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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/33051
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I'm writing a story written in third-person limited, and the main character has no real name. They simply go by the nickname they're given by the people they hang around at the time, resulting in many different nicknames depending on where they are. Then, they're finally given a normal name that doesn't sound like a title of some sort.

So, what I was thinking of doing was: in the first handful of chapters, third person refers to them as one of their old nicknames, and continues doing so even after they are given a _real_ name in their new environs. Then, at some point, as their character grows attached to the people who call them by that name (and by extension, the name itself), the third person refers to them as their new nickname.

This is meant to mark a point in the story where the character no longer sees themselves as a tool or symbol as they used to in the past, instead seeing themselves as a person as the people surrounding them now see them as. Also, it's meant to mark a point when they'd become comfortable with their new environs, whether they'd like to admit it or not.

Would this seem too jarring for the reader, though? All characters would still refer to them as their new name (outside of flashbacks), and rare changes in PoV before the character's change would still refer to them by their new name.

Original score: 33