What does the name Bianca make you think of?

Discussion in 'Character Development' started by karajmnz, Apr 22, 2013.

  1. jazzabel

    jazzabel Agent Provocateur Contributor

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    Bianca is a common name where I grew up. In italian it means "white" and it reminds me of those little girls, maybe 5 or 6 years old, with a bronze summer tan and almost completely white-blond hair (from the sun). Good times. Bianca is a sunny, happy, pretty and girly.
     
  2. Mal-Madrake

    Mal-Madrake Member

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    I am sorry but I have to say that I imagine a white electric razor (Bianco=white, philips= a company that creates razors among other things) but if you insisted that it is a person I would imagine a temperamental Italian girl from a posh family.
     
  3. Garball

    Garball Banned Contributor

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    I think of a girl along the lines of Marisa Tomei's character in My Cousin Vinny
     
  4. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    My first image is Daniela Bianchi, the beautiful Italian model who played the Russian spy Tatiana Romanova in From Russia, With Love. The next image is a cartoon mouse, but I don't recall which Disney movie it was from (The Rescuers, perhaps? I never watched it).

    Overall, the impression I get is a light-complexioned blonde.
     
  5. AuroraJenkins

    AuroraJenkins New Member

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    I imagine kind of a spoiled rich girl, but not the stereotypical American blonde. Maybe like a European girl with dark hair and pale skin. She may or may not be a snob, depending on her personality, but she definitely has the potential to become one.

    (I don't even know where I got that image, lol, but it was the first thing that came into my mind.)
     
  6. cazann34

    cazann34 Active Member

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    I personally think choosing name is a very important part of writing a character. I played around with the name of my MC for quite a while. First she was Lara, then Laura then finally Layla, Layla Phillips would you believe--good surname isn't it? I believe it does matter what you call your protagonist, it shows the reader who they are, what era they were born into as well as show us how they react to their name, do they like it or hate it. Does it tell the reader more about the MC? My MC liked her name until some bullies started to taunt her with a demeaning version of it - this I am keeping under my hat - I'm not telling in other words.

    The name you have pick reminds me of a soap opera called 'Eastenders' there's a character called Bianca, (I don't watch the soap any more) in the soap the character is a bit of a loud mouth, always shouting about something or another - a demanding character I would say. Character building isn't only about the name but its a good start. For instance would you call romantic figure Algernon Poopdecker, properly not. It's a name hard to take seriously in any context.
     
  7. madhoca

    madhoca Contributor Contributor

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    It depends what you mean by "stuck up". Upper-class families tend to use traditional English names. Aspiring families might try and find a more "unusual" name like Bianca. It reminds English people of my generation of Bianca in the long-running BBC soap Eastenders. I can assure you that the Bianca in that was not stuck up. Actually, the lower down the social scale in England, the less traditional the name, as a general rule--but not if it's a family name or there is a foreign connection, of course.
    Since Bianca is an Italian name, I would never think of someone with blonde hair.

    Edit: I see I'm not the only one to mention Eastenders!
     
  8. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    But it does mean white, and there ARE blond(e) Italians.
     
  9. squishytheduck

    squishytheduck New Member

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    The Taming of the Shrew, but, oddly enough, the Larisa Olenik portrayal in '10 Things I Hate About You'.
     
  10. madhoca

    madhoca Contributor Contributor

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    Some, but not very many that are blonde like northern Europeans. I think the "white" refers to purity.
     
  11. WriterWM86

    WriterWM86 New Member

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    Usually I would think of someone Latino or from South America...or Europe who loves to dance. I first heard the name around 1998-2000 through MTV (I was 12-14 around the time), during an interview focusing on the making of a music video.

    However, in a story I'm working on, my MC runs into a young woman named Bianca, who has brown eyes and dark brown hair. She is from the Midwest (U.S.), and dances in nightclubs at times. He's told she moved to Chicago from Fort Wayne, Indiana.

    I just don't know why I associate the name Bianca with Latin America and European countries and dancing, but that's usually what I think of when I hear that name.
     
  12. MHJr92

    MHJr92 New Member

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    I went to high school with a girl named Bianca. She was beautiful.
     
  13. foiler

    foiler New Member

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    The first thing I thought of was Bianca Jagger. For some reason, she always reminded me of Mrs. Robinson from "The Graduate".
    But I'm dating myself. :)

    One thing I think I can say with a fair amount of certainty; the name implies a "classy" European background.
     
  14. bensonphoenix

    bensonphoenix New Member

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    Ilithyia from the first season of Spartacus comes to mind. Somebody who finds themselves in a very fortunate position
    as far as money and power is concerned (she doesn't mind abusing it either). Somebody who has a weakness for
    jewelry and similar trinkets, a conniving little bi...she-devil I mean.
     
  15. Atari

    Atari Active Member

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    I might be able to say, but it would be crushingly embarrassing for me.
     
  16. blackstar21595

    blackstar21595 New Member

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    a girl named Bianca
     
  17. Somnus

    Somnus New Member

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    The first thing that actually came to mind was Tintin's ''La Castafiore'', an opera lady with an exceedingly high-pitched voice. Otherwise, the Percy Jackson character. The character that sprung into my mind after a second resembled the latter more - young, rather selfless, short and black-haired (for whatever reason).
    But as others have said, don't let that change your opinion. While I'd warn against using ''unique'' names such as Hitler or Obama for one of your characters, something as 'faceless' as Bianca should be fine on any character. Bianca can fit any woman (or if you're really striving for originality, a man... but I'm having trouble imagining a male construction worker named 'Bianca'), with any job from bear-wrestler to quilt-maker.
     
  18. xhawkeyex

    xhawkeyex New Member

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    The name Bianca immediately makes me think of "The Taming of the Shrew" by Shakespeare. The character in that story is named Bianca and is described as a kind, beautiful character. I'm sure it is possible that others could come to the same conclusion.
     
  19. blandmanblind

    blandmanblind Member

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    Eva Gabor

    Ah, beat me to it.

    That could come across in the nicknames other characters call her. "Bea" is something most of her acquaintances might shorten it to for casual conversation. And that seems like the very homey, down-to-earth name that you want.

    In fact, with her real name being Bianca, you could use that to reveal the flavor of her parents and background, without having to spell it out. That is, if it's important in the story.
     
  20. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    It's up to you to write Bianca's impact on the reader. You're going to get as many different answers as there are people answering because it's going to depend on the history of the one answering. I''m Puerto Rican, so if you ask me, my answer is going to be something like, "A whole bunch of my female cousins," because like all things, for 15 min. the name Bianca was in vogue. If you ask someone who has never met an actual Bianca, their answer might be based on literary acquaintance, or even on racial stereotype because Bianca is a name of latin extraction (it appears in Spanish, Italian and Portugese). If the person is savvy in linguistics, they will tell you that the name means white and they may extoll the virtues of that color on the mind's eye.

    She's a character you are going to write, not an imaginary friend.
     
  21. Dorotha

    Dorotha New Member

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    Bianca reminds me of two things...Mick Jaggers second wife and Howard Sterns beloved dog. To me, and granted I am old, Bianca is a name that conjures a measure of aloof-ness.
     

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