: Re: What are the ramifications of a character sharing the same name as a famous and established character? A character in my fantasy novel is called Beowulf. I named him such at a time I was

@XinRu607

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I, personally, believe that while people may comment 'Hey! He's named after that Beowulf myth!' I doubt they would automatically assume that your character is or has to be the SAME as the original Beowulf.

To go a bit further, is your Beowulf a purposeful retelling of the original? Is he the original Beowulf, but you've decided to dump him into a different story and setting? Going from that you said you hadn't heard of the original myth, I assume not. So, in my opinion there's nothing wrong with it. It would be like naming a character Percival. It's a nice name and some people might recognise it as a character from the myths of King Arthur, but does that mean he IS Percival? Probably not. But he might even be similar in some ways. Maybe he has to go on a quest to find a magical item that could heal his King otherwise the kingdom will fall to ruin? Anyone somewhat familiar with the story of Percival, the Grail, and the Fisher King will see some similarities, but it's different enough to be enjoyable if written well. I think it could be the same for you.

While I admit that Beowulf is perhaps more recognisable as a fantastic mythical hero than Percival, it shouldn't stop you from using his name. If you do use it, though, I would actually recommend taking some traits of the original Beowulf and using them. I don't mean you should turn him into the same character, but maybe everyone in your story knows your Beowulf as a really brave guy, not afraid of fighting against things most people would run away from screaming. Maybe if your story's set in this world and you have another character who's familiar with the Beowulf myth they could joke that his name really fits!

On the other hand, even writing your Beowulf to be the complete opposite of the brave, mythical Beowulf could be interesting. People would expect some traits to be similar (probably bravery being the most likely), but if it turns out that your Beowulf is actually a coward or has some not very heroic qualities, he could still be very interesting in an ironic way.

So, TL;DR, people may expect some specific qualities from a character who happens to have the same name as a well know mythical character, but you can use this to your advantage, either by playing it straight or through use of irony.

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