Writing ethics question: is it in poor taste to name pieces of shit fictional characters after real life pieces of shit you’ve known?

The violent homophobic bully detective from my book is currently named Tim Evans. Which is the same name is as the violent homophobic bully from my high school growing up.

The shitty newspaper editor who would take trips down to Tijuana to cheat on his wife with a teenager is named Ronald Hanley. My dad used to pull the exact same shit and his named was Ronald Haneline.

I’m wondering if I’m being too petty and should change their names. My gut tells me it’s fine but also I really hated both of these people.

I would change Tim Evans to Tom Evans for plausible deniability in case this ever gets published or something

I imagine there would be some sort of possibility of defamation if you kept the name and details exactly the same

morally of course I would say there's no question =P

Blighty : thanks

And the plan is to get it published one day, so those are things to worry about

Yeah, echoing the name change, less to protect the bully but more to protect you from potential lawsuit

otherwise, write the piece of shit as a piece of shit

personally, I'd disguise the name a little bit more. like keep the initials but go with names that increase plausible deniability

something like Ted Everett

though I think Tom Everett would work, too, just that additional degree to cover you

Eh I think Tom Evans is deniable enough. It’s a pretty generic name and also I plan to publish under my pen name

And my dad is pretty unlikely to sue me over Ron Hanley considering he’s dead and all now

hopping on the bandwagon here

morally they deserve it

legally you don't deserve it