Mab in Summer Knight. He's also broken his ankle in Turn Coat, and has to stay behind rather than go after Morgan like the others.
-A Naagloshii  "Shagnasty" 
Even hand
Love Hurts
Bigfoot on Campus
Changes
-Martin "Marvin"
-Ik'k'uox -  "the Ick" 
Aftermath
Ghost Story
- Skaldi Skheldson  "Hair Ball"   
- Calls Molly "Molls", the name he was saving for her when she was no longer his apprentice.
- Calls Uriel by the name "Uri" as a tiny bit of insolence, but drops it after Uriel gets upset.
- Calls Uriel by a new name instead of shortening Uriel, "Mr. Sunshine".
Bombshells
Cold Days
-He Who Walks Before  "Sharkface" 
Skin Game – Note: Mr. Sunshine comes up as a name almost more than Uriel does in SG. Hes also MUCH more sympathetic and human-seeming since his new nickname.
-Demonreach "Alfred"
-Fomor Octopus+ape enforcer - "Octokong"
-Nicodemus - "Nicky"
-Looking for people to mention ones they noticed. I’ll add them for sure if it’s Harry naming another person, or if he changes their nickname to something else.

Some of the above come from http://dresdenfiles.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_nicknames. The wikia page was deleted though, so i'm glad I snagged a few there while I could! = )

[Quantus]

Nice List!

He has pretty well settled on Kujo as a nickname for Hendricks. 

He named the Erlking "Erl" just before leaving in Changes, causing the Horned Badass to "tilt­ his head slight­ly, the way a dog does at a new sound".

He's the one that came up with "Black Council,"  a name that has gotten strange reactions from several old school wizards.

He came up with Grey Council at the end of TC. McCoy was organizing it, but he was the first to use the term.

Martin was also called Captain Mediocrity and the Pedantic Avenger back in GP

Changes also had the Eebs, but I cannot recall offhand if that one was Harry's idea or Susans.  Which brings up the point that it might be worth also listing Names that he did not personally come up with but has since accepted/sponsored/validated.  The Za Lord is the best example of one of those. 

[beetnemesis]

Changes also had the Eebs, but I cannot recall offhand if that one was Harry's idea or Susans.  Which brings up the point that it might be worth also listing Names that he did not personally come up with but has since accepted/sponsored/validated.  The Za Lord is the best example of one of those.

I am pretty sure that Eebs was from Susan. The scene is something along the lines of Harry asking about Esteban and Esmerelda, and Susan just sort of cuts him off with "Eebs." Later, she does something similar to Martin.

[Quantus]

Are we pretty much crediting Toot with the whole "Za Lord" thing?  I suppose somebody else could have suggeted the name to him and his crew, but he's the best suspect I know of offhand

[Tami Seven]

Some of those I would question, liek Grey Cloak and Passenger. He only called them that because he didn't know who they were. Names stick when you know who someone or something is, know their true name, but decided to rename them or give them a new name.

[GrandPanjandrum]

In Storm Front, Harry wrestled control of Victor's demon away from him by stating the demon's name three times.  Only, the third time he said the name of the demon he garbled it and said it improperly, yet still managed to tear away Victor's control. 

How do you explain that, unless Harry has the ability to re-name entities?

[robertltux]

Uriel may have reached "violently" to being called Light due to another "angel" that is called Light (how would you like being called Hilter??).


and yes i do think that HBCD has the Mantle of "Namer of Things"

[Magnus]

Quantus: a small correction it is spelled Cujo.

In later books he calls Billy will instead of bill.

And naming things harry calls the plant monster a Chlorofiend in summer knight

[Tami Seven]

Those who have never been renamed include
Karrin Murphy
Thomas Raith
Waldo Butters

did Harry come up with 'fist of God' for Michael?  Or was that someone else? 

[rad]

did Harry come up with 'fist of God' for Michael?  Or was that someone else?

As far as I can remember that was Harry.

[Phaeton Seraph]

One instance that goes to show Harry might have a more than normal gift: When he calls Uriel "Uri" and Uriel freaks out. He says something along the lines of don't attempt to familiarize his name with an nickname, because it is part of his nature and purpose. Uriel means "Light of God" and Harry was calling him "Light" (Hebrew)

"Light of God" is a more modern, Judeo-Christian interpretation to the meaning of the name.  Before what was to become Judaism became the monotheism it became, angels were powerful beings, perhaps even gods themselves in some contexts or even personages.

Any way, with Judaism and Christianity came the One God, the God of Hosts.  And the Hosts included the choirs of angels, so so all the names with suffixes of 'el and 'ah (or 'yah), came to mean "of God," although there were rules at one time about the vowel that preceded 'el indicating a distinction from God.  e.g. Michael use to mean "who is like God" but is now often translated as "kindness of God".

So yeah, Uriel's name means "Light of God" now.   Judeo-Christianity is somewhat polarised when it comes to angels; either they're part of God's Hosts, or they are Fallen... of if you were to look at if from a proto-Semitic angle, if the being wasn't "of God" and not Fallen, then the being was a god(-like being) in its own right.


The point I've tried to make before is that Uriel's anger was probably outrage at the abhorrent concept of himself not being "of God."


What I find interesting is the way in which the Powers of the DV's Never Never mirror the history of (non-fictional) real world mythologies/religious beliefs (and the religious beliefs of he past are today's mythologies).   Names may not have the flashy power, here, that they do in Jim's DV but, wow, we certainly use and alter them in ways that amount to power.




BTW:
Sorry, about any confusing inconsistency with capitalisation of the word "god."  While I failed as a Christian, my RC education prepared me to be an excellent agnostic.  I try to use a lower-case "g" for any fictional god, or real world mythological god (not currently worshipped by a large enough group that I'm afraid of being hunted down by them), I still retain a compulsion to capitalise the "g" when referring to God in all His varied denominations extant in the "real world."

The spelling thing and the Golden Rule, I just can't seem to break myself of those two things. 

Well, those two things and taking the Lord's name in vain, or religious curses/oaths when suddenly hurt or surprised.  Oh, and looking for someone to plead for help or blame in moments of solitary angst, and the occasional "thank God!" after a near-miss.

Yeah, that's it, that's all of them, except maybe the compulsion to genuflect in church.  And a fondness for rosaries.
Okay, I'm still a Catholic in all but the faith.  So it's really conflicting.   

[Quantus]

As far as I can remember that was Harry.

I was under the impression that it was a common Name for them in the supernatural community.  Like how they call themselves the Knights of the Cross but others call them the Knights of the Sword.  Granted its a name that Michael denounced in DM when talking about their real purpose and whatnot.

Regardless, I just did a search on every mention of it, and it not presented as something of harry's specifically like the other were, so I dont think it will be significant. 

[peregrine]

Man, people REALLY put too much emphasis on Naming things when Harry does it.  Lash, DR, Ivy and Toot are, in my opinion about it that actually makes a metaphysical difference.  Otherwise some people are extending it to such levels where he can "Name" a steel door "Air" and suddenly it has changed it enough that he can walk through it, and otherwise entirely rewrite and override peoples own natures against their will.

[Quantus]

Man, people REALLY put too much emphasis on Naming things when Harry does it.  Lash, DR, Ivy and Toot are, in my opinion about it that actually makes a metaphysical difference.  Otherwise some people are extending it to such levels where he can "Name" a steel door "Air" and suddenly it has changed it enough that he can walk through it, and otherwise entirely rewrite and override peoples own natures against their will.

Dude, this is just us trying to pull together a comprehensive list of everything that he has named.  Yes, most of them will be insignificant, but the archangel hinted that harry is unusual when it comes to Naming, so its still worth pulling the reference material together.

That being said I wouldnt be surprised is some function of the Fires of Creation would let him do just that. 

[magnusth]

I'm pretty sure that harry hasn't got any such ability. It would be pointless, and more the the point, it would undermine the importance of names in the world. Sure, harry's habit of nicknaming things has certainly had metaphysical impact, but that, i think, is because names always have metaphysical impact, and in every case i can think of, the creature or thing impacted has accepted the name; see Ivy, lash, demonreach. But for those to be the result of some sort of naming ability undercuts the importance of names in themselves. And, for Ivy and Lash, it does something else: it undercuts the importance of the kindness harry shows. Everyone calls ivy the archive, but harry refuses to treat her in any way but as a human; and similarly, harry shows understanding, even friendship, to Lash, whom others would simply abhor. That makes them accept the names he gives them, and it changes them. For it to be some sort of super-naming ability renders that kindness and humanness moot, and, i'd claim, weakens the story.