A Rose by Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet?

Oh, the mystery of names!

I have a slight dilemma and I’m looking for any help I can get!  Here’s my issue:

My in-progress Young Adult novel takes place in 1920s Chicago with gangsters and cops.  Two of my characters are loosely based on Al Capone and Eliott Ness.  For inspiration, my husband and I watched The Untouchables with Kevin Costner.  (If you haven’t seen it, it’s great, highly recommended.)

Here’s my problem: Sean Connery’s character in the film is Jim Malone.  I have a minor character in my novel named Jack Malone!

Are these names too similar?  I did a quick internet search and found that there was no real-life Jim Malone, he’s based on an FBI agent named Marty LaHart.  (I have a character named Marty as well, but that’s a different post altogether.)

I’d love to hear what you all think!  Would leaving the name as-is be a problem?  If I’m going to change it, do you have any suggestions?

Thanks to all my as-of-yet-non-existent readers!

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Introduction to my blog

Hello WordPress world!

Welcome to my blog.  I’m an aspiring writer and I hope to use this forum to encourage myself to write daily and to share some writing with the world!  I’ll work to post some samples of writing I’m doing and I’ll ask for feedback, advice, and challenges from anyone reading.

Please comment!  I’ll post a prologue I’m working on in the next few days to get some feedback.  I have a question I’d like to pose to potential readers about characters as well.

And lastly, I want this to be a two-way street!  If you have a writing challenge for me, please post it!  Here’s an example of what I mean:   Create a 200 word character sketch of a secondary character with a focus on his speech pattern.   Maybe I’ll work on this one later!

Any other writers out there, I’d love to chat with you.  I’ll post a personal introduction later, I wanted to introduce the blog first.  Welcome, all!