name twins

[perfectworry]

There's a trope that I really like in manga where two characters share a name, or one character has taken another character's name. (Since it's old enough that this shouldn't be a spoiler any more: in Weiß Kreuz, Aya's real name is Ren and Aya is actually his sister's name. There are other examples.) This is pretty easy to show in a visual medium, but is it even possible to do in writing? How?
More specifically, to my story… I really enjoy this particular trope, and ones like it, and it's wormed it's way into one of my current projects. One character (we'll call him Little Jude) is a six-year-old poltergeist. The other (let's say, Big Jude) is a twentysomething interdimensional bounty hunter. (It's that kind of story.)
I don't want to change either character's name, because they are the same person, but from different worlds. In one Little Jude's world, he was either stillborn or died shortly after birth, while his twin survived. In Big Jude's world, it was the other way around, and he survived while his twin died. (This is a plot point. It is arguably the plot point of this character arc.)
Unfortunately, the name Jude doesn't lend itself to alternate spellings or variations (Juda(h), or Judas (which would be a little heavy handed, considering things that happen later)), so…
I guess I could change their name(s), if someone suggested one that would lend itself easily to two versions, but what I'm really looking for is advice on how to distinguish them in the narrative. (Their actions are pretty distinct, one of them being an incorporeal child and the other one being an embodied adult.) The characters talk about "Big Jude" and "Little Jude" to differentiate, but I think that would sound strange in the narrative?

xposted to wv_bookclub

Comments

[theoretical_cat]

The only good reason I've heard is that if too many characters have similar names, it gets confusing. I've even been guilty (as a reader) of mixing up characters for this reason.

That said, if there's a good reason for names to be similar, I don't see anything wrong with it; it just adds a challenge to the writer to make it clear who we're talking about.