Having A Bird

Ian did.

Ian was a keen bird watcher … he loved all types of birds … and saw many different types at his home in Caribbean. He’d bought a place there … to watch birds and to write his first novel … based on his war experiences.

But he was having trouble coming up with a name for the hero … he’d rejected interesting sounding names 'Peregrine Carruthers’ because what he wanted was a simple and dull name as the character was an anonymous neutral figure that would have exotic and interesting things happen to him.

Well Ian found his name… on the cover of book on the shelf in his library … The book? The definitive field guide Birds of the West Indies written by an American who was a Caribbean bird expert. The dull name was perfect. So Ian asked the author if he could appropriate his name for the character … and the author was fine with it. They even bonded over it.

Today, the simple dull name Ian took from an American bird expert is the main character in 12 original books and 26 wildly entertaining films … and works much better than … Carruthers, Peregrine Carruthers … James Bond.

James Bond is a great idea .. because sometimes licensing a name … is license .. to make a killing!