I've got a grammar/style question. What would you do when referring to a name (such as Janie), rather than a person called Janie? My first instinct was quotation marks. i.e. "She doesn't like 'Janie.'" But italics may look better when used in dialogue. Or should I just leave the thing alone? It's clear from context that "Janie" is in reference to the name, not the character. Thank you all!
Might work best to put "a" in front of the name, to show that you mean the name doesn't fit: "She doesn't sound like a Janie." I suppose you could still italicize it or put it in quotes, but I think it works just as well without.
Unless it was extremely clear--such as if the preceding sentence was "Does she like her name?"--I would try to avoid potential confusion by saying "She doesn't like her name" or "She doesn't like the name 'Janie.'" If it's the former, I think either way is fine.
The problem with using italics is that it is sometimes used to put emphasis on a word. So in your case, putting 'Janie' in italics may just create the idea that the character is saying the word with hostility or disgust. I guess it has more to do with the reader. I know I would personally read it that way, anyway. I guess it's in the context, though. You could use quotation marks, but it would be safer to set it out as @Ben414 stated by putting 'the name' before it so that no confusion could occur.
Thank you all for the help! I decided to go with quotation marks. Since the meaning is clear from context, but setting it off with "the name" sounded awkward in this particular case.
