There is a practical consideration worth keeping in mind with names: they distinguish characters <i>from each other</i>.<p>I found One Hundred Years of Solitude virtually incomprehensible because it features an enormous cast of characters whose names are all similar.<p>There is José Arcadio Buendía, José Arcadio, Arcadio, Aureliano José, 17 (!) other characters named Aureliano, José Arcadio Segundo and José Arcadio (II) (who is <i>not</i> Segundo).<p>Aureliano Buendía, Aureliano Segundo and Aureliano Babilonia (Aureliano II) (again, different dude from Segundo), and Aureliano (III).<p>Úrsula Iguarán, Amaranta Úrsula, and Amaranta.<p>Remedios Moscote, Remedios the Beauty, and Renata Remedios.