It was good enough for Shakespeare. There's "Malvolio," the discontent from Twelfth Night. "Horatio," the even-tempered observer in Hamlet. "Elbow," the drun

It was good enough for Shakespeare. There's "Malvolio," the discontent from Twelfth Night. "Horatio," the even-tempered observer in Hamlet. "Elbow," the drunken constable in Measure for Measure, and "Dull," the slow-witted constable from Love's Labors Lost (which also features the empty-headed schoolmaster "Holofernes"). "Prospero," the artist-magician who makes all right in the end of The Tempest. "Hotspur," the (actual) nickname of the irascible warrior from Henry IV Part I who could think of nothing but riding his horse into battle. (Of course, that was a real historical name, but it's no wonder Shakespeare latched onto it.) And who can forget "Mercutio," another hothead, the short-lived hyperglot from Romeo and Juilet? Not to mention "Posthumus," who all but dies to set right his folly at the beginning of Cymbeline. And then of course, "Falstaff," also from Henry IV, that great monument to the art of deception. Does anyone need to guess the profession of Mistress Overdone, Mistress Quickly, or Doll Tearsheet? Lesser characters: Shallow and Slender. Not as sure what to make of Touchstone, Caliban (an anagram for "cannibal"?), and Bottom. Dickens was just imitating, and in many ways bettering, his master.