I considered many names for this character, including ones that were suggested by readers.

One name I felt would have worked would have been Clark, Superman’s real first name, but I also felt it was a little too on the nose for the big guy in glasses. A good name, and one I might choose if roleplaying as someone like this, but not the best choice for a canonical comic name.

As I was searching through a baby name book using keywords (as one does), I was searching for keywords of the smarty-pants variety. I’m not saying this guy’s a genius or anything, but I felt it might fit given that he’s got a classic nerd theme going for him, if nothing else.

And that’s when Conan came up. Conan, which can mean wise, praised, exalted, etc, and is a name shared with a famous fictional barbarian once portrayed on film by Arnold Schwarzenegger, famous bodybuilder and actor.

This was also on the nose, but there’s juxtaposition at play, and it makes me think of this guy dressed like a barbarian, so…

Yeah, it won.