Suzanne Collins uses the names of her characters to differentiate status and cultural background. The names of the people from the districts are often rather pastoral. Primrose, Rue, and Katniss are all named after plants, and Thresh from District 11 (the farming and food-supplying district) is suggestive of the threshing of cereal grain at harvest.
Further character traits can be derived from these names: Katniss sounds strong and feline with ‘niss’ giving an impression of a sibilant hiss – very representative of her fierce and somewhat surly personality and that, like a cat, she is a hunter. By contrast her sister’s name, Primrose, immediately portrays a more delicate nature and ‘prim’ itself could perhaps imply that she favours her mother’s lineage from the more privileged sector of District 12.
In contrast to the districts’ names, the names in the Capitol are borrowed from antiquity. Take, for example, Katniss’s prep team Octavia and Flavius. They are essentially overly-emotional beauticians in character, but in name Octavia is the name of the sister of Caesar Augustus, first emperor of Rome, and the Flavian dynasty were responsible for building the Colosseum.
The fact that Plutarch (as head of the rebellion but a citizen of the Capitol) has a Greek name – that of a prolific ancient Greek author writing under Roman rule – is another parallel to the ancient world. President of Panem Cornelius Snow’s surname evokes perfectly his icily cool and intense demeanour while his forename is derived from the name of one of the most prestigious families of Rome, the Cornelii. It is hypothesized that the name ‘Cornelius’ stems from the cognomen Corneus, which means ‘horny’ ( … as in hard or callused … how many of you can honestly say that’s how you would have interpreted that translation? Me neither). But I digress. Castor and Pollux, the twin cameramen from the Capitol, are also a prime example of Collins utilising myths: twins bearing these names are present in both Roman and Greek mythology. Even the name Effie Trinket in itself sounds superficial and gaudy, just like the character.
An interesting cultural anomaly incorporated by Collins is the naming of tributes from District 2– Cato, Brutus, Enobaria, following the naming conventions of the Capitol. In the same way, important people in the Roman Empire would give their children Roman names to associate and ingratiate themselves with Rome. An apt parallel of this in today’s society is perhaps the naming of children after celebrities
Further character traits can be derived from these names: Katniss sounds strong and feline with ‘niss’ giving an impression of a sibilant hiss – very representative of her fierce and somewhat surly personality and that, like a cat, she is a hunter. By contrast her sister’s name, Primrose, immediately portrays a more delicate nature and ‘prim’ itself could perhaps imply that she favours her mother’s lineage from the more privileged sector of District 12.
In contrast to the districts’ names, the names in the Capitol are borrowed from antiquity. Take, for example, Katniss’s prep team Octavia and Flavius. They are essentially overly-emotional beauticians in character, but in name Octavia is the name of the sister of Caesar Augustus, first emperor of Rome, and the Flavian dynasty were responsible for building the Colosseum.
The fact that Plutarch (as head of the rebellion but a citizen of the Capitol) has a Greek name – that of a prolific ancient Greek author writing under Roman rule – is another parallel to the ancient world. President of Panem Cornelius Snow’s surname evokes perfectly his icily cool and intense demeanour while his forename is derived from the name of one of the most prestigious families of Rome, the Cornelii. It is hypothesized that the name ‘Cornelius’ stems from the cognomen Corneus, which means ‘horny’ ( … as in hard or callused … how many of you can honestly say that’s how you would have interpreted that translation? Me neither). But I digress. Castor and Pollux, the twin cameramen from the Capitol, are also a prime example of Collins utilising myths: twins bearing these names are present in both Roman and Greek mythology. Even the name Effie Trinket in itself sounds superficial and gaudy, just like the character.
An interesting cultural anomaly incorporated by Collins is the naming of tributes from District 2– Cato, Brutus, Enobaria, following the naming conventions of the Capitol. In the same way, important people in the Roman Empire would give their children Roman names to associate and ingratiate themselves with Rome. An apt parallel of this in today’s society is perhaps the naming of children after celebrities