Give the Animorphs last names!

[Dogman15]

Jake and Rachel are Berenson. I can't even begin to think of a last name for Marco, but all those last names he rattled off in book 5 would work great as his real last name.
I've always imagined Cassie's last name to be Logan, after Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, a book about a black girl named Cassie in some time period decades ago (I forget the story).

For a fan fiction I'm thinking of writing, I have David's last name as Debassy. His parents are John and Marie. What do you think happened to them after the war? Did they try to contact Cassie to find out what happened to their son?

[TobiasMasonPark]

     I've read quite a few stories about the Animorphs (Fanfiction stories, that is), but I haven't read the canon books in YEARS! So I can't quote the books line for line like most of you. But I do remember a lot of things. Besides, I check the Wikipedia pages for the characters every once in a while...so, yea.

     I'm the millionth person to say this: Jake and Rachel's last name IS Berenson; based on the evidence given above. I think the most OBVIOUS bit of proof is from book 31, the Conspiracy. Where Rachel says POINT BLANK that she and Jake are related through their fathers. Unless, of course, Rachel and her sisters (who weren't given very large roles in the series, unfortunately) took their mother's maiden name.

     As for the other characters, I find that a lot of Fanfiction authors choose ridiculous surnames for the canon characters. Most obvious of all is Marco's last name, which is often mistaken to be spanish again, the only exception would be if he took his mother's maiden name (though, I think he would only do that out of respect for his mother...but I don't think he did).

     As for the Tobias argument, I would like to agree with Capnnerefir's theory, stating that Tobias' name (which turns out to be Santorelli in the famous Neomorphs series) and state that, while Tobias would have respected Elfangor as a father figure, he wouldn't have "ditched" his step-father's last name. So, it's unlikely to be Fangor (given the above points). I think his name would have been taken from the man he believed to be his father, and adopted the Fangor surname after book 23, the pretender.
Post Merged: December 01, 2010, 04:31:07 PMA continuation of the above post, since I went off on something of a tangent...

     Like I said, I find that a lot of FF authors choose blatantly ridiculous surnames for the characters (no disrespect intended). I noticed a few references to Augustine Quill's choices for the last names, and while I enjoy and respect his work, I have to disagree. To me, the choices for the character's surnames are just unrealistic. But that's just ONE person's POV, please, don't take it to heart. Just stating my opinion...

     I just think that certain characters should have surnames that fit with their ancestry. Given that the characters live in Amercia, we can assume that a lot of their surnames will be taken from early settlers from England, Ireland, etc (though, I'm probably wrong, given my lack of knowledge on Amercian history). And we also have to be careful about stereotyping; example: giving Marco a spannish last name because his mother was a latin American immigrant, or giving Cassie the name Washington, or Johnston because she's an African American...

     Here's a few that I've thought of for ALL of the Animorphs; yea, that includes David and James (deny all you want, but they WERE Animorphs, and I think we forget that from time to time):

     Tobias Daniels (Step-father's last name)
     Cassandra/Cassie MacIntyre
     Marco Bryant
     James Flint
     David Shepherd
     

[LisaCharly]

Hey, TMP, if you're going to talk about how you named all the Anis, you can't forget Collette, Kelly and Timmy and all the unnamed Auxs.

I've never really bought into the idea that Tobias' last name is Fangor, either. That said, it's fairly common in fandom.

The ones I and Alikat always use, including mother's maiden names in some cases:

Rachel (Hart) Berenson
Tobias Harper
Cassie Valentine
Marco (Salazar) Laroche
David Sheldon

Most of them are on a "because we liked them" basis. In my ficverse Marco ended up going by Marco Salazar Laroche, because the three names thing was totally cool in the 90's, and Rachel was Hart-Berenson after her parents divorced. We originally had Cassie Love but that felt way too on the nose, so we went with Valentine, because it's still a "kinda nice name", but it's a little less preachy.

[yunyun]

Cassie's last name can be Rose, it's a nice last name

[Alan Fangor]

Now I'm giving last names to all the characters cause I'm writing a fanfic about the Aniverse in general and the post-war period (in an alternative world where Rachel and auxiliary survive).

Well, Jake and Rachel last name is definitely Berenson. Tobias' surname...many say Fangor, but it seems to be too obvious, too easy to discover just in book 23, while in the following book it is theoretically secret. So I imagine that he takes his mother's surname, and I choose an italian surname...I love how italian surnames sound with english names (e.g. James Gandolfini, Robert De Niro, Rudolph Giuliani, John D'Andrea, or simply like fictional Joseph Felitti and Captain Torrelli) so I picture Loren as italo-american. I also invent second name for some character (in one book Cassie says she has a middle name). Marco : I remained with the last names he mentions in #5 : one of them is the true surname, imho. It's not Vazquez, because it is later specificed that is mother is Hispanic, not his father, which is described as tall and pale if I remember correctly.

Jacob Joshua Berenson   (but simply "Jake Berenson" sounds much better)
Rachel Ann Berenson
Tobias Morelli
Cassandra Amber Johnson
Marco McCain

and for the other characters :

Eva Moralez
David Carey
James Parker
Craig McPherson
Erica Santorini
Edward Carrington (Visser II)

ahd for some andalites :

Arbron-Enilon-Nascali
Escafil-Estrom-Semitur
Seerow-Iskilion-Forlan

[Dogman15]

Hey, TMP, if you're going to talk about how you named all the Anis, you can't forget Collette, Kelly and Timmy and all the unnamed Auxs.

I've never really bought into the idea that Tobias' last name is Fangor, either. That said, it's fairly common in fandom.

The ones I and Alikat always use, including mother's maiden names in some cases:

Rachel (Hart) Berenson
Tobias Harper
Cassie Valentine
Marco (Salazar) Laroche
David Sheldon

Most of them are on a "because we liked them" basis. In my ficverse Marco ended up going by Marco Salazar Laroche, because the three names thing was totally cool in the 90's, and Rachel was Hart-Berenson after her parents divorced. We originally had Cassie Love but that felt way too on the nose, so we went with Valentine, because it's still a "kinda nice name", but it's a little less preachy.

I remember reading one of your stories a while ago, and I really like those last names!

[Jetstream]

Elfangor's last name is Shamtul, and Ax's last name is Isthill. But their parents last names are both different. I wonder what goes on with that? Andalites don't use one last name for a family?

Different cultures are different. Several Nordic nations don't use surnames like we do. Your last name is your father's first name + son/daughter. Brandonson, Danielsdottir, etc.

[OneGirlRevolution]

Tobias: Ellison
Cassie: Cassava
Marco: Valdes

[TobiasMasonPark]

     Man, looking back on my first post around three years ago, I can't help but shake my head and think "what a noob." It just goes to show how  much one can change over time. I'm looking at the names I chose then, and I've gotta say, I no longer like what I came up with I came up with some new ones for the Animorphs 55 fic that I wrote down.*

*But haven't typed online because I figure it's not all that good.