So, as revealed in the epilogue of Ember's End, Heather marries Smalls (we all knew she would), and they have two daughters, Maggie and Hanna, as well as a few other unnamed children. Additionally, Picket marries Louise, and they have a son, Jo, as well as--again--a few other unnamed children. However, personally, I don't like the names S. D. Smith chose for the Longtreader and Joveson children.
If I were to stick with naming the kids after other characters, I would've named Maggie Melody, after Harmony's deceased sister, and Hanna Jone, after Jone Wissel. Why don't I like the name Maggie? I mean, I'm not totally against it. Obviously Maggie Weaver is a wise and wonderful character who had a great influence on both Heather and Picket (imagine Heather naming her daughter after her just to steal the name from Picket, haha). But somehow, since Maggie is still alive, it seems unfitting. I would've been more comfortable with Mrs. Weaver being dubbed Maggie's godmother, or Heather giving her daughter the middle name of Maggie, or something like that.
As for Jo Longtreader...come on. He should've been named Helmer. (Or, better yet, Helmerson? Is that weird?) Honestly, I don't know why S. D. Smith didn't do so, although I'm sure he had a reason. Maybe Picket didn't think Helmer would've liked it? And then, of course, there's Young Helmer... Okay, I guess that would've complicated things. xD
If not named Helmer, then perhaps Ramnor or Snoden would've been fitting. Again, I don't like the name Jo because Jo is alive and well. Plus, I know Picket and Jo were friends, but they weren't name-my-child-after-you-close, at least not from what I remember.
Thoughts on this? What would y'all have named the Longtreader and Joveson kids?
first of all i do wish they had named someone after Helmer but they already honored him by putting up the mural. i wish maggie was melody and i wish they had made up new names for the other two.
hi guys i'm new but i had some points i wanted to make.
Well, the Hanna and Jo thing was, if I'm not a mistaken, a reference to the original names for the characters that became Heather and Picket, and are named for two of S.D. Smith's children. For that matter, Jo Shanks is presumably named for S.D.'s brother Josiah, who is also presumably the namesake of his son.
Aside from the existence of young Helmer Hewson...son-who BETTER have survived the whole mess at Harbone-I kind of don't see Picket being comfortable naming one of his children after Helmer. I think the memory is still too painful for him-maybe in a century or so, assuming that the rabbits' increased longevity also means they can go on having kids longer. Ramnor or Snoden would have been cool; I think my head canon will be that two others of Picket and Louise's kids are named Snoden and Layra. I think it's safe to say there won't be any little Gartens, Blestons, or Perkins...
Furthermore, when Emma finally gets around to marrying Jo, they'd better name one of their kids Rake.
I agree with you. I would have wanted Master Smith name them different names. Helmerson would be kind of cool, but I bet ol’ Helm wouldn’t approve though. I would like Hanna to be called Melody or something else. Also I would like the duplicate names to be changed. I can see why Smith did it though.