Sunday, September 8, 2013

Discussion: Remembering...wait what was it again?


The other day, on the bus on the way home from uni, I asked Chantelle a very serious question. What was that question? It was:
Do you remember the last names of book characters?

I had been thinking about it the night before and I realised I hardly knew the last names of any of my favourite characters. I must admit, it's hard enough remembering characters' first names, let alone their last names (which are often mentioned only once or twice in a book). Sam from Speechless? Um... Finn from All Our Yesterdays? Uhhh... WARNER FROM SHATTER ME?! Oh wait, Warner is his last name.

Regardless, I wanted to have a bit of fun with this newly discovered phenomenon of not knowing last names, and so I came up with a little quiz. Try do it without looking at the Goodreads blurbs. Sorry if you haven't read any of the books in the quiz...Let me know how you do in comments! (If you've only read some of the books then you can give the score out of the number of books that you've read e.g. if I've only read 3 of the books, then my score would be out of three).

If you're curious, I got 7/10 for the male section and 5/10 for the females. The other ones I had to go look up!

Male Characters
1. Percy (The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan)- thought I'd start you off with an easy one haha
2. Sam (Speechless by Hannah Harrington)
3. Augustus (The Fault in Our Stars by John Green)
4. Peeta (The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins)
5. Adrian (Vampire Academy/Bloodlines by Richelle Mead)
6. Four (Divergent by Veronica Roth)
7. Daniel (Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard)
8. Finn (All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill)
9. Henry (Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare)
10. Carswell (Scarlet by Marissa Meyer)

Female Characters
1. Bella (Twilight by Stephenie Meyer)- starting off with an easy one again :)
2. Cinder (Cinder by Marissa Meyer)
3. Anna (Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins)
4. Celaena (Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas)
5. Alina (Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo)
6. Meghan (The Iron King by Julie Kagawa)
7. Ismae (Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers)
8. Yukiko (Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff)
9. Addie (Pivot Point by Kasie West)
10. Juliette (Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi)

Click me to read the answers!

Male Characters
1. Percy Jackson
2. Sam Weston
3. Augustus Waters
4. Peeta Mellark
5. Adrian Ivashkov
6. Tobias "Four" Eaton
7. Daniel Sheridan
8. Finn Abbott
9. Henry Branwell
10. Carswell Thorne (I feel like most people would know his last name better than his first haha)

Female Characters
1. Bella Swan
2. Linh Cinder
3. Anna Oliphant
4. Celaena Sardothien
5. Alina Starkov
6. Meghan Chase
7. Ismae Rienne
8. Yukiko Kitsune (I think. I don't actually own this one so I had to go by memory)
9. Addie Coleman
10. Juliette Ferrars


So yeah, I realise this wasn't really a discussion so much as a quiz post. YOU WERE ALL MISLED mwahahaha!

But go ahead and answer this question if you like: Do you ever remember the last names of book characters? Do you even remember their first names? Although I suppose we'd be able to work out the answer of that question from your quiz score haha.




54 comments:

  1. Usually I don't even remember their first names depending on how long it's been. I took your quiz and for the boys I got 5/6 and girl I got 1/4. (Obviously I haven't read many of these). I find it a bit odd that I had an easier time remembering the boy last names than the girl. I wonder if there is reason why?

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    1. I think it's because a lot of books are in first person perspective from the girl's POV and they don't often say their own names? Maybe? And yeah, ditto on the first names. Especially if it was just a meh book.

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  2. Cool post! That's a 6/6 for males, and a 2/5 for females. I CLEARLY pay more attention to the dudes. Haha! I usually remember the last names, but only if they've been stated repeatedly. Otherwise, I won't even bother :D

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    1. Nice! 100% for males :D *applauds*
      Your memory seems to be pretty good for the guys ;)

      Delete
  3. 5/4 (because Percy was too obvious even if you haven't read the book :p) For the girls 4/7. I don't really think about names, I just remember the ones they use the most. Like Carswell - you are right, his other name is much more used, so that's the one I prefer and think about.

    Mel@thedailyprophecy.

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    1. hahaha true! But YOU HAVEN'T READ PJO?! You totally should, it's amazing :D

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  4. Great post! I usually make fun of my co-blogger P.E. as her memory is really bad with books. Personally, I manage to keep the main plot points and how I felt about the book but unless the name stands out or I love the character a lot, I can't remember names. I scored 4/6 for boys and 3/6 for girls. Average, I guess :)

    This was a lot of fun so I'm adding it to this weeks Best of Saturday post :)

    -Mari @ The Sirenic Codex

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    1. To be honest, even the plot can be really shaky for me sometimes haha. Like, Chantelle was reading a book that I'd already read and she starts ranting about something that happened, and there I was going- wait, when did this happen?!

      Oh, thanks Mari! It was fun writing the post as well!

      Delete
  5. Ooh interesting topic! I have a difficult time remembering last names unless it's a character I think of in terms of full names, like a lot of the Harry Potter characters, you know? LOL

    -Lauren

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    1. Yeah definitely! I know pretty much all of the Harry Potter characters' last names, especially since the professors are referred to by their last names haha

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  6. Holy Crap! The only ones that I know are Bella Swan, Meghan Chase, Augustus Walters and Peeta Mellark.

    I didn't realize just how many last names I had forgotten LOL

    Christy @ Christy's Book Addiction

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    1. lol I know right! While I managed to get quite a few of them, but I had to think hard about it haha

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  7. You know what's funny, I just trying to remember the last name of a character for a review! I never really remember them either (I have to resort to a google search or flicking through the books again!), but I always like having surnames because it sounds just that little bit better when you have a full name to introduce.

    I got Meghan Chase, Alina Starkov and Celaena Sardothien. Peeta Mellark is the only guy one I can remember! Pretty awful. :P

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    1. Yeah I pretty much always have to flick through the book again to find the name of a character unless it's a book that I've read multiple times.

      haha nice. At least you got one guy! :P

      Delete
  8. LOL, sometimes I can't remember the first names of characters either, let alone the last names. Wow, I'm actually surprised at how little I remember these last names, I think I just got the easy ones like Jackson, Mellark, and Chase. I can not believe I forgot Ismae and Juliette's last name.

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    1. I had NO IDEA what Ismae's last name was haha. And Juliette I just knew that it started with F and sounded vaguely European :P

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  9. I can never remember last names unless they're repeated a LOT. Or is in the title a la Harry Potter. I will never be able to forget that! I haven't read most of the books on this list but for the ones I have read, I think I did okay. I got most of them right!

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    1. I would be pretty disappointed if someone didn't know Harry's last name haha. Good job in getting them right! It was quite difficult to be honest!

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  10. Bella Swan aaand that's it. But I admit, I have horrible name memory, plus other than Twilight I only read THG, Cinder, Anna and the French Kiss and Divergent from your list. That makes me feel significantly less of a failure :P

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    1. Fair enough! It's funny how we all remember Bella Swan haha

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  11. I'm so awful. 3/6 for boys, 2/7 for the girls. Haha, this was fun though.

    -P.E.

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    1. I was just like wait didn't you comment already? Then realised you were P.E. rather than Mari haha
      Glad you enjoyed it PE!

      Delete
  12. I got 4/6 and 1/1. A lot of those books are on my TBR but I haven't gotten to them yet. I think I have a pretty good memory, but if something's not important to me (and last names of fictional characters usually aren't) I'm not always paying attention. I don't know that I ever knew Four's last name, for example. With Augustus (the other one I missed) at least I was able to say, "Oh, yeah, that's it!" Four? It's like I was reading it for the first time.

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    1. Hey those are pretty good scores!
      Yeah me too! I was pretty surprised when I looked up Four's name because I felt like I'd never heard it before. Then again, I don't think it's said too many times in the book itself, so I'm going to say fair enough haha

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  13. This is proof that my memory's just so faulty. I could barely answer half.

    Especially Augustus! The fact that I can't remember his last name is a betrayal to TFiOS.

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    1. NOOOOOO!
      This is clearly the excuse you need to reread the book ;)

      Delete
  14. I'm gonna delete the books I haven't yet read.

    1. Percy (The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan)- Percy Jackson
    4. Peeta (The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins)- Peeta Mellark (not so sure it spelling is correct)
    5. Adrian (Vampire Academy/Bloodlines by Richelle Mead)- Adrian Ivashkov
    6. Four (Divergent by Veronica Roth)- Grrr. I can only remember his real name which is Tobias. I almost wrote Smith but instantly remembered that that was Four's (of Lorien Legacies) surname.
    9. Henry (Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare)- Henry Fairchild (?). Geez, it seemed ages ago that I've read CA.


    Female Characters
    1. Bella (Twilight by Stephenie Meyer)- starting off with an easy one again :)- Bella Swan. Bwahaha.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. you can check your answers by clicking the link just below the questions :)

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  15. oh gaaawwd. I'm the worst. 4/9 for the guys. 1/9 for the girls. HOW DID I NOT REMEMBER BELLA SWAN. (lol jks, actually a little proud of that)

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    1. shocking stuff Chantelle. Shocking stuff.
      But yeah good work on not remembering Bella Swan haha. My memory unfortunately works a bit too well in regards to Twilight...sigh...

      Delete
  16. Great quiz, I did soo badly I'm embarrassed! you are absolutely right, I have a tough time recalling a characters first name let alone their last name...I got 2/10 for males and 1/10 for females but to be fair I haven't read most of those books yet.

    Jeann @ Happy Indulgence

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    1. Yeah fair enough if you haven't read the books. Obviously you wouldn't know the last names! But don't feel embarrassed! I think on the whole everyone's doing pretty badly haha.

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  17. I actually had a contest with my sister about this not too long ago. She asked me if I remembered any of the characters names (not just last name) in the books I read. And we quizzed each other, and I did horrible! Even on books I recently read. Some names are easy to remember like Jace or Bella, but you get into the books you just sort-of liked and the names become blurrrry.

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    1. What a coincidence!
      And yeah, I definitely agree! To be honest with the sort-of liked books, most of the time I don't even remember the plot so it's definitely unlikely that I remember the names :P

      Delete
  18. Haha, I love this post! Yes, ususally last names are only mentioned once or twice, so I have a hard time remembering them!

    I am a bit shocked that Harry Potter wasn't on your list though :P And Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley, and Sirius Black, and and and...

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    1. I purposely didn't include any HP characters because they're too easy haha

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  19. 5 out of 20, which is better than I would have thought, since I often have trouble remembering character FIRST names when writing my reviews RIGHT AFTER I PUT THE BOOK DOWN. Basically, I suck at names. Also, I haven't read some of these books, but haha yeah no on the last names.

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    1. OMG that totally happens to me too! Even in the middle of a book haha. I'll be reading, and then someone asks me what the book is about so I'm like "it's about a girl called- um can't remember..."

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  20. This was seriously awesome. I got 4/8 for the boys and the girls 3/7. I am terrible at remembering first names for books that I felt meh about. If I love the book I will probably remember the first name, but there is no point in me trying to remember last names!

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    1. Why thank you Arial :D

      lol I'm even terrible at remembering names of characters in books that I really like as well :/ e.g. someone will be like "such and such was a great character" and I'm like "who? I don't think I've read that book" and then the person's like "dude, you gave it 5 stars on GR" and I'm like "hehe"

      Delete
  21. I haven't read some of those titles but I failed. No laughing please. I got two of the females *cries*

    Thanks for sharing, hon! <33

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    1. No judging happening! Unless you failed to get Percy Jackson. Then there would be copious amounts of judging haha

      Delete
  22. Cinder's might have been tricky because in the book they always write it as Linh Cinder (last name then first name).

    And yep Carswell is Captain Thorne :) His last name is definitely better known than his first haha.

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  23. I didn't read most of those books, but still I only remember Bella Swan and Adrian Ivashkov.:///

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    1. Bella Swan is just really memorable for some reason...
      And Adrian <3 of course we wouldn't forget his last name :D

      Delete
  24. Hahaha, no. I'm with the other people who have said they don't even remember first names! I sometimes do, in the most memorable of books or books in the third person, but mostly I forget names entirely.

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    1. Yeah I'm definitely one of those people as well. Unless it's a book I've read multiple times, I'm like NOPE!

      Delete
  25. Wow, I actually never thought about this, but you're right! Holy cow, it's amazing how much I've forgotten, apart from the easy ones. Okay, here goes. I didn't look at the answers, cross my heart. And there were some books that I hadn't read before, so I left those out. :)

    1. Percy JACKSON
    2. Forgotten
    3. Augustus WATERS
    4. Peeta MELLARK
    5. -
    6. Tobias EAVES (I probably got this one wrong, haha.)
    7. Forgotten
    8. Forgotten (And I just read this book last month! *facepalm*
    9. -
    10. -

    FEMALE:

    1. Bella SWAN
    2. -
    3. -
    4. Celaena SARDOTHEIN (not sure if I got the spelling correct)
    5. Alina STARKOV
    6. -
    7. -
    8. Forgotten
    9. Forgotten
    10. Forgotten

    Oh, man. This is horrible. I never realized my amnesia had gotten so bad! D: Most of the time I remember their first names, but usually, I forget their last names... as you just saw. This was such a fun quiz, though!

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    1. hahaha so many forgotten names. I have a second quiz coming up (about something else, not last names) and I anticipate that people will do a lot worse in that one :P We'll see...
      So close with Tobias! So close!

      Delete
  26. Warner is his last name?! What?!
    And I basically failed:

    1. Jackson? (Hope I'm right)
    2. I don't know
    3. Waters? Water?
    4. Something that rhymes with mark. Yeah, I fail.
    5. No clue
    6. No clue
    7. No clue
    8. No clue
    9. No clue
    10. No clue

    I swear, the only guy last name I know is St. Clair from Anna and the French Kiss. :P

    1. Bella....I don't know =3=
    2. FREAK I FORGOT
    3. Um, something to do with elephant right? And it begins with an "O".
    4. No clue
    5. No clue
    6. No clue
    7. No clue
    8. No clue
    9. No clue
    10. No clue

    Result: I fail.

    Result: I pretty much fail

    ReplyDelete
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    1. HAHAHA this gave me a good laugh :P
      Nah fair enough, I actually only chose books that I've read a few times each, so I guess most other people might have struggled especially if you've only read the book once!

      Delete
  27. 6/20. Let me go hide in my abnormally terrible memory :P But if anything, I'm proud I figured out Augustus's last name without reading the book. (It's waters isn't it?!). I'm pretty pissed that I don't know Cinder's though. I think the more unique the first name is, the less likely I am to remember the last.

    This is sooo much fun though!

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    1. Indeed it is Waters! I guess people say the name a lot. A bit like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson.

      Cinder's is said fairly often in the book, but you might not have recognised it as her last name because it was written Asian style i.e. last name first "Linh Cinder" :P

      Delete
  28. I think I might have OCD because if I really love a character I will remember their full name and even bare their name *guilty-making-myself-my-book-guy-crush's-wife* . And I even went as far as googling everywhere to find the last name of a minor character and I feel very frustrated when I can't.

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