Heroes Named Jack: How Many Do You Know?

February 8th, 2010 | by Beth Barany

18 Comments

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captain-jack-sparrow“The hero named jack” In a Google Search, I found only five exact phrases. Hmmm. http://bit.ly/c59Gdf

In a more loose search “hero named jack,” I found more over 32, 000 sites. How many heroes are named Jack? Lots!

What is your favorite hero name in a story? Is it “Jack”? Or is it something else?

Yes, it’s that time again, the beginning of the month, and the monthly raffle! And the prize this month is a signed copy of my book, The Writer’s Adventure Guide: 12 Stages to Writing Your Book.

Listen/read carefully to the rules!

  1. Most importantly: Post a comment sharing your favorite hero name AND a reference (book, movie, song, etc. any story form) to it somewhere on the internet land. Or, you can post a link to your favorite hero names “Jack” and tell us why!
  2. Be sure to indicate your name and a valid email address, so I can email you if you win! <Good luck!>
  3. Winner must be able to give me a mailing address in the US and Canada. My shipping budget is small. (Sorry, overseas folks! I’ll do an e-book again next month!)
  4. Post a comment by Friday, February 12, 12 noon, Pacific time.
  5. I’ll post a winner, and notify the winner, by Friday, February 12, 6pm, Pacific time.
  6. You can post more than once. That will increase your chance of winning! I will be using a random number generator sytem to pick the winner. (AKA, have my husband pick a number.)

Good luck everyone!

PS. Thanks to my client, Fabienne Lopez, for asking me about my midnight tweet on the hero named Jack. Her request, and her own interest in the topic, sparked this month’s raffle!

PPS. There’s also the saying, “You don’t know Jack!” which is also a game. (I only knew the saying, not the game. Where have I been?!)

Thanks to James Bridges for this explanation: “‘Jack’ is a catch-all English name for almost anyone – Jack of all trades, Jack Tar etc. It comes from the French ‘Jaques’ a traditional name for a peasant centuries ago. It spread to things other than people, as your examples illustrate.”

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  • http://lindamspear.com Linda Spear

    Jack is a good friend of mine….a mentor, a soulmate and jokester. I met Jack through the commonality of our work….I’m a thirty one year veteran journalist,non fiction writer and new novelist. Jack is a veteran of EVERYTHING bit of the communication field: A renowned writer of all forms, an award winning novelist whose outstanding first fiction won all prizes in the year it was published.

    Fifteen books later, and nine children of various nationalities, all loved to the same nth degree, Jack is continues to be a force to be reckoned with. There are those who don’t understand her generosity and love, and criticize it. Perhaps it’s because she’s so straightforward, and not everyone understands those who don’t harbor cyncism in their souls.

    But those who know Jack…and I know Jack…can tell you that Jacqueline Mitchard is one of the finest people I know. And that would be the case, even if her name was not Jack…..

  • http://www,bethbarany.com Beth Barany

    Linda: So wonderful that your hero is a real life person named Jack, and a woman no less. My feminist heart sings!

  • http://loredanatironpandit-dailywriting.blogspot.com/ Lori

    I have also noticed a prevalence of heroes named Jack. Isn’t that weird? What’s behind the name of Jack?

  • http://www.goodmorningpavones.com Lisa LaMagna

    Jack (MacGyver) Dalton, man always able to pull a rabbit out of a hat to save the day (to mash metaphors). http://www.tv.com/macgyver/show/706/summary.html

    Perhaps nothing speaks to his success as much as the fact that his name has become a noun: to pull a MacGyver, means to save the day.

  • http://www,bethbarany.com Beth Barany

    Lisa: Fun! I didn’t know that MacGyver’s first name was Jack!

  • http://www.lisaannpinkerton.com Lisa Pinkerton

    Jack “King of the Vagabonds” from Neal Stephenson’s The Baroque Cycle series. Neal’s known as “The Hacker Hemingway.” Throughout the series, Jack rescues a slave girl, steals a ship of goald, suffers the wrath of the Spanish Inquisition and ends up living in a French palace.

    http://www.nealstephenson.com/

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  • Cheryl

    Are you kidding?! Get on the phone and “Get Me Jack Bauer!!”

  • http://www.infinitelypossible.net/blog.html Briana

    Jack the Pumpkin King from Nightmare Before Christmas!

    P.S. Great blog!

  • http://www.diviningthemuse.com Paula

    OK, other than the obvious Johnny Depp one in Pirates, how about Michael Douglas as Jack T. Colton in “Romancing the Stone” and “Jewel of the Nile”, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088011/, or even better, Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan in the Patriot Games, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105112/.

    As for other hero names, I like Cussler’s Dirk Pitt, and Indiana Jones (even if he is named after his dog), and let us not forget…Robin Hood.

  • http://www.evamckellan.com Eva

    I already have your book Beth but I want to chime in with Captain Jack (Harkness) from Torchwood. He is naughty, a flirt, has great style, a heart that actually really cares a lot … and is very lonely.

    Captain Jack not only can handle many difficult situations but he is also FUN!

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchwood/

    Eva

  • http://icrackerjack.com Peter F.

    Well…. this could be answered in so many ways! My favorite ‘Jack’ heroes are Jack Skellington (Nightmare Before Christmas), and Jack Bristow (Alias).

    My favorite hero name, is probably Gillygoofang, ’cause it’s a cool name.

    My possibly favorite fictional heroes (husband & wife team!) are named Beren and Luthien, from The Silmarillion.

  • http://astrologyunboxed.wordpress.com/ Fabienne

    My favorite fictional hero is Jack O’Neill, from Stargate-SG played by Richard Dean Anderson – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_O%27Neill
    In the series, Jack O’Neill is the perfect blend of Hero and Anti-Hero, with a sense dry of humor, wisecrack jokes, and the endearing grumpiness in the same tradition as Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean.

  • http://www.bethbarany.com Beth Barany

    Thank you everyone for your comments! I learned about some heroes names Jack that I didn’t know.

    We have a winner! Congratulations Lori!

    Here’s another link to heroes names Jack, including some of your contributions above: http://fandomania.com/ten-ace-jacks-10-fictional-heroes-named-jack/

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