The Names Of 'The White Lotus' Season 3 Characters May Reveal The Show’s Ending, According To Name Guru
What's in a name? Everything, if you're 'The White Lotus' creator Mike White!
Featureflash Photo Agency | Canva Pro Well, "The White Lotus" fans, there's only one episode to go, and we're no closer to knowing who ends up floating in the water after shots ring out than we were in episode one. Or are we?
There are, of course, gazillions of theories about what will go down in "The White Lotus" season finale on Sunday, April 6. But one fan thinks the conclusion may have been staring us in the face the whole time, and it all comes down to the age-old question, "What's in a name?" (Note: This article will obviously contain spoilers. You've been warned!)
A baby naming guru thinks 'The White Lotus' characters' names provide clues to the show's ending.
"The White Lotus" creator Mike White is notorious for festooning his series with Easter eggs, symbolism, and subtle visual and subtextual clues that all give away the big mystery at the center of each season: Who ends up dead and floating in the usually peaceful waters of The White Lotus resort.
The examples are myriad, the most cited of which is the moment in season two when a mannequin in a recreation of the car-bombing scene in "The Godfather" is wearing the exact dress the doomed character wears in the final episodes of the season. It's the kind of clue you only realize in hindsight, and piecing all of this together is part of the fun of the show.
So who will meet their fate in "The White Lotus" season three? Natasha Rothwell's Belinda? Carrie Coon's Laurie? One of the show's many nefarious-seeming monkeys? Ask 15 different fans and you'll get 15 different convoluted theories, but Sophie Khim, Editor-in-Chief of baby-naming website Nameberry, thinks all the clues we need are in the characters' names. She correctly predicted the ending of "Succession" in the same way, so her theories are worth listening to!
Khim says it all comes down to the Ratliff family, whose surname is a major clue.
The Ratliffs, a wealthy family from Durham, North Carolina, are ostensibly in Thailand so that daughter Piper can visit a nearby monastery, but fans have theorized there's far more to their family vacation than meets the eye — especially since Timothy, the patriarch played by Jason Isaacs, is in deep trouble with the feds for financial crimes.
Khim explained that there are two famous Ratliffs in American history. One worked for influencer Kyle Myers, best known for playing a Russian character, which Khim theorized means "we will discover that the Russian characters are not who they say they are." Perhaps the Ratliffs are in on their crimes? (Mark my words, we will at least discover that Mook is colluding with the Russians — that woman is shady! Run, Gaitok!)
The other American Ratliff is a far stronger connection, and one that has become the subject of lengthy Reddit threads and tons of TikToks in recent weeks: Elizabeth Ratliff. She was the victim at the center of the murder case explored in the documentary mini-series and later HBO dramatization "The Staircase," in which Ratliff's husband, Michael Peterson, was accused of her mysterious death and eventually took a plea deal.
Like the Ratliffs in "The White Lotus," Elizabeth Ratliff and Peterson were from Durham, North Carolina, so the reference seems pretty blatant, leading Khim (and gazillions of others) to wonder if the body in the water will be that of Parker Posey's Victoria Ratliff after she dies at the hands of her husband — or at least, so it will appear.
Khim also thinks Saxon and Lochlan Ratliff's names are clues.
Lochlan, the Ratliff's youngest son played Sam Nivola, certainly seems a bit shifty — and is awfully keen to stay at the monastery forever with his sister Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook), suggesting he either knows something, has planned something or, in this heavily spiritual season of "The White Lotus," maybe even has a premonition of his own undoing.
Given that the dead body always ends up in the water on this show, the fact that his name literally means "land of lakes" in Scottish Gaelic certainly seems like a tell — or at least a red herring. But Khim said it goes deeper, and we're sleeping on clues in the name of older brother Saxon, played by Patrick Schwarzenegger.
"Saxon is taken directly from the Germanic Saxon tribe," she explained, "and historically, Lochlan was an Irish term for Vikings." And, well, the history of the Saxons and Vikings was very much all about killing each other. Throw in what Khim called the "psychosexual drama" between the two brothers, and there you have it.
But it goes deeper still. Not only were the Saxons known to be more aggressive than the Vikings, Khim explained that the name Saxon "ultimately derived from a word that means knife," suggesting Saxon will be the one to kill Lochlan.
Khim also shared a prediction about Rick Hatchet that ultimately came true.
In keeping with her successful predictions about "Succession," there was one "The White Lotus" prediction that Khim has already proven to be right about — that Rick Hatchet (Walton Goggins) would ultimately fail to kill Jim Hollinger (Scott Glenn), the man who killed his father.
"Hollinger is a surname related to holly," Khim explained, and the holly plant has historically represented "protection from evil and eternal life." This, she theorized, meant that Rick would not actually kill Hollinger, which he in fact could not bring himself to do in Sunday's episode.
But does the "protection from evil" part of the "Hollinger" name mean that Hollinger will retaliate to protect himself? Others online have noticed that Rick is also one of only two characters (the other being Saxon Ratliff) who refused the protective Sai Sin bracelets that all guests are given when they arrive at The White Lotus resort, suggesting his luck may be about to run out.
Will it land him face down in the water next week? We will, of course, have to wait and see. But if the previous two seasons of the show are any indication, whoever ends up floating past Belinda's son on The White Lotus grounds will seem thrillingly obvious in hindsight.
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
