It is a week since Mr. Snatcher exploded and Eggs has never been happier. He has a father, and Winnie, and Fish, and all the others, and every night they sleep in a nice warm stack, taller than he can remember for ages. He has just stepped onto the street when Winnie marches up to him and says, "You need a name."
"What?" Eggs says, surprised. "But I have a name. I'm Eggs." He points to his box. He doesn't always wear it, but sometimes the familiarity is nice.
"No!" Winnie stomps her foot. Eggs has noticed that she does that a lot. "Like, a human name."
"What's wrong with Eggs?" Eggs says, mildly offended.
"It's a boxtroll name," She explains.
Eggs glares at her. "What's wrong with a boxtroll name?"
"They're boxtrolls, and you're human." She says, as if this explains everything. "Even your father has a regular name, right?"
"Yeah, I guess..." Eggs says. His father goes by Jelly most of the time, but the townspeople remember him as Herbert. He has not been that impressed with humans so far – he was scared of them for a long time, and besides, they all seem to hate bugs, for some reason. But it's usually not worth it to argue with Winnie, so he gives up. "Okay. You said 'Eggsbert' was a name, right?"
"No!" Winnie glares at him. "That doesn't count. I just made that up."
Eggs sighs. "What do you want me to be called?"
"Jack." Winnie says decisively. "Jack is a good name."
Eggs wrinkles his nose. "But that's so normal. And it sounds all sharp and pointy."
"Exactly!" Winnie says. "It's perfect." She waves at Jelly, who is approaching them with a rather alarming smile. He is getting better, now that he is not upside down, but there are still some slip ups. "Hi, Jel- I mean, Herbert. I'm trying to give Eggs a real name, but he's not letting me! You should make him agree."
Jelly smiles at her. He's still showing a bit too many teeth to look friendly and nonthreatening, but at least he's trying. "Are eggs not real? And, if so, are chickens also figments of our imaginations? Because that would be rather offensive, I think. To the chickens. Poor birds..." He stares off into the distance absently, presumably imagining imaginary chickens, and their offense at their lack of existence.
"...that's not what I meant. Besides, I'm sure the chickens are fine." Winnie says dismissively.
"She doesn't like Eggsbert," Eggs supplies.
"Whyever not? Hmm. What about Daedalus? Or Macario?" Jelly suggests.
Eggs perks up. "Ooh, I could be Quinlan or Valentine! Or maybe Fabian!"
A passing spectator throws in " Bonafatius," and their new street cleaners add, "Cadwalader! No, wait, Pankaj!" and, "What about Tadfadzwa?"
"What's that?" Eggs says, interested. Taffyswan, or whatever it was, sounded interesting.
"Those are even worse than 'Eggbert'!" Winnie interrupts, seeing that the situation is quickly spiraling out of her control. "And what's wrong with Jack, anyway? It's a good name!"
"Shouldn't an egg pick his own name?" Jelly points out, one eyebrow raised.
Winnie pouts. "He said I could choose. Didn't you?" She stares at Eggs with eyes that are somehow simultaneously pleading and threatening. "Didn't you?"
Eggs considers. All these names are interesting, but in a way it would be nice to have a simple name. He's not sure he could even remember half the names people threw out, and already he stands out enough. Sometimes, it is nice to fit right into a comfortable stack. "Alright, alright. Jack is fine." Winnie hugs him, and he smiles.
Much later, Eggs – now occasionally known as Jack, by those still uncomfortable with the boxtrolls, and Winnie, when she wants to make a point – will find out that 'Jack' was Winnie's grandfather's name. He's still not sure he likes the name Jack, but Jack Portly-Rind was a good father, and that's worthy of respect. After that, sometimes, he will even use the name himself.
Okay, basically, there are not enough fanfictions about The Boxtrolls; I literally found one when I came out of the movie theater. And it may just be, like, my favorite thing ever? So I decided I needed to write some fanfictions, if no one else was gonna. I really love 'Jack' for Eggs, and I wanted to give his father the name 'Bartholomew,' but then I found out he was officially Herbert, so I was sad. The other names come straight from behindthename, which is a very nice and useful site for names in general but especially obscure ones. Except Daedalus. He was a famous inventor. :)