Heavens to Murgatroyd!
One of the disadvantages of writing in a second language is that you probably haven't grown up in the culutre of your target audience. Thus, you might encounter pitfalls which you haven't known existed until you tumble into them. I for one was rather flabbergasted about how people reacted to Troy's full name.
Normally, when I start writing a novel, I spend the first day deciding on names for the characters: I leave through my Oxford University Press Concise Dictionary of First Names in search for the perfect names for my characters. This is always a bit tricky because you want names that
fit the specific characters
fit the time
fit the place (you wouldn't want to call a 19th-century English gentleman Cody or Comhghall !)
Furthermore, the names of the protagonists ideally shouldn't start with the same letter; you shouldn't give characters similar names; and you should make sure that the characters in different books got different names. (As I said, it's all a bit tricky.)
Now, when I prepared the list of characters for THE LILY BRAND, I already knew that the family estate of my male protagonist would be situated in the north of England. Therefore "Murgatroyd" seemed to be perfect as it derives from a Yorkshire surname.
It was only later that I found out about Snagglepuss: Snagglepuss was created by Hanna Barbera in 1959 and later starred in the YOGI BEAR SHOW. One of his favourite sayings was "Heavens to Murgatroid!"
Heavens to Murgatroyd, indeed.
By that time I had already finished the book and didn't want to rename Troy because that would have felt like changing the whole character. Well, I guess there are worse things than a funny name, as Troy should well know. :O)
