Ever since reading The Scarlet Letter, I have had the habit of paying close attention to the names of characters in books. While Morrison doesn't form her allegory as historically conscious as Hawthorne does, her characters do have some significance.
"Shackled, walking through the perfumed things honeybees love, Paul D hears the men talking and for the first time learns his worth. He has always known, or believed he did, his value--as a hand, a laborer who could make profit on a farm--but now he discovers his worth, which is no way to say he learns his price. The dollar value of his weight, his strength, his heart, his brain, his penis, and his future" (page 167).
Of the Sweet Home Men, three share first names: Paul D, Paul F, and Paul A. All of the Sweet Home men take on the last name of Garner, except for Halle, whose mother has her own last name. The names in this case show us a lesson about identity, especially that of colored men. Each one shares the name and likewise they share the same race. To whites, they actually all are the same. They are quickly grouped and the only factor that white attention is devoted to is monetary value, which is evidently the only difference in coloreds that whites can see. This goes back to the idea of racism in Beloved. The whites put a price on qualities of a man that should remain priceless, thus reducing him to the same level as an object. With the similar names, Morrison tells the story of colored loss of identity.
"Mr. Garner," she said, "why you all call me Jenny?"
"'Cause that what's on your sales ticket, gal. Ain't that your name? What you call yourself?"
"Nothing," she said. "I don't call myself nothing."
Mr. Garner went red with laughter. "When I took you out of Carolina, Whitlow called you Jenny and Jenny Whitlow is what his bill said. Didn't he call you Jenny?"
"No sit. If he did I didn't hear it."
"What did you answer to?"
"Anything, but Suggs is what my husband name."
"You got married, Jenny? I didn't know it."
"Manner of speaking."
"You know where he is, this husband?"
"No, sir."
"Is that Halle's daddy?"
"No, sir."
"Why you call him Suggs, then? His bill of sale says Whitlow too, just like yours."
"Suggs is my name, sir. From my husband. He didn't call me Jenny."
"What he call you?"
"Baby."
"Well," said Mr. Garner, going pink again, "if I was you I'd stick to Jenny Whitlow. Mrs. Baby Suggs ain't no name for a freed Negro" (page 167).
Baby Suggs name is also significant. Before freedom, she had no name, meaning she had no identity. After Halle bought her, she took on a name that was more personal to her. She refused to be named Jenny, because Baby Suggs was the only thing she had left of her husband. This shows that Baby Suggs' identity is not one chosen by whites. Her first act of freedom was exercised when she picked her name, becoming her own woman.
"Born Joshua, he renamed himself when he handed over his wife to his master's son. Handed her over in the sense that he did not kill anybody, thereby himself, because his wife demanded he stay alive" (page 274).
The above quote describes Stamp Paid. Stamp Paid also created a new identity for himself. Having given his wife to a white master, he figured his "stamp" was "paid". This affected him so heavily, he felt it was his new identity. Stamp Paid paid for his journey to freedom through his wife. Here, Morrison shows us how deeply slavery controls one's sense of self.
"She's never gonna know who I am. You gonna tell her? Who brought her into this here world?" She lifted her chin, looked off into the place where the sun used to be. "You better tell her. You hear? Say Miss Amy Denver. Of Boston" (page 100).
Denver's name came from the last name of a woman who helped bring her into the world. With her birth, her identity was created and Sethe wanted to honor the white angel who helped her through the name of her newborn child. This is an important look into character, because Denver adores the story of her birth. Amy Denver contributed to her character by giving Denver life and ensuring the pregnant mother she found in a field would not die.
"God take what He would," she said. And He did, and He did, and He did and then gave her Halle who gave her freedom when it didn't mean a thing.
Sethe had the amazing luck of six whole years of marriage to that "somebody" son who fathered every one of her children. A blessing she was reckless enough to take for granted, lean on, as though Sweet Home really was one. As though a handful of myrtle stuck in the handle of a pressing iron propped against the door in a whitewoman's kitchen could make it hers. As though mint sprig in the mouth changed the breath as well as its odor. A bigger fool never lived" (page 28).
Although Halle was not named for any other character and did not create his own identity, I think his name still offers some significance. When I see the word on Halle on the pages of Beloved, I do not only see a character's name. I also see the first six letters of one of the happiest words in the dictionary: hallelujah. Hallelujah conveys thanks, for any blessing one might recieve. I think Halle was a 'hallelujah' to both his mother Baby Suggs and his wife Sethe. He was blessing in that he bought his mother freedom and blessed his wife with the rare privilege of having all her children by one man.
"So they forgot her. Like an unpleasant dream during a troubling sleep. Occasionally, however, the rustle of a skirt hushes when they wake, and the knuckles brushing a cheek in sleep seem to belong to the sleeper. Sometimes the photograph of a close friend or relative--looked at too long--shifts, and something more familiar than the dear face itself moves there. They can touch it if they like, but don't, because they know things will never be the same if they do" (page 324).
I don't think I even need to say why Beloved's name is significant, but I will. She got her name from her very own tombstone. More figuratively speaking, she was to her mother beloved. Her death was the result of her mother's love. It was the same mother that drove herself to near death just to please her maimed daughter with showers of love. In the end, Beloved did not turn out to be so beloved, because she faded out of everyone's memory as suddenly as she came in.