Halloween

 

Costume Quest, screengrab by me

Halloween has never been my favourite time of the year since I’ve always had a preference for Bonfire Night which happens a few days later here in the UK. However, new blog attempt, new postive outlook and all that.

I was originally going to do a list of sorts of names associated with Halloween, but not being a celebration that I really celebrate I found myself struggling. Such a great topic to start back with really!

In the end, I’m sticking with a pair of names that I know I can really talk about.

Wren and Reynold.

From just looking at the names, I doubt that it’s obvious what these names have to do with Halloween.

My mind does work in mysterious ways, I acknowledge that – but I promise you this isn’t that out-there in thinking.

One of my recent favourite games to play is Costume Quest – which just so happens to take place on Halloween. Fraternal twins Wren and Reynold have just moved to a new area, and are sent out to trick or treat by their mother, but they’re not thrilled about it. Right at the start your first decision is which twin to ‘put in charge’, or rather, play as. You get kitted out in a less than impressive robot costume whilst your twin gets a rocket outfit (or what I originally took to be a rocket, research tells me it’s supposed to be a candy corn) looks even worse. In fact, it’s so bad that the monster you interrupt from his candy-raid at the first house you go to thinks your twin is also candy and kidnaps them.

Bummer.

Since you were put in charge, you now have to go on trick or treating around the neighbourhood alone and attempt to get your twin back and home before curfew.

Long time readers may remember that historically I’m not a fan of Wren due to the character from Mortal Engines. However, in combination with Reynold it makes me smile. I used to be the kind of person that wasn’t so impressed by matchy twin names. Maybe I’ve softened in my old age, or maybe it’s because separate they’re actually two completely different names.

Reynold comes from Germanic origins of ragin, meaning ‘counsel’ and wald, meaning ‘rule’, whereas Wren is a bird name.

In terms of actual usage, the name Reynold is not hugely popular, in fact, less than 3 boys born in England & Wales in 2016 were given the name. It’s not as popular as related name Reginald (rank #296), or even Reginald’s nickname Reggie (rank #55).

As for Wren, the name ranks for both boys (#1363) and girls (#334), making it the more popular of the two names.