There are those who call me... Tim?
It has been suggested to me that I change the name of my young hero from book two of FAERY REBELS (a.k.a. REBEL in the UK). I am told that for most British people, especially of the younger generation, the name "Timothy" is considered fairly radically uncool
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I've re-read my comment and have just realised that it sounds like I'm hating on Timothys!
Sorry - I have absolutely nothing against Timothys. There are some fine Timothys in the UK - Timothy Spall for example, who plays Pettigrew in the Harry Potter films - smashing bloke, great actor, national treasure.
It's just that there is an image that pops into my head when I hear the name and it is quite a common one in the UK because it's got a bit of a jokey, negative connotation to it. In fact, I've got to admit that my first thought on reading it was a flashback to an 80s sitcom called Sorry! that starred Ronnie Corbett and had the catchphrase, "Language, Timothy!".
It could be that kids won't pick up on that because they can be pretty oblivious to things like that (there's a kid who sometimes takes my bus to work called Wally, which definitely has negative UK connotations), but the parents are likely to pick up on it and given that they're the ones who buy the books, it's possible that it will have an impact over here.
Gah. Have probably just dug myself into a bigger hole. I'll put the shovel down now and back away.
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On an uncoolness/wimpiness level, would "Timothy" be on a par with, say, "Jeremy" or "Barnaby", or is it somehow more extreme than either of those? I get the uncoolness factor in the latter two names, though it doesn't strike me as fatal, more a sort of "Well, you're going to have to work to get over that" kind of thing.
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It's about on a par with Jeremy and Barnaby (although Jeremy is more common a name in the UK than Barnaby is, but again that's with men over a certain age). Another comparator would be 'Nigel'.
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