#and I just excluded sissy since her name means sister but apparently she’s their cousin

[charleslee-valentine]

Sawyer family name etymology:

The Sawyer surname doesn’t have any significant meaning to the family overall. Sawyer is an occupational surname relating to lumber work. This likely came from long before the current generation of slaughterers. Much like the trauma in the family, it’s generational, continuing it’s mark as it’s passed down. Still, each family member’s first name is more relevant.

Starting with the oldest first, is Drayton. Drayton means ‘determined’ and ‘stubborn.’ Besides maybe cruel, I don’t think there’s a word to better fit Drayton than stubborn. He has rules laid out for the family and hurts them if they don’t follow them. His determination is to stay consistent and behaved, upholding the standards that became the standard of their grandparents.

The twins are a little harder since Chop Top wasn’t revealed to have the legal name Robert until the early 2000s by Tobe Hooper’s son. According to him, this name had been in the tcm2 script bible chosen from the beginning. That being said, the name Robert can symbolize ‘shining.’ For a hyper, accessorized, war veteran such as himself, I find that fitting. It’s not deep or psychological like Drayton’s, but it can play into both his bright personality and his various medals, pins, badges and patches he wears to represent his favorite things and his service in the military. Also, his chrome dome. The metal plate in his head is certainly ‘shining.’ Whether a humorous nod or an unintentional (and rather unfortunate) irony, the name fits him well. Other guesses for his name exist, but considering the subtitles on any dvd nor screen recording ever mentioned the assumed name, it holds little validity beyond preference for some.

As for Nubbins, his name is obviously most likely a nickname, but it’s what we have to work with. The word Nubbins has two meanings, being ‘underdeveloped/small’ or ‘growing deer antlers.’ Going with the first, Nubbins may have been a name given to him because of his stature as a child, being a twin who, according to Edwin Neal, was born ill, he was likely premature. Twins were much harder to identify back in the mid to late 40s when he was born and couldn’t really be planned on without a practicing midwife to identify a mother carrying two babies. Thus it’s possible the name Robert was picked out, but Nubbins was simply given a nickname based on his size. Though it’s possible he does have another name that was replaced by the nickname later on. Either way it comes automatically for Drayton to say it when he uses his name, notably the only character to do so, so it almost certainly was a part of his childhood since Drayton would’ve been old enough to remember that. There is the second meaning as well, being ‘deer antlers’ that are in an early state of growth. Because of his interest in animals -as we see when he plays/sews with roadkill, photographs the slaughterhouse, and makes his bone art pieces- it’s possible he had some connection to deer and thus earned his nickname that way. Possibly even in a hunting scenario. There are several pairs of mounted antlers on the walls in the family home afterall.

Finally the youngest, Bubba. Leatherface is a nickname only used in higher pressure situations. Nubbins calls it out when he needs help carrying grandpa, and Chop Top uses it when he’s panicking/angry. Bubba is possibly a nickname as well since it just means ‘brother.’ He’s the last child born in the family, so he could simply have received a baby-ish name to be cute, or the nickname was given to him by his brother’s and stayed. No matter how it came about, it’s a term of familial endearment, so being used as a name is quite sweet and speaks to the family dynamic of caring and staying together through anything, even death. Also, despite his trouble with speaking, Bubba would likely be able to say his own name based on the sounds we hear him make. Even lifelong non-verbal autistics like him may from time to time mimic words that pattern the noises and sounds they comfortably communicate with. Bubba could’ve been chosen for ease as well.

With the game, there are the additional family members of Johnny and Nancy.

Johnny means ‘God is gracious.’ Nancy chooses this name for him after killing his mother Judith. Interestingly, the name Judith itself refers to the biblical figure, who was a woman that fought against an oppressive man to free her people, sort of like Judith rescuing Johnny from her abusive husband. However Nancy sees this as a threat. The biblical story of Judith is that she trusted God, but had to act when he did not within six days. Our Nancy kills her, steals her baby boy, and names him after God’s love. Essentially, she has rejected the entire ideal Judith represents, in name even. Johnny is a gift, and his name becomes significant in the same moment as well.

As for Nancy herself, her name means ‘favored.’ She wants nothing but to be loved more than the memory of the caring woman she murdered. Her desire to be honored and respected by her child leads to her physically scarring his face. Nancy being favored in truth isn’t the case, Johnny, and every other family member for that matter, argues against her strategy and back-talks her. She isn’t respected in the least, and basically in her quest to be the best, lost her own meaning entirely. This downfall is of her creation. Her name is the opposite of her truth because of what she did.