this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2025
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General ease of identification. Going from "John" to "Jean" is an easier logical leap of "this is the same person" than "John" to "Sarah".
Of course, when dealing with a well known character with an easy to recognise overall design, it's kinda weird, but visual and mental recognition are in general.
Fictional characters also have a bunch of naming rules that real people don't. Quite importantly, unless you're GRRM they should not have the same or similar name to another character in your story (i.e. what you're saying, one name per person and one person per name). Else shit's just confusing, as knows anyone who tried to learn anything about Elden Ring's lore.
Names also should match the character's personality. John's John because he's meant to be pathetically average and John is the most average white american name there is. Naming him Bartholomew or Rico would not have worked for that particular character.
I would therefore posit that if John as a fictional character did transition, Jane might be a better fit due to being more common while still being familiar enough not to be confusing. Or perhaps Jess which retains an alliteration but sounds even more "basic" then Jane IMO.
I dig Jane because there's also another tie there.
John and Jane Doe, typically used when there's no personal identification.
Though I also feel like we're losing something because of the medium. Is it "Gene" like genie or "Jawn" like Jeanne?
I live in the rural South, it could genuinely go either way in my head, though I lean towards "Jawn" for the better flow from "John".
EDIT: Okay, I cannot decide which makes more sense as a pronunciation guide, if you've played Bayonetta, you've heard it pronounced.
Or Robert "all Aes Sedai names begin with M" Jordan. (To say nothing of two of the core POV characters both having names that are pronounced the same apart from a single consonant cluster.)
that's true