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the same name (coincidentally) with a real person?

what would you do?
and I got at least 3 characters of my VN.... who have the same names with real people when I goggled their names.... jeez.

curry nochi rice wrote:the same name (coincidentally) with a real person?

Not much, really. There's no protection of uniqueness over a person's name, after all (c.f. the two Steves Jackson; they've even both worked in the same field!).

If your VN character looks like it's deliberately intended to be one of those people, then I expect they might be able to take legal action against you for misrepresenting their character, but if you didn't actually base your character on them then I wouldn't worry about it. Personally, I wouldn't even have bothered to Google the names...

You're going to be hard pressed to come up a name that nobody in the world has in a story with a contemporary setting. In most cases I wouldn't be overly concerned the "conflict." You probably don't need to worry about anything unless one of the following is true:

1. The individual is notable. For example, if they have a lengthy Wikipedia entry.

2. If you feel a rational individual would somehow mistake your character for a representation or parody of a real individual. For example, if the character coincidentally also looked like the person who shares their name.

I deliberately gave a character of mine the same last name like one author (Amelia Steinbeck, came from John Steinbeck). It doesn't really mean anything, it's just me liking the author and his last name. I'm not using her to represent him in any way similar to him.

I tend to google character names. Complete uniqueness is rare, but I try to make sure I don't have:

the exact name of someone famous in another culture that I've just never heard of myself (because people might think it was a reference)
the name of exactly ONE real person (My RL full name is unusual enough that there is only one me. My name turning up in a game would be CREEPY.)

If the google turns up hits for what are clearly several different people with that same name, then the name is fine for use.

All the last names in Fatal Hearts come from figure skaters, but this is obscure enough that only I would ever notice.

MaiMai wrote:I deliberately gave a character of mine the same last name like one author (Amelia Steinbeck, came from John Steinbeck). It doesn't really mean anything, it's just me liking the author and his last name. I'm not using her to represent him in any way similar to him. :)

papillon wrote:All the last names in Fatal Hearts come from figure skaters, but this is obscure enough that only I would ever notice.

Homages like this are generally fine, within reason. I don't think a reasonable person would confuse someone named Amelia Steinbeck as being a representation of John Steinbeck unless she shares many of his notable characteristics when presented (though many would likely recognize her last name as a homage).

I don't care (coincidentally or even on purpose). Just add "Same name, place, event, or anything in this VN is purely coincidental and doesn't have any connection with anyone or anything in the real world."

Absolutely nothing.

Even when randomly selecting my main character's name, I completely forgot how common both names are and ended up naming the kid after another anime character. (Who was not at ALL in my mind when he was being created!)

Nothing. I don't care.
If I like the name, I'll keep it, no questions asked.

I often give common names and surnames to my characters so that happens a lot to me .
At first I was kind of frustrated because it was just an accident... now I don't care because I don't want to give them new names all of the sudden since I'm used to the old ones.
Also, once I googled my own name and I found out there are many people with exactly the same first and last name that I have !

"Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit..."

My character name is completely unique. Only one of it.
Actually the names of my characters (even the last names) came from real persons with their permission.
Some last names I used translators and modified them to make them unique.
If I ever had a chance it's really similar to someone I don't know, then it's just that I didn't mean it! Right?

My my, well I actually use my pals as characters xD it does get a bit awkward, but it's even fun at times. The drawback is that you've got to restrain from adding too wacky aspects to the char's personality. When it's a coincidence it doesn't matter at all. You may want to add a small "every charactrer depicted in this vn is a work of fiction and... yadda yadda" discalimer in the credits, if it actually bothers you.

I have a character who purposely has the exact same name of a fictional character. On purpose. He also looks like him. And speaks in a British accent. Don't kill me.