His original name in Roots was Kunta Kinte and he was the ancestor of Alex Haley who came over from Africa. I did not read the book but saw the mini series when it first came out.
Thanks muchly! One of the guys I work with had told me the original name, but since I wasn't familiar with it, I promptly forgot it.
I could certainly understand that people who'd seen the scene had a bad association with the name. Heck- I would never name a child James/Jim, because my favorite book is Atlas Shrugged and I think of James Taggart when I hear the name. (It's certainly a perfectly nice name.)
Hee. What actually drove me crazy was that I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan. A lot of people assumed I'd want to name our son Harry. I didn't want to, partly because our last name begins with H, and partly because I don't like the name. In fact, JKR and I don't share much taste in nomenclature (although I do like the name Molly). The one name I DO like (Sirius) would be WAY too cruel to inflict on a kid. (I get sick of the line "Are you serious?" "Why yes, I am!" in fanfic- I can't imagine how a kid would feel dealing with it.) Anyway, I SWORE no Harry Potter names. I was five months pregnant when Half-Blood Prince came out.
I was told when I hit the part about Tobias Snape, you could hear my scream in Wisconsin
