The Names

Throughout The Names, Knapp explores how seemingly insignificant decisions can reverberate across a lifetime—pivotal moments that open up entirely new paths and possibilities. The novel charts how Cora’s choice of a name for her baby leads to vastly different outcomes in each iteration, not just for her son but for everyone in his orbit. The novel opens with Cora agonizing over choosing her son’s name, aware of the significance of the decision. She believes naming her son Gordon, after her husband, will reinforce the current trajectory of her life and possibly doom the next generation to repeat the same patterns. Giving him a different name provides an opportunity to redefine her family’s legacy, but it is also a decision that will provoke her husband’s rage. 

Knapp’s conceit that Cora’s choice of name for her son will impact his future defines her narrative structure. Each name reveals a dramatically different outcome for Cora, Cora’s son, Maia, and Gordon, forming the three parallel timelines of Knapp’s novel. For example, in Bear’s life, Gordon is so incensed by Cora’s choice of name that he commits murder, killing their neighbor when he intervenes in Gordon’s brutal attack.