Scott Houldin's post suggests another possibility: Ray could have given Humbert's victim a name starting with Q to go with the title of Vivian Darkbloom's autobiography.
But I'm becoming less sure of what we're talking about. I can't find where /Lolita/ says or implies that all the names (except "Dolores") are false. Anthony Stadlen pointed out in 2002 that "Quilty" may be a real name.
http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0212&L=nabokv-l&P=7286
Also, Ray says the reader can find Humbert's crime in the daily papers. He can hardly succeed in hiding Quilty's name, in view of that. On the other hand, Humbert's victim's name would be an excellent clue to the real name of "Ramsdale", where his uncle is or was a dentist, and Ray is trying to hide the name of that community. And people who believe all the names are false have to explain "in the ivory", "Clare Obscure", and another one in the post I quoted above, "qu'il ty mene". All this tends to make me agree with those who look for an explanation outside any "real story" and in that regard, agree with Anthony Stadlen's comparison to /Pale Fire/.
By the way, I hope nobody thought "Gerald Friedman" ("Spearwielder Peaceman") was my real name. This seems like a good time to reveal that my name is Michael Ulibarri, and sign myself,
Sincerely,
Mike U.
P. S. Since there are a lot of people here whose native language isn't English, maybe I should explain my joke for some of them, at the risk of spoiling it for others. "Mike U." sounds a lot like "My Cue".
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