Pleasantview/Onomatology

The onomatology (meaning study of the origin of names) of the Sim characters are sometimes hilarious, but always interesting. Many of the names had been intentionally chosen for etymology reasons. Simmers have found out many of the meanings, although a large-enough portion do not mean as much as the etymology of others. Some of the names came as a shock, other names didn't seem to have an onomatological relation. Not all of the names were intended for the definitions researched, but it is still interesting (and sometimes coincidental) to see what the name meanings are. This onomatology is only for the residents of Pleasantview.

The Goth family

 * Goth: Relates either to medieval times or means "an uncivilized person" or "a person without culture". The Goth name in general has some resemblance, as well. The family seems to be the oldest (making it "medieval").


 * Mortimer Goth: In French, "mort" means death. Could also mean "still water". Mortimer's name is fitting as he is an elder so technically death is near.


 * Bella Goth: In Italian, "bella" means beautiful. Bella's name seems fitting because, for a Sim, she is supposed to be very beautiful (considering Don Lothario tried to "Make-Out" with her).


 * Cassandra Goth: Of Greek origin it means "One who helps mankind" or "She Who Entangles Men". In Greek myth, Cassandra was a Trojan Princess who had been given the gift of prophecy by Apollo. She spurned his advances, and Apollo cursed her so that nobody would believe her prophecies. Cassandra's name is confusing because she doesn't predict anything that nobody believed. Having two men love her could be considered entangled.


 * Alexander Goth: Means "defending man". Alexander the Great was the leader who created an empire through Greece, Egypt, Persia, and parts of India. Several other rulers and kings bear the name Alexander. Alexander's name seems fitting as well. He is the smart one and the first son; meaning he could have power to take over the family (if Dina Caliente doesn't do so first).


 * Gunther Goth (Mortimer's father): Means "war" and "army, warrior."


 * Cornelia Goth (Mortimer's mother): From the Latin derivation, cornu, which means "horn." Or possibly, Cornelia is supposed to refer to "corn" because of the rural landscape of Pleasantview's past.


 * Hecuba Goth (Cornelia's cat, female twin Siamese): Variant on the Greek name 'Hekabe' which itself is a variant of 'Hecate' and can possibly mean "Far-off". From Greek Mythology - the wife of Priam and mother of Hector, Paris, and Cassandra (along with 16 other children) in Homer's Iliad.


 * Menelaus Goth (Cornelia's cat, male twin Siamese): From Greek origin it means "withstanding the people". From Greek Mythology - the king of Sparta at the time of the Trojan War; husband of Helen and brother of Agamemnon.


 * Victor Goth (Mortimer's paternal grandfather): One definition is "a person who has overcome, a conqueror". Another definition is "a winner in any struggle or contest".


 * Gretle Goth (Mortimer's paternal grandmother): Commonly spelled Gretel; Possibly derived from a Greek work meaning "pearl". Also, in a fairy tale, Gretel and her brother Hansel were captured by witches but managed to escape. If there was a witch-like character in the Sims' games that may have kidnapped Gretle Goth, this name would make more sense.


 * Frida Goth (Mortimer's paternal aunt): Means "peace".


 * Lolita Goth (relation unknown): A Spanish pet name derived from Lola, which itself is derived from Dolores ("sorrows") or Charlotte. Also refers to Gothic Lolita, a gothic variation of the Japanese fashion style Lolita.


 * Crumplebottom -- "Crumple" means "to bend out of shape". "Bottom" refers to "the lowest or deepest part of anything" or a but.


 * Simon Crumplebottom (Mortimer's maternal grandfather): Means "hearkening" or "listening".


 * Prudence Crumplebottom (Mortimer's maternal grandmother): Means "good judgement". Also connects to the word "Prude", adding to the belief that she is Ms. Crumplebottom.


 * Agnes Crumplebottom (Mortimer's maternal aunt, and the supposedly the Miss Crumplebottom of Downtown): Meaning "chaste" or in other terms: "refraining from WooHoo which is regarded as immoral". These names fit Miss Crumplebottom. The surname, although, has not made any logical sense so it is theorized it is used only for comical reasons. She is also called "The Old Prude". A prude (Old French prude) is a person who is described as being concerned with decorum or propriety.


 * Mrs. Crumplebottom : A married woman.
 * Robert Crumplebottom (Unknown relation) : Popular name meaning bright fame/dull life.


 * Clamp -- probably from clamb, "clamp, cleat." clinch, clench, secure.
 * Elmira Clamp (Mrs. Crumplebottom's niece) : Shortened form of Edelmira, Spanish feminine form of Adelmar, which is the combination of adal "noble" and mar "famous". It appears in the play 'Tartuffe' (1664) by the French playwright Molière.


 * Darling -- Means "beloved one", or "dear".
 * Erik Darling (Agnes Crumplebottom's husband) -- Erik means "one", "alone" in Old Norse. Also perhaps he was named after musician Erik Darling.


 * Ian Arneson (Elmira Clamp's niece) : The Scottish Gaelic version of John, which means God is Gracious.


 * Bachelor -- "an unmarried man"
 * Michael Bachelor (brother of Bella Goth) -- Name means "Who is like God?"
 * Simis Bachelor (Michael's father) -- Pun on "Sim is" so that the name reads "Sim is Bachelor".
 * Jocasta Bachelor (Michael's mother) -- Latinized form of a Greek name. It means cheerful. Possibly used here as a pun, like Simis. Jocasta is a prominent figure in Greek mythology as the queen consort of Thebes, notorious for her role as the unwittingly incestuous wife and mother of King Oedipus in Sophocles's "Oedipus Rex".
 * Milton Bachelor (Michael's paternal grandfather) -- Old English place name from mylen + tun "mill settlement" and middel + tun "middle settlement".
 * Enriqueta Bachelor (Michael's paternal grandmother) -- A female given name, cognate to English Henrietta, which is the female form of Henry, which means home ruler.


 * Dina Caliente was married to Michael Bachelor before his death. Michael Bachelor's tomb remains in the Caliente home. Michael Bachelor was single in the The Sims game and was living at the time. It is seen here that there is no onomatology relationship with the game. Just a few puns, and a popular name. Another few puns are in Strangetown: "Notzo Curious" and "Zo Curious".

The Lothario family

 * Lothario: "A man who obsessively seduces and deceives women" or "a man who behaves selfishly in his WooHoo relationships with women". Lothario is also a term for any man who behaves in a way that he does. The names seem fitting, seeing as Don probably has a Spanish or Italian descent. Also, the Lothario theme still holds true for one or two of the names.


 * Don Lothario: A "Don Juan" is basically a synonym for Lothario. Also, Donald (which Don is a common nickname for) means "ruler of the world". Don Lothario's name seems to be very fitting to him.


 * Nicolo Lothario (Don's father): Means "Victory of the People".


 * Adriana Lothario (Don's mother): Means "From Hadria". Hadria is a town in northern Italy.


 * Carmelo Lothario (Don's paternal grandfather): "cultivated terrain" Spanish from Hebrew


 * Mama Lothario (Don's paternal grandmother): Slang for an attractive woman. Could also mean mama, as in a child's biological female parent.


 * Fiorello: "Fiorella" is Italian for "small flower". Also Fiorello was a name of a musical in 1959. Again the Italian/Spanish descent holds true. Notice Fiorella ends in an "a". Maxis probably wanted the name to be more masculine, changing the "a" to an "o".


 * Primo Fiorello (Don's maternal grandfather): Italian for "First," Spanish for "Cousin."


 * Isabella Fiorello (Don's maternal grandmother): Latinate form of Elizabeth

The Caliente family

 * Caliente -- Meaning literally "hot" in Spanish. Of course this literal term was comically taken for the slang term meaning "attractive". Also, in the word 'Caliente' there is the word 'alien' possibly referring to Dina and Ninas' parental grandfather.
 * Dina Caliente -- Means "Judged"
 * Nina Caliente -- Means "little girl" in Spanish. Could also possibly mean "fire" or derive from the Babylonian fertility goddess.
 * The Caliente surname fits both the Spanish descent inferred to this family and the attractiveness the twins have on the community. Dina and Nina's names are partially fitting, but were probably only made so that they'd rhyme for comical effect.


 * Flamenco Caliente (the twins' father) -- Flamenco is a type of music that is a very cultural tradition to Spaniards. Flamenco sounds sort of like Flamingo, which would reflect his daughters' personalities well.
 * Nighat Caliente (the twins' mother) -- An Arabic name meaning "sight" or "glance".
 * Nestor Caliente (the twins' paternal grand"father") -- Means the "traveler" in Greek.
 * Dulcinea Caliente (Nestor's wife) -- Of Latin or Spanish origin, meaning sweet. Also, the name of the heroine in the book, "Don Quixote".
 * Tango Caliente (the twins' paternal half-uncle) -- A dance originating from Spanish-colonized countries in South America.


 * The Calientes sure love to dance, seen by their names. Also, the Spanish/Mediterranean descent still holds true in all of the above names. Nestor had been impregnated by aliens, making the relationship to Dulcinea and Tango seem confusing, as I have written it above.

This was only added to note that the twins have an alien descent, and to show the etymology of the Pollination Technician name. Other alien names we know of (Colony Drone and Birth Queen) seem to all have to do with reproduction. It is assumed that aliens in the Sims live only for the purpose of reproducing, although it cannot be determined exactly.
 * Technician -- Someone whose occupation involves training in specific technical process. In the Sims; the Pollination Technician is an alien that operates a UFO and abducts Sims. Somehow (using advanced technology?) these Technicians can make male Sims pregnant with an alien-like form.
 * Pollination -- The process by which flowers reproduce.

This still retains the Mediterranean origin, seeing as the Arabic language is near the Middle-East, which is at the very east tip of the Mediterranean. Anything else about this family is unknown.
 * Al Mahmoud -- Arabic word meaning "praiseworthy".
 * Tariq Al Mahmoud (the twins' maternal grandfather) -- Means "he who pounds at the door". It is the Arabic name of the morning star.
 * Benazir Al Mahmoud (the twins' maternal grandmother) -- An Arabic name meaning "incomparable". Benazir was the name of the prophet Mohammed's daughter.


 * Tango is a popular dance in the Spanish-speaking countries of South America. "Tango Caliente" is when the dance turns hot. The same is true of Flamenco Caliente. In the Spanish version, however, Flamenco is changed to Farruco, and Tango to Salva, so it doesn't make much sense.

The Broke family
Other than the surname, I don't think that there is much relation to their name meanings at all.
 * Broke -- To go broke is "to become destitute of money or possession". The last name could also be a reference to "her water broke", since Brandi is pregnant when the game starts.
 * Brandi Broke -- Simply means "brandy" from the English name of an alcoholic drink.
 * Dustin Broke -- From the Old Norse, meaning "Thor's stone"
 * Beau Broke -- Means "beautiful" in French


 * Skip Broke (Dustin and Beau's father) -- "To pass from one point to another, disregarding what intervenes."
 * Ruby Broke (Skip's sister) -- Ruby, as in ruby.
 * Flat Broke (Skip's father) -- Pun on Flat Broke, meaning "completely penniless".
 * Flo Broke (Skip's mother) -- Short for names that mean "flower, prosperous, flowering."
 * Buck Broke (Skip's paternal uncle) -- Old English buc, from Proto-Germanic *bukkaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bhug̑- (“ram”).
 * Mary Lu Broke (Skip's paternal aunt-by-marriage) -- means "bitter fame warrior"
 * Trigger Broke (Skip's paternal cousin) -- means "to pull"
 * Susie Broke (Skip's paternal cousin) -- Short for Susan, meaning "rose, lily".


 * Flat's name is simply to exaggerate how poor the Brokes have been in a comical way. Skip's name could have some etymology, though. According to Brandi's memories, Skip dies before Beau is born. Using the definition, this means Skip passed from death to impregnate Brandi again, even though his death intervened.


 * Newbie -- "a newcomer or novice, an inexperienced user of computers in general".
 * Bob Newbie(Brandi's father) -- Short for Robert, meaning "bright fame".
 * Betty Newbie (Brandi's mother) -- Short for Elizabeth, meaning "my god is oath".
 * Bob Newbie Sr. (Brandi's paternal grandfather) -- Short for Robert, meaning "bright fame".
 * Mags Newbie (Brandi's paternal grandmother) -- Short for Margaret, meaning pearl.


 * The Newbie family was the one in the Sims 1 for "novice and inexperienced" users of the Sims. It was the tutorial family of the game. Bob's name fits, seeing as he had fame since every novice Sims player eventually played him (that is, if they followed the tutorial and the arrow pointing toward the Newbie lot). Mainly, this family has been added so that players could relate to Sims 1.


 * Simovitch -- "ovitch" is the Russian suffix meaning "son of". So Simovitch means "Son of Sim". Thanks DarkShadowofFate!
 * Vadim Simovitch (Brandi's maternal grandfather) -- Russian name, meaning unknown, possibly derived from a word meaning "rule".
 * Fatima Simovitch (Brandi's maternal grandmother) -- Means "to abstain" in Arabic.


 * Known members of the Simovitch Family have little to no relationship to their names, other than a possible Russian ancestry. The reason this family was placed here was to fill up a space for Brandi's grandparents.

The Pleasant family
(For Daniel's sister, Jennifer Burb, and her side of the family, please look under the Burb category) (For Mary-Sue's adoptive parents etymology, please look under the Oldie category)
 * Pleasant -- "pleasing, agreeable, enjoyable"
 * Daniel Pleasant -- From a Hebrew name meaning "Judged by God" or "God is my judge"
 * Mary-Sue Pleasant -- Mary Sue is a term for fictional characters in fan-fiction that are portrayed in an overly idealized way, and lack noteworthy or realistic flaws. Also, one of the main characters of the film Pleasantville (as opposed to Pleasantview) became named Mary Sue when she entered the titular neighborhood.
 * Angela Pleasant -- The name derives from the heavenly angels.
 * Lilith Pleasant -- Meaning "of the night". This name was a demon in ancient Assyrian myths. In Jewish and Islamic tradition, she was Adam's first wife but was replaced by Eve. Offspring of Adam and Lillith were the evil spirits of the world.


 * All names seem to fit in quite nicely. The name Lillith seems to be very fitting to her character, but holds a really bad reputation. Angela's name is the most obvious, but fitting. You can kind of see Mary-Sue as the "wanting-to-be-perfect" role in the family. And Daniel is "Judged by God" for cheating on his wife


 * Jeff Pleasant (Daniel's father) -- Means either "territory peace", "stranger peace", "hostage peace" or "god's peace".
 * Diane Pleasant (Daniel's mother) -- Meaning "heavenly, divine"
 * Les Pleasant (Daniel's paternal grandfather) -- A pun so that the name says "Less Pleasant"
 * Kynda Pleasant (Daniel's paternal grandmother) -- A pun so that the name says "Kind of Pleasant"


 * No real relation there. The puns are quite hilarious, seeing as Les is a real name, short for Lester or Leslie.


 * Dander -- "loose scales formed on the skin and shed from the coat of feathers of various animals"
 * Marshall Danders(Daniel's maternal grandfather) -- Means "horse servant"
 * Melinda Danders (Daniel's maternal grandmother) -- Combination of "Mel" as in Melanie or Melissa and the popular suffix "inda". Means "honey" in Greek. Also means "sweet", "dark" and "serpent" in other languages. Might mean "horse" in Simlish. Thanks fireflygolden!

The Burb family
(For Jennifer's side of the family, please look under the Pleasant category)
 * Burb -- Slang for "suburb" which describes Pleasantview.
 * John Burb -- Popular name meaning "Yahweh is Gracious"
 * Jennifer Burb (Daniel's sister) -- Popular name meaning "fair, white, smooth"
 * Lucy Burb -- Popularly name meaning "light"


 * The only repetitive thing here is that all of the names are popular. John and Jennifer don't have a relation between their names' meaning and their life. Since Lucy is still young when the game starts out, her name could mean something.


 * Brad Burb (John's father) -- Popular name meaning "broad".
 * Tiffany Burb (John's mother) -- Popular name meaning "manifestation of god." It was probably chosen due to the popular stereotype of fashionable girls being named Tiffany.
 * Benjamin Burb (John's paternal grandfather) -- Popular name meaning "son of the south"
 * Susan Burb (John's paternal grandmother) -- Popular name meaning "lily" or "rose". Also, since Susan can be abbreviated as Sue, it could be a play-on-words of "suburb".
 * Tucker Burb (The Burbs' pet dog in The Sims 1) --- Tucker is perhaps related to the German word 'tucher', which means 'clothweaver'.


 * Again, there is a repetitive occurrence of popular names. Of course, due to the little bit we know about these characters, there is no real relevance to their etymology.


 * Marsh -- "a tract of low wet land, often treeless, and periodically flooded".
 * William Marsh (John's maternal grandfather) -- Popular name meaning "will, desire" and "helmet, protection"
 * Anastasia Marsh (John's maternal grandmother) -- Means "resurrection"


 * The only thing I'd like to point out is that Marsh and Burb both describe a place.

The Oldie family

 * Oldie -- slang for a person who is "far advanced in the years of his/her life". You could also use the term "chronologically challenged".
 * Herb Oldie (Mary-Sue's adoptive father) -- A flowering plant whose stem above ground does not become woody. Such a plant valued for medical properties. Short for Herbert, meaning "Illustrious warrior" in German.
 * Coral Oldie (Mary-Sue's adoptive mother) -- The rock like composite found in a reef.
 * Myron Oldie (Herb's father) -- Means "Myrrh" in Greek. Myrrh is a fragrant resin obtained from the bark of an Arabian tree.
 * Irma Oldie (Herb's mother) -- Means "whole, universal".


 * I would like to point out that all of these names were popular names in earlier times, thus making them a play on the last name of Oldie.
 * Ruggbyrne -- A rug burn is the rash-like or burn-like injury resulting from the friction of rubbing bare skin on a rough surface, such as a rug.
 * Bruno Ruggbyrne (Coral's father) -- Means "brown".
 * Mamie Ruggbyrne (Coral's mother) -- Short for Mary or Margaret.

The Dreamer family

 * Dreamer -- A person who lives in a world of fantasy; one who is impractical and unrealistic.
 * Darren Dreamer -- Great-might also mean a great dreamer
 * Darleen Dreamer (deceased) -- A slang-like term for "Daring" From combination of darling and popular name suffix -leen.
 * Dirk Dreamer -- a type of dagger. Also perhaps German(i.e. Dirk Nowitski).


 * There is no relation at all to the etymology of the Dreamers, except for the surname. The only interesting bit is that all of the names start with the letter "D". To follow that, there would be a limited choice of the names they could be, and an even more limited choice of etymology references. It is also interesting to note that Darren's name can be twisted to mean, 'great dreamer.'


 * Davis Dreamer (Darren's father) -- Deriving from David, meaning beloved
 * Delilah Dreamer (Darren's mother) -- Means "delicate"
 * Dalmar Dreamer (Darren's paternal grandfather) -- Form of Delmar, meaning "of the sea" in Spanish.
 * Dacia Dreamer (Darren's paternal grandmother) -- It could be Daisy. It also could mean Dacia, an old Roman province, now Romania and Moldova.


 * Darong -- ((no information found, but Darong is an anagram of Dragon))
 * Sef Darong (Darren's maternal grandfather) -- It could be a form of Seth, an Egyptian god of the desert, the night and enemy of the sun, or Seth, the third son of Adan and Eve
 * Lina Darong (Darren's maternal grandmother) -- Means either "palm tree" or "tender" in Arabic.


 * Matlapin -- Means in Swahili "the different" or "difference""
 * Omar Matlapin (Darleen's father) -- Means "speaker" in Hebrew.
 * Mariana Matlapin (Darleen's mother) -- Means "of the sea".

The Charming Family

 * "Charming", as in pleasant, charismatic. Also a present participle form of charm.


 * Claire Charming -- means bright, clear.
 * Luna Charming (Claire's dog) --- means moon.

The Hick Family

 * "Hick", an awkward, naive, clumsy and/or rude country person/people.
 * Elden Hick -- It means "Ella's Hill" or "Valley of Elves"; it can be a variant of Eldon which means 'Ella's Hill'. It can also be a variant of Alden which means 'old friend'. There is also to elden that means 'to grow old'.
 * Mama Hick (Elden's mother) Named for a hillbilly slang, Mama Hick. Means "mother", or 'attractive person'.
 * Bobo Hick -- It can mean, as a Ghanaian name, "born on Tuesday" or be urban slang for 'idiot'.
 * Duke Hick -- It means to "lead" and also a title of nobility.
 * Leroy Hick -- It means "the king" and comes from the French term 'Le Roi'.

The Kat Family

 * "Kat", as in cat. Kat is the correct way of spelling cat in Danish and Dutch.
 * Tara Kat -- Meaning "Star", "Goddess of the Sea", "Shining," "Stone of Destiny," or "A hill where Kings met".
 * Ginia Kat (Tara's mother) -- Ginia, short for Virginia, refers to Elizabeth I, the "Virgin Queen" and its meaning is "Maiden". Ginia is also a Spanish variant of Virginia.


 * Waggles Kat -- Meaning "To move with short, quick motions".
 * Boots Kat -- Meaning "Protective footwear". It may be a pun on "Puss in boots"
 * Scout Kat -- Meaning "To Listen".
 * Maggie Kat -- Maggie, short for Megan, meaning "Pearl".
 * Mickey Kat -- Mickey, short for Michael or Mike, meaning "Who resembles God".
 * Samantha Kat -- Meaning "God heard," or "Flower".
 * Faline Kat -- Meaning "Like a cat" or "Deer". Also, Faline is similar to Feline.

The Roomies Family

 * "Roomies", because they are roomies.


 * Chris Roomies -- Christina, as in Christian.
 * Melissa Roomies -- Greek for honeybee, perhaps a reference to her honeybee-like hairstyle.

The Landgraab family

 * Landgraab-- as in grabbing land. The double vowel might indicate a German origin; the German verb "graben" means "to dig". "Grab" is also the German word for "grave".


 * Malcolm Landgraab, II, III, IV-- (there was a quote on him) We will establish our estate upon
 * Mom-- is a biological and/or social female parent of an offspring
 * Marion Landgraab-- (form of Mary) "bitterness","rebelliousness", "wished for child" or "drop of the sea"
 * Margaret Landgraab-- "pearl" or "precious" (Greek).
 * Dudley Landgraab-- (dude)is an individual, typically male, or the place of the dead, a burying-ground
 * Mimi Landgraab-- faithful guard strong opponent bitter, as in a bitterly wanted child, - the star of the sea


 * Buckingham-- In the 7th century AD, Buckingham, literally "meadow of Bucca's people"


 * Blair Buckingham-- (Celtic) "a plain". From a surname
 * Virginia Buckingham-- (Latin) "chaste". According to legend, she was a Roman woman killed by her father so as to keep her a virgin