Whatever name you think is suitable will be suitable. You can make names work no matter the character if you write it well. All the same, I like the name for a vampire.
I think it works good, except that he needs to be blond haired and have kind of Netherland descent or something like that for it to fit perfectly.
Depends on where your Vamp is located. I am assuming Germany, but even then it really does not matter because the Vamp might have been made in Germany 200 years ago and moved to your new venue.
The name of your vampire should depend on where the vampire is originally from. If he is from Russia then chances are he wouldn't have a name common in South America.
Just don't stake him, watch him turn to dust and go "Look, man! No Hans!" But seriously, not many people get to choose to be come a vampire or not, and I don't think the vampires bother ask a person's name before turning him or her. Hans, Achmed, M'gobo or John, it doesn't really matter.
Try googling the name to find out where it originates from. It maybe important for the charcter, i.e. making sure that it is historically accurate. Apart from that, I don't see why you shouldn't call a vampire Hans. Good Luck!
Generally a vampire was once a person, right? So it is suitable to use any name that a person might have. Hans qualifies.
It just makes me think of Hans Christian Andersen. Who was Danish. And very unthreatening--but that could be a good twist, I suppose (she says doubtfully).
Hans is a common name here in Scandinavia and in Germany. Not sure about the rest of Europe, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's common in all the latin countries. (Latin as in the origin of our languages. English, swedish, german, norwegian, danish, it's all latin languages. Finnish, russian and so on have a different origin. Same with asian languages like japanese and chinese.)
Hrm, those are not latin languages, they are germanic languages, the latin (or romance) ones are french, italian, spanish, romanian and portugese, to name a few. I agree with you though, on Hans being a northern european name. Where are you from? Im swedish by the way.
I think the problem I have with the name Hans is that I just see a mildly-spoken Scandinavian or Dutch guy, and also not many vampires are depicted with blond hair and a nice fresh complexion. If you turned this stereotype on its head a bit I can see it could be disturbing, though.
I agree w madhoca, it sounds a little tame and it's not the kind of name that makes you picture a vampire, but if you were planning for a blond scandinavian vampire then I guess you should go for it.
Er, no. English, Swedish, German, Norwegian and Danish are all Germanic languages, not descended from Latin at all (although they're all influenced to a greater or lesser degree by the Latinate-speaking neighbours (Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese). The Germanic and Latinate languages don't even have a common ancestor until you get back to the hypothesized Proto-Indo-European, the common ancestor for all natural human languages. "Hans" is a Germanic form of "John", so he's likely to come from a part of the world with a strong Germanic influence -- the Netherlands, Germany, Scandinavia, some parts of the American Mid-west and so on.
I tend to associate that name with Alan Rickman's character in Die Hard. He wasn't blonde. lol. And he was eeeeevil. So, yeah. If you think the name suits your vampire, and makes sense for the character, why not? Good luck with the story.
The name of your character can be whatever you want, as long as you have a reason for giving him that name. Simply the name 'Hans' standing by itself is going to conjure different images in the minds of different people. It's up to you, as the author, to create a unique identity for your vampire regardles of his name. Do that well enough and then readers will associate that name with your character when they hear it. The vampire in my novel is named Aaron. There's nothing particularly intimidating about that name, but I hope those who have read the book now find something a bit sinister about people named Aaron.
There's always a nerd on every forum. Nah, just kidding. Sorry, I'm not too good at language history and thought latin and germanic was closer related. I'm from Norway, and we use the latin alphabeth. But anyway, my point is vampires are not racists. If I were a vampire and wanted to turn someone, I wouldn't care what hair color, skin color or sexual preference he/she has. Vampirism is a disease and can spread just like any other diseases.
Just think about where the vampire was from originally, as well as the era. I'm sure Google would bring up a few if you wanted to find a Danish name from the 1600s. Hans instantly brings to my mind Hans from Die Hard 1 (Alan Rickman's character, the bad guy) but if the name Hans makes a lot of people think of a mild-mannered, harmless guy, then brilliant. Because they would be surprised and interested when it turns out they are a sadistic, savage creature
His name should be from the time and place he was born, unless he changes it from time to time. Any name used when and where a person is born will work. We are not named for what we do in life, we are basically named before anyone knows who we are. Only nick names or if we change our names, can the name match the personality. So pick a name from the area that the vampire was born and the time period he was born. 1700 German would probably not be Pedro. But there was cross border trade in Europe, so cultures did mix, so names from around the area could work too. French, Dutch, etc.
The idea that all Germanic people are of the Aryan race has a somewhat disreputable history, to say the least. I've worked and socialised with a few people called "Hans" in my time (I've worked quite a bit in Switzerland and Germany), and not a single one of them was blond. In fiction, Hans Gruber wasn't, Hans Geering wasn't, Hans Moleman it's hard to tell.
Now, I've only skimmed through the thread and I might just be saying what somebody else has said before me. But: What is a vampire? I think, before you can decide if the name is suitable for a vampire, you have to define what a vampire is within the universe of your story. Is this a Count Dracula vampire, or a Buffy vampire or a Twilight vampire or what? If we go by the traditional pop-culture definition of a vampire as a creature of the night who sucks blood to survive and who was once human, when was he "turned"? What I'm trying to say is, if he was turned in Germany back in the 1800s he could be named Hans, but if he was born in the US in the 1980s or so he'd probably have a different name. If you have a more esoteric definition of "vampire" in your story - say, vampires are mole people living underground who suck blood through proboscides - they probably wouldn't have names like "Hans". So, uh, it all depends on the context in which this vampire character of yours appears in your story. If you think the name Hans fits, then it probably does.
Hehehe! You are right, it was just my inner besserwisser that wanted to object to us being "latinos", hihi
If you read on to the end of my post, you'll notice that I do acknowledge it is a stereotype. Also, the idea of 'blond' changes a bit if you live in a southern European country. Anyone with hair lighter than mid-brown is considered blond!
