Here’s the Downside of Taking Ownership

Sometimes the hardest part of writing a caption is writing a sufficiently blasé name. Names in cartoons need to be unique but generic at the same time. It can take a while.

Here’s some names I rejected for this cartoon and why:

John Johnson (Vague, but repetitive)
John Thompson (Too rhyme-y)
Tom Wilson (Name of Ziggy cartoonist)
Will Jones (Sounds like a question)
William Jones (Generic but formal)
Don Jones (Remembered I knew someone by that name in college)
Tom Jones (Seriously?)
Joan Thompson (Good, but would have to redraw as female)
Bruce Kent (Combination of Batman’s and Superman’s secret identity)
Ignor of the Treelands, the Wise & Terrible (Note to self: repurpose in future cartoon)

See how hard it is? Thank goodness for Phil Goodwin.

This article, "Here’s the Downside of Taking Ownership" was first published on Small Business Trends