TMA Name Meanings And How They Intertwine With Their Character

Jon - The name Jonathan means “God has given” which is quite ironic considering a fear entity (that some people worship like a God in the TMA universe) spends the entire series giving Jon the power of The Eye. His last name is also deeply ironic, as the last Sims means “To Listen,” which…is not the right sense for Jon’s main thing, but it is perfect for a statement taker.

Martin - The name Martin means “dedicated to Mars” and “God of war.” While a name that means “God of war” seems a little intense for Martin, it does tie into the themes of his story about constantly being underestimated and having a lot more fierceness than he tends to outwardly show. His last name Blackwood means…you guessed it, “black wood.”

Tim - The name Timothy means ‘one who honors God.’ Much like Jon’s name meaning, his also has a hint of irony considering he serves a figure that is viewed as god-like in the TMA universe, but it’s ironic in the opposite way of Jon since Tim does NOT honor The Eye. However, his last name Stoker suits him a little too well. It means “one who tends to the fire”….which I don’t love considering his death.

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Sasha - The name Sasha means “Defender.” It’s a very sweet first name considering how many of her actions in the series are in the name of defending her friends. Her last name James is SUPER interesting because James means “holder of the heel.” That’s a phrase that comes from a Bible story about a man named Jacob who was born holding onto his twin brothers heel as a sign that he’ll eventually take his brothers birthright. Which is relevant to Sasha because she was supposed to take Gertrude’s place as head Archivist.

Melanie - The name Melanie means “darkness,” which is fitting for a ghost hunter who is first drawn to The Institute because she finds an Avatar of The Stranger begging the Angler Fish creature in the dark. Her last name King means “rule” or “monarch.” It’s a fitting name for someone becomes a leader of a cult in Season 5, and it’s a powerful name for one of the characters who has one of the strongest wills in the series.

Georgie - The name Georgie means “farmer.” That meaning doesn’t have a lot of tie-in to canon, but it could make a Corruption or Flesh avatar Georgie AU hit super hard. Her last name Barker means “Shepard,” which has a lot of relevance to her role in the story. Like a shepherd she tries to guide Jon away from the fears, and while she unfortunately fails due to no fault of her own, she is able to be there for Melanie when she walks away from the fears. Shepard’s also have religious symbolism which ties into Georgie’s role as a chosen one cult leader in Season 5.

Basira - Basira’s name means “wisdom.” That’s fitting for a character who is so grounded in logic that she’s able to think herself out of The Stranger’s ritual. Her last name Hussain also means “handsome” or “good.” So that could be a tie in to how she perceived her role as a cop before the Daisy character development, or it could tie into her role in helping stop the apocalypse in Season 5.

Daisy - Daisy’s nickname means “purity and innocence” and she says in canon that she uses that nickname because she likes the irony. Her real name Alice means “noble,” a powerful name for a women who uses her powerful position as a cop get away with brutality. Her last name Tonner is just as strong as it means “thunder.” A force of nature that is typically used to symbolize strength.

Peter - The name Peter means “rock” or “stone.” An ironic name for someone who’s so…“stoney” 🥁 His last name Lucas means “bringer of light” or “to shine”….which is not a name meaning a guy who likes to be followed around by fog probably appreciates.

Elias - The name Elias means “The Lord is my God.” In a similar vein to Jon, it’s an ironic name considering his body ends up as a vessel to a guy who practically serves The Eye as a religious deity. His last name Bouchard is no less ironic. It means “brave,”….which Elias is not shown to be in his statement.

Jonah - The name Jonah means “dove” and doves typically symbolize peace, love, hope, and renewal. While I wouldn’t use the words “peace” and “love” while describing a character like Jonah, “renewal” does ring a bell. His life is in a constant state of renewal as he has to jump from one body to a next. His last name Magnus means “Greatest” which could be a tie-in to both his pride and his role as the one who created The Institute.

Gerard - The name Gerard means “hard spear.” That doesn’t have any relevance to canon, but it does have relevance to his last name. His last name Keay is a variation of the last name Kay, which means “Wharf.” He has a name that’s extremely fisherman coded and that’s hilariously funny to me because it literally has nothing to do with anything.

Gertrude - The name Gertrude also means “hard spear” and yes I will be thinking about how Gertrude’s name parallels with Gerry’s forever. Gertrude’s last name Robinson means “son of Robin.” Robin’s tend to symbolize good luck, happiness, and rebirth. While that isn’t perfect symbolism for Gertrude, you could argue that she has good luck to be able to foil so many rituals and survive far longer than anyone else involved with The Institute. (Though personally I would assign her as a raven if I were to give the cast bird symbolism.)

Michael Shelley - The name Michael means “a gift from God.” I find the fact that his name references him as a gift a little disturbing in this specific, particular, context considering that Gertrude did give him away like one. His last name Shelley means “meadows edge.” Meadows tend to symbolize peace and tranquility, which fits both a character who had peace in ignorance about the fears and a character who seemed like a very soft person.

Happy International’s Woman’s Day to all women but also to Gertrude Robinson in particular. Nothing says loving women like binding your life to one.

There are certain ways in which I see Leitner as a more extreme version of Gertrude, and this is a great example of what exactly I mean by that. After all, both Gertrude and Leitner lost their assistants. However, the context around their assistants deaths are a lot different.

Gertrude didn’t kill Eric, Fiona, or Sarah. You could argue that she should have been more of aware of the part Emma played in Fiona’s death, but we’ve also been shown by Jon why being super paranoid over your assistants actions usually causes more harm than good, and it’s not exactly shocking that Gertrude wasn’t overly suspicious about deaths that occurred in her extremely dangerous line of work.

You could argue that Leitner didn’t directly kill his assistants either, but I would say the context is very different since it was his pride that lead them to their deaths. He knew his books were dangerous, and despite that, he was willing to sacrifice more people he than he can remember because….why? He wanted to learn secrets and make a name for himself? That was worth dozens of lives and getting people marked by things they would never be able to fully comprehend? That doesn’t sound worth it to me.

But Gertrude isn’t exactly innocent in regards to her assistants either. Gertrude did kill Emma and Michael, but her motivations for that go a lot deeper than secrets or ego. Emma was psychologically torturing people and then leading them to their deaths, people that Gertrude cared for enough to avenge. She did kill Emma Harvey, but that was more about betrayal than anything else. Then we get to Michael. His death is easily one of the worst things Gertrude did in the series, but from her point of view, she genuinely thought she was saving the world. She was wrong. But her intentions were good. It’s not like she sent Michael through the door to “establish a name for herself” or whatever Leitner was doing.

I think Gertrude and Leitner are interesting character to parallel because it’s easy to think of Gertrude as this harsh women who’s willing to do anything for her investigation into the supernatural…but no, Leitner is willing to do anything for his investigation into the supernatural, and that’s not a good thing.

I can’t decide if Gertrude and Melanie would have a deep and mostly unsaid mutual respect for each other or if they’d want to hunt each other for a sport after a day.

One of the things that Gertrude does seem to fear is her own death. In the tape she intends to leave to her successor, she at first tries to beat around the bush about WHY she would need to leave a tape behind. She starts to say that it’s “likely” that she’s dead, before giving up and admitting that if someone’s listening to that tape it means she’s gone.

It’s an important detail because Gertrude is a character who’s usually very thoughtful in what she does, and in a certain way very careful about how she portrays herself to others. The fact that this little moment of vulnerability slips out seems to imply that facing the reality of her morality is something that frazzles her a bit, and I think we get a little more implication in this in the “Dreamer,” where Oliver Banks dreams about Gertrude’s impending death. He says “It was your face and the expression upon it was far more fearful than any I had seen in eight years of wandering this twilight city.”

So Gertrude did not go peaceful into the good night, which is an interesting aspect of a character who’s usually shown to be so unshakable. Even she fears death, and there so many reasons you could speculate as to why. She could just have a normal and human fear about something that most of us worry about. She could fear the unknown as an Eye avatar who has spent her life dedicated to seeing everything she can. She could fear what would become of the world without her in it. Or she could fear everything in-between.

Personally, my headcanon is that Gertrude’s fear of death ties a bit into her savior complex. She worries about who will be there to save the world once she’s no longer in it. (Which, bonus headcanon, could tie into why she bound Gerard to the book.) And that’s why she looks so fearful when Oliver sees her. However, regardless of the reason I really like this addition to Gertrude’s normally stoic character. No matter how strong she was she just human at the end of the day, and she feared death just as much as any other.