Okay, some people have said that having Malachi and Allyson's last name as 'Potter' has pulled them out of the story cause it makes them think of Harry Potter. I'm not against changing it, but I'm wondering what other people think.

Vote in the poll, and then post if you want to explain your answers

Earl and Juliana and Lois and Clark TOC

Thanks!

~Anna

Hahaha. I actually haven't read any of the story yet (I will when I need study break this week), but, generally speaking, having the last name Potter isn't a turn off to me.

Doesn't cause me any problem 'cause I've never gotten into the whole Harry Potter business. Call your characters whatever you jolly well want - works for me

Melisma (ducking shyly back under her Rock)

Actually, now that I think about it, I do have an association with the name Potter - Colonel Potter from MASH. But honestly, it doesn't bother me...

Melisma (REALLY ducking back under her Rock now )

I don't know... it reminds me of Harry Potter (yes, my friends made me read the books - they talked about them so much I felt really out of the loop because I hadn't read them). Anyway, that not withstanding, it's your story - do whatever you want

- Alicia

catching up on the story now... (don't know how i missed it before...). potter's a perfectly normal name to me. personally, i tend to think of melvin potter first, but i'm probably unique in that. i'll bet no one else here has even heard of melvin potter...

in case you're curious, he's a character from daredevil comics... he looks kind of like jesse ventura. he used to be a schizophrenic supervillain called "gladiator," who dressed up in a gladiator costume, spoke in archaic terms, and inexplicably had buzz-saws on his wrists. thing is, he always had a sense of honor, even if he was busy smashing and looting things. daredevil stopped him, got him hooked up with a good social worker, and presented him with the buisiness card of a very good defense lawyer he happened to know... matt murdoch (who just happens to be daredevil's civillian identity). matt got the judge to go easy on melvin, since (a) the poor guy was obviously not quite right in the head (b) he seemed kind of nice when he wasn't going around dressed as a gladiator and smashing things and weilding buzz-saw blades (well, okay, there's a bit more to it than that, but it's more fun this way). the social worker got him straightened out, and even ended up marrying him. he now lives a happy and productive life as the owner of a costume shop. he makes and rents custom costumes. DD has even bought a couple of spares from him on occasion.

i always thought it was a fun story. he hasn't shown up all that much since i've been reading, but he was in a DD book i read a while back (before i started reading harry potter), and the "potter's costumes" building has made a few background cameos.

anyway, like i said... potter is a good name. it's not all that common, but it's not too uncommon, either. just like smith, it's craft-derived. that means that there are probably a bunch of potters scattered around just about anywhere, most of whom are completely unrelated to each other.

Paul

Despite my comment on the FDK thread, I think Potter is just fine. I read the Potter books (and adored the third one), but they're not that central a part of my life! It's not the "Potter" name, per se, that struck me, as much as the idea of a Potter child orphaned when his parents are both murdered at once.

So will it pull me out of the story? No, not really. I noted the similarity, grinned to myself, and went on. I'm sorry if I alarmed you with my comment.

Hazel

Well, I've never read the Harry Potter books and so far not really gotten into the whole phenomenum, so it wouldn't register at all with me.

I guess it depends on you really. If it's pulling lots of readers out of the story you might want to consider whether that bothers you enough to want to change it. Especially if you're not that wedded to it and a change wouldn't make any difference to you.

If you don't really care and/or really, really want to keep the name, that would be your choice too.

It's your story, remember.

LabRat

I'm on the 'other' option. When I first read Potter on that fic it did occure to me that there might be a son called Harry. I even told Anna so and joked about it.

But I absolutely don't have a problem with the people in Anna's fic having that name. I have no idea if Potter is a common name. But it doesn't bother me at all to see the name pop up in a fic.

I mean, there are more names that pop up in fics and books that have a meaning for me. There's even a book over here, well, more a serie of books, with my name in it... so please keep that name in the fic Anna!

I just want you to write more.

Saskia

Thanks for the info, everyone! I think I'll leave the name. I don't have any sort of attatchment to it, but it doesn't seem to be causing a big problem and I'm just too lazy to go through and change all the references. *g*

There are a couple of reasons why I set up the poll. The first was that one of my BRs mentioned something about it reminding her of Harry Potter, but she didn't say anything about it being a bad thing, or that it was pulling her out of the story or anything, so I didn't think anything of it. Then there was a comment posted about it in one of the comments threads. That one wasn't a big deal either, but the combination of both of them made me wonder if other people were thinking the same thing.

I also just thought it would be a fun way to make use of the poll feature.

Thanks again, everyone!

~Anna

Amendment to my first post I've now gotten into Harry Potter (see the Good Books, Good Memories thread - but it's a great thread, you should be reading it anyway )...

Anyway, it still doesn't change my vote. Call your characters whatever you like, as long as they aren't Sherman T. Potter. (BTW, any of you fellow MASH fans know what the T stood for? I've been trying to figure it out for ages!)

Melisma (retreating back under her Rock to read some more)

Sherman Tecumseh Potter. Named after General William Tecumseh Potter.

Meadowrose, you rank up there with Sue's versin of Clark. (to paraphrase) On Jeopardy: "Alex, I'll take stuff-that-only-I-know for $500." Thanks for chiming in with your factoid.