 The lead character of Casino Royale is James Bond , an agent of the Secret Service . Fleming initially named the character James Secretan before he appropriated the name of James Bond , author of the ornithology guide , Birds of the West Indies . Fleming explained to the ornithologist 's wife " that this brief , unromantic , Anglo @-@ Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed , and so a second James Bond was born " . He further explained that " When I wrote the first one in 1953 , I wanted Bond to be an extremely dull , uninteresting man to whom things happened ; I wanted him to be a blunt instrument ... when I was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God , [ James Bond ] is the dullest name I ever heard . " 
