What's in a name?

[metoo]

For the reason of an FF I'm writing, I've been contemplating how Eli would react to someone mistaking his name for being Elin.

Elin is a Swedish female name, and is rather common. Since it is pronounced exactly as Eli, short of the ending 'n', it would be an easy mistake, especially if the listener already perceives Eli as a girl.

Now, how would Eli feel about this mistake? It seems he doesn't bother too much about being (mis)taken for a girl, even though he prefers the role as a maiden-eating monster before being the fair maiden. However, although his gender may not be too important to him, he still might be particular about his name. To many people the name is closely interwoven with one's self perception, and this might be true of Eli as well. This dialogue excerpt hints at this:
"What shall I call you? This that you are?"
"Eli."My translation
Eli is what Eli wants to be called, the label for himself which he prefers.

So, what is your view of this? Would Eli be unhappy about being called Elin? If so, would he object?

[intrige]

It would be interesting to know, or ponder about why Eli went from Elias to Eli. Eli is actually a both gender name, and Elias might have been the boy Eli once was while he had his genitals in store. But there might be a whole lot more to it than that.

[PeteMork]

For the reason of an FF I'm writing, I've been contemplating how Eli would react to someone mistaking his name for being Elin.

Elin is a Swedish female name, and is rather common. Since it is pronounced exactly as Eli, short of the ending 'n', it would be an easy mistake, especially if the listener already perceives Eli as a girl.

Now, how would Eli feel about this mistake? It seems he doesn't bother too much about being (mis)taken for a girl, even though he prefers the role as a maiden-eating monster to being the fair maiden. However, although his gender may not be too important to him, he still might be particular about his name. To many people the name is closely interwoven with one's self perception, and this might be true of Eli as well. This dialogue excerpt hints at this:
"What shall I call you? This that you are?"
"Eli."My translation
Eli is what Eli wants to be called, the label for himself which he prefers.

So, what is your view of this? Would Eli be unhappy about being called Elin? If so, would he object?

This is a question that JAL never really answers in either the film or the book, leaving you free to interpret it any way you wish. If in your FF, Elias prefers to remain gender-neutral, then as you point out, he might feel uneasy being called 'Elin.' If he feels strongly about it, he might even set the listener straight. But this is your story, and I think this is a very good plot device you can use to let the reader know how your Elias feels about himself (whether or not Elias is consciously aware of his preference).

[gary13136]

I have noticed over the years that people don't like to have their names mis-pronounced. They will almost immediately correct the mis-pronouncer. I can recall an incident from someone from another state who insisted on mis-pronouncing my first name. His reasoning was that a former teacher of his INSISTED that was the correct pronunciation of my first name. I never accepted this reasoning; preferring to believe that the teacher was something of a tyrant.

And we all know what Eli might do if offended, don't we?

[drakkar]

I thik it depends on when. In the beginning of the story, Eli seems rather indifferent about what people (Oskar) says to him, it's only food, after all. Later on, when he opens up to Oskar, he quickly tells him his real name, so yes, I think it is important to him.

[metoo]

This is a question that JAL never really answers in either the film or the book, leaving you free to interpret it any way you wish. If in your FF, Elias prefers to remain gender-neutral, then as you point out, he might feel uneasy being called 'Elin.' If he feels strongly about it, he might even set the listener straight. But this is your story, and I think this is a very good plot device you can use to let the reader know how your Elias feels about himself (whether or not Elias is consciously aware of his preference).

Well, I wanted your view - I know I can choose which way I want. The problem is that I'm not sure what I want, and a discussion might reveal my own preferences to me, even if in the end I turn out to disagree with everybody else

Regarding the name Elias. Eli presents himself to Oskar as Eli, and would have done so to Håkan as well. I think that he feels he isn't Elias anymore, but Eli. Someone else.

I agree with Gary, that to most people one's name is important, and I think Eli might be that way too. He seems to have a lot of integrity, although his self-esteem might be low.

[sauvin]

She says "Ellie", but when Oskar says it, I hear "Ee lee". She just nods her head and says "Ah" anyway. That's how it went in the movie, anyway.

"Would you like me even if I weren't a girl?" behind the kiosk, but Oskar still has no idea what that might mean. Neither, actually, do we. We're speculating that her real concern is that he's really going to flip when he finds out that isn't lingonberry she puts on her pancakes, and that she doesn't eat the pancakes. She's been around and knows very well that some boys find out they like other boys sometimes as early as Oskar's age, but not many people will react well to the fact of her diet.

"I'm not a girl, not a boy, not young, not old. I'm nothing", or words to this effect, while snuggled up all warm and cozy under the comforter on a cold Swedish winter night. We're not certain what she means by this, too. We have more reason to believe her answer to Oskar's wanting to go steady has a gender-related basis, but that growling monster can never be more than a few seconds away from the forefront of her reasoning processes, can it?

I don't think of Eli as being particularly concerned with her gender one way or another in most respects, and her wanting to play the dragon rather than the damsel is a carryover preference. A great many people have probably called her a great many unflattering things over the decades, and I have a strong suspicion she's not worried about how she fits in with society or is perceived by it. The interactions she has with Oskar where her gender is or might be implicated are heavily overcast with other concerns, and what other people think of her basically just doesn't matter.

For carryover preferences, I think I'd look to what attitudes towards questions of gender or sexual preference prevailed in rural Sweden while Eli was still a real child. Was homophobia viewed anything like what it had been in the US around Owen's time? Had sissies and pansies commonly been ridiculed and bullied? I think the ghosts of those times would tinge her thinking in this area more than anything else where her beast's overcast isn't a major factor.

[metoo]

Sorry sauvin, but my question wasn't about how Eli percieves his gender, but what importance he might put into the name with which he chooses to present himself.

Just to keep the thread on track

[sauvin]

Sorry sauvin, but my question wasn't about how Eli percieves his gender, but what importance he might put into the name with which he chooses to present himself.

Just to keep the thread on track

So, assuming you're a guy named Charles, it wouldn't bother you to be called Charlotte?

[intrige]

I think that the issue ain't that Charlotte is a girl's name, but that it ain't the name Charles. So much so with Eli and Elin.