Writers naming of Barnabas?

[Raineypark]

How nice to see you Luciaphil....you've been missed!  

[Julia99]

And of course, there is the Barnabas in the Bible, for whom all these churches and hospitals are named.

oh yeah .. him.. . 

[Luciaphile]

How nice to see you Luciaphil....you've been missed!   

Oh, I've been around, not much, but around 

BTW, there's a church around here that is noted for their lawn fete. After I heard about DS, I always thought it was hysterical when people would refer to the St. Barnabas Lawn Fete with great anticipation.

[Philippe Cordier]

Looking over them I see that they did not come up with a name for Barnabas, even up to the episode before his release.  I am not sure how far in advance  they were written prior to being scripted.    Barnabas is never named in any of these summaries.  He is either referred to as "young Collins" or "the young man" in the descriptions.

I never saw any of the summaries for the week after the last episode I have. I wonder when the name "Barnabas" was first thought out.  The episode Summary Book "History of Dark Shadows: 1966-1967" (a different guide written
by the DS fans) states the writers were  onsidering "Jered" or "Jeremiah" originally for Barnabas.

I'm not sure if I'm following everything in this thread correctly, but surely Elizabeth spoke of Barnabas by name, and not as "the young man" or whatever, many episodes in advance of his first appearance, in reference to his portrait in the foyer ...

Or is that an example of one's memory filling in prior (later?) knowledge?

And I'm less certain of this, but wasn't Jeremiah Collins mentioned quite early on in the series?

I really wouldn't have a problem believing that they picked up the name "Barnabas" from an old cemetery.  After all, hadn't they scouted and even filmed in more than one old New England cemetery for location footage?

The only thing that would surprise me about that explanation (which I remember reading a few years ago) would be if the writer/producer had never heard the name Barnabas before.  I would think it more likely that the name "Barnabas" simply struck a chord given the location and circumstances.  Therefore I think the cemetery explanation is quite likely, moreso than naming the character after a hospital or church.

BTW Luciaphil, what exactly is a "lawn fete", praytell? 

[Luciaphile]

The only thing that would surprise me about that explanation (which I remember reading a few years ago) would be if the writer/producer had never heard the name Barnabas before.  I would think it more likely that the name "Barnabas" simply struck a chord given the location and circumstances.  Therefore I think the cemetery explanation is quite likely, moreso than naming the character after a hospital or church.

That makes sense. I seem to recall somebody saying "You try naming a vampire." I mean if they'd called him George, it just wouldn't have been quite the same.

BTW Luciaphil, what exactly is a "lawn fete", praytell? 

Around here, it's sort of a mini-carnival. Usually held in the church parking lot. They have a couple of kiddie rides, maybe a Tilt-a-whirl clone or a mini-ferris wheel. There's a few whack-a-mole kind of carny games. Always, but always tons of fair food, possibly a Chiavetta's chicken dinner (that's a Buffalo thing--it's like a marinated, smoky barbecue deal). And they usually raffle off a car.

About as far as you can get from an elegant late 18th century vampire 

[Uncle Roger]

There's a street a few miles from where I live called Old Barnabas. I have no idea how long it's been there but I always smile when I drive by.