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What's in a name?
Okay, so to start off this isn't a repeat of this blog despite the obvious similarity in titles. What's this about then? Well, character names of course! They are one of those things I tend to obsess over when writing a story and it's not all that unusual for me to up and change a character's name midway through the story. Heck, I once changed a character's name after the first draft of a story was completed.
You can scroll down to the bottom if you don't want to read through my post.
All the stories, you've seem from me up to this point have used real names. True, some of them have been quite unusual, but they've all been RL names. For my current work, Battle for Earth: Coalescence, I've taken a different route. Some of the characters do have regular names, but many don't. I've used two main methods to create them. The first is, pick a word or name, and play around with the letters until I come up with something different. All the other names, I've pulled out from the chaos of my own demented mind.
The story is set on a future earth almost twenty-five years after the world had been conquered by a race of soldier-aliens known as the Qharr (formerly the Kharr). The main protagonist's name pre-transformation name is Jellfree Briggs a name which is more or less corrupted form of Jeffrey. I haven't yet settled on his/her post-change name, but I'm determined to come up with something very soon.
Some of the more notable ames include:
Corrector D'vak Nak'r — A Qharr official in charge of a slave compound.
Vakrexid — A rather quirky alien doctor from a race of people known as the Dexagarmetrax. (This character's name has gone through several iterations)
Straffen “Strave” McMillan — A bit of a lovable rogue. This is probably my favorite name of the lot. As you might have guessed it's based on Stephen/Steve.
C'halia — An alien from a race of beings known as the K'teth.
Kaya Brzezinski — A love interest of the protagonist.
Terreth Roggin — This is actually based off of Kenneth “Kenny” Rogers. ^_^
And the rest....
Bentley Laden, Loona Melowitz, Jaysun, Pyramus, Farris, Mara Briggs, Jennifer Briggs, Lloyd Briggs, Harold Briggs & Murial Briggs
So let me ask all you guys and gals: what is your process for producing names, pretend or otherwise?
Comments
When you think of a name...
...it usually brings to mind a vision of the type of person they are. This is influenced by all kinds of things: people we personally know, famous people, fictional people. It also give an idea of age, without the need to say someone is X years old.
I don't write SF, though I used to read it a lot in my younger day. Nowadays I stick to RL and I always use conventional names. Like you, I often change my character name partway through the story as my characters develop, so that the name reinforces the character.
I never invent new names. For one thing, it removes the association people have with a name. But for another, the reader has to grapple with the names we use, so I feel that using weird names is a distraction from, rather than an assistance to the story.
Whether your names are weird or conventional, it's always wise to avoid similar sounding names, except where one person has both m and f names. Give different people similar names eg, Richard, Richie and Rick and the poor reader will be forever confusing one with another.
Conventional vs weird
I think it really depends on what your comfort zone lies. Odd names can be pretty distracting if you're not accustomed to them, but as a fan of fantasy and science fiction I'm used to them.
Most science fiction and fantasy novels do tend to use odd names, BUT I think one need to find a balance and just as importantly consistency. I've tried to mix in a good variety of names and avoided too many that stared with the same letters. There are two names that are somewhat close, but Muriel only makes a brief appearance at the beginning and is long gone by the time Mara appears in the story.
Have delightfully devious day,
Usually it's just whatever sounds right.
I don't spend a great deal of time on names, at least not usually. If I spend too much time thinking on them I end up with names like in my story "The Corpse of Shelly Poe," where they just annoy people.
I tend to be much more of the type to let the name influence and choose the character, rather than the other way around. That's the way Daniel/Beck/Becky evolved. I started with the story intro, then came up with names at the introduction point, and I've kinda just let most of what's happened evolve from there. I had a few general events... but that's it.
Admittedly, this has caused me more than a few problems in the past. Miriam, etc.
Melanie E.
If
Isn't it odd how we each can be so different in our methods? I generally spend a lot of time fussing over names (well at least the big players anyway) and I find if I dislike a name it can halt the progress of the entire story.
Have delightfully devious day,
naming
I have no clue when it comes to naming. The story and the character names just seem to come out of nowhere. As soon as I start writing I know the characters name. It just happens i guess. The hardest part I have is what I call the climax part as I don't feel my writing is yet good enough to capture them correctly.
When I need a name...
... normally I just use a conventional name. Sometimes I'll browse websites like http://www.behindthename.com/ to find names that are legit but uncommon, or foreign language. When I need something way out there, I have a program that generates random syllables - random consonant, random vowel, then any random letter (consonant or vowel) and strings three of these random syllables together. I'll run that a few times and pick out a combination that feels right for the character.
When I start I often start with "placeholder" names, picking something that feels right - even if I have plans for the personality of a character, often when writing it flows in an unanticipated direction, so I find it's better to settle on a permanent name after establishing the character.
But hey, I'm one of the least prolific authors here (I may start a new story every week, but I finish very few and publish even less) so please don't take what I say as gospel! :-)
Depending...
...if I'm doing a period piece, I like to look up the names that were popular for boys and girls at the time.
Love, Andrea Lena
recent period names
CafeMom has lists of the most 100 popular names, separated by gender, going back to 1880 - though they don't seem to mention their data.
Ellen, 22nd level Necromancer of Threads
Names
As far as made up or corrupted names go those aren't bad. Goodness knows that in my 40 some years of reading SF, I've run across some lulu's! Yours seem to have some consistency which is important. At least you didn't have a T'leth that and a K'tah this, and then throw in, from the same alien race mind you, Bob. The Great Douglas Adams did such things, but there was always a story behind it. :)
Like others have said I use old census data for a lot of my names although I do tend to fall into ruts sometimes. I was just noticing just how many Georges, Coles, and Wendy's I have in my tales.
Since I own an old fashioned name, Grover, I'm aware of legacy names, ones passed down from grandfathers or even further back. Yes, I'm a junior.
There is truth to what other commentators said about using celeb or stereotype names. They can help the reader visualize the character more easily, but is also good for comic effect if you play it right. Kelly Girl is one of my fav stories, but I know a couple of Kelly guys too which makes the turn-around even richer.
On a somewhat related subject is nick-names or code names. Another of my favs is the Cary Grant movie "Father Goose." Being wartime, they were all referred too, by their code names which made some of the dialogue hilarious. "Father Goose is marrying Goody-Two Shoes?"
Hugs
Grover
Names
In my latest story, I needed a name for a djinni. I spent half an hour researching that name and settled on Habib, meaning "friend" in Arabic. I had in mind the hilarious musical number Robin Williams sings in Aladdin. It had a good resonance on several levels, not the least of which was a suggestion of sinister irony. :)
Choosing the main character's name was simple: Simon. Simon also has a number of other connotations and connections that work to form the net of association I want to evoke in my reader. Simon, literally, means "he has heard" from the Hebrew but may also have had a meaning in Greek that has been lost; the name was popular all over the Mediterranean and a version of it may have been spread by the Phoenicians. A dozen or more Bible characters (including a whole tribe of Israel) have the name and bring their baggage along as well as a host of modern people and characters including Paul Simon, Simon Pegg and Simon Bar Sinister.
You can even Simonize something which has nothing to do with the sin of simony. :)
But the real reason I named the character Simon was when I started the story I wrote: Simon had a hangover.
Names are fun. :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Jellisa , Jelleesha?
The origins of many RL names tend to be based on a description of the person in one for or another, a casual physical description, epithet, a profession, a personalty trait, a place of origin. Then they start just being passed on to later family members or child named after someone. Over time the names get slurred(pronunciation & spelling) as the language also changes and people move to other regions. So basically many names are descriptions that have lured over time. Therefore you can use the same method to project some futuristic ones and they will be very realistic from that point of view.
Tolkien named People, places,
and things that alluded to their nature. Of course those names came from languages that he invented. You can do the same with known Earth or alien tongues as well.
May Your Light Forever Shine
Naming
I don't write SF or period/historical fiction so naming is easier for me. Two personal guides I follow when naming a character: parents name babies for a variety of reasons, to honor someone like a relative or close friend, trying to find a name that's different and unique (I'll be honest here and admit I don't like "ghetto" spellings, probably my age showing here) or something that just came up and struck the parent's fancy. They don't name babies to determine how they grow up. So the idea that the character's personality determines the name just doesn't play for me.
Edit/add: Nicknames are different. They usually do relate to a person's personality or physical appearance. From Tiny to Slammer to Princess or Mouse, nicknames do reflect the person they are given to.
My second guide is that the name shouldn't throw the reader out of the story. Speaking only for myself here, I "hear" the words in my head as I'm reading and a name I can't pronounce is like slamming on the brakes. It's a problem for me as a reader and it's something I pay close attention to as a writer.
When I name characters I mostly grab names out of the air. There are a few names that are deliberately chosen, my main protagonist's name has a lot of meaning, some of which I've explained to a few people while offering up a more ordinary explanation for public consumption. A couple of names are inspired by RL people - one asshole character is named for an asshole boss I had, for instance. A couple are "wink and a nudge" names that a few people get but that are not essential to the story. The rest are just names, like you see everyday. A stylist in a salon might be named Rita, but a find & replace and she becomes Heather. It really doesn't matter.
A few times a character's name is a deliberate slam at somebody. If I get pissed off at somebody I'm liable to name a crack whore or a pedophile after them. Usually I come to my senses and change them before the story is posted, but I absolutely make no promises for the future. ;-)
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Yes they do!
"They don't name babies to determine how they grow up".
Firstly, I think it would be unusual parents who didn't think about their child's future as they give them a name. Most parents think about the kind of person they want their child to become and the name often reflects that, whether it's flower power names, biblical names, pop star or footballer names, or names of famous generals, the parents are saying: This is what I want my child to be.
Secondly, the parents own character will dramatically impact upon the child, just as it affects their choice of name. Sure there are lots of other things which affect a person's character, but I do believe that the name often provides an indicator of the person.
In any case, what about a boy named Sue?
Opposite, IMO
My wife and I considered names, and decided on a set of names that were descriptive and unusual, but we our daughter's first name is common enough to not make someone's head snap around (unlike my brother's two children), but uncommon enough to make it very unlikely that she'll ever end up in class with more than one other of the same name.
She has _five_ names, rather than the normal middle-class three standard. With the government getting more and more snotty about allowing AKA names without a court order, I wanted to make sure that when she hit adolescence, she could choose what name actually fits her best - without having to play excessively with nicknames or "No, really, don't call me that" games with the teachers.
Besides, it apparently gave the SSA problems, because they couldn't fit all the names on the forms.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Names in Teratic
chapter 2 includes the following
The name of the main character means ugly. Keep reading.
1st antagonist is planetary level hero. Nick name from main
2nd is creepy. how and why will be revealed.
Naming a planet
When I began writing Somewhere Else Entirely I didn't realize at first that I'd be naming an entire planet and everything in it.
While this is reasonably fun at the beginning it has proved a right pain some of the time. Especially since I had to impose loose rules on just how the names were formed, people in particular (and made a couple mistakes).
Now I'm grinding my way through chapter 80 I've sort of gotten over the initial difficulties; names seem to flow more naturally. I'll take that in part because I have become so immersed in the world but there's still an occasional "WTF do I call that" moment. And I still have to occasionally refer to Payter Eketta's Gazetteer if I need to remember who's who; but I have that problem in Real Life as well.
For Earth-based stories it isn't so difficult, except making sure that your names are appropriate for the period your story is set in. And that may be as recent as the '80s or '90s... fashions change so fast these days.
Penny
I always
I always aim for consistency. I do have a sort of vague set of rules i use while naming.
As far as naming worlds, I'll probably be giving both the Qharr homeworld and the Dexagarmetrax homeworld names, but they'll hardly be central to the story. Every time I change Vakrexid's name I have to keep looking up the new spelling.
Have delightfully devious day,
Sometimes you get Deja Vu
Years ago, I came up with the name Hala Maksoud, completely at random. I wanted something that sounded exotic and sort of Middle eastern but really had no one at all in mind. I used her name in "Hala's Snow Day".
Later, I found out that Dr Hala Maksoud was a famous women's rights activist here in the US.
Who would have thought?
Gwen
Yep.
Well into SEE it occurred to me to do some googling to see if anyone had ripped the story off and to see if the names I used existed anywhere.
Much to my surprise a significant number of them turned up as real. Most are middle to far east and I'm not too concerned about that.
'Garia' was pulled out of, uhm, the air and I thought it was unique, but it turns out to mean a posh neighborhood in Kolkata (Calcutta); a car; a golf car/cart; an Indian surname; a bay in Newfoundland; and finally an old Scottish name meaning 'petite girl'. Bingo.
Penny
Yup - if it's easily
Yup - if it's easily pronounceable, some language probably already has it as a word :)
(and in the case of Aramaic languages, even unpronounceable words)
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
When I am writing a story, I pick character names that are real
and recognizable. I don't jumble the letters around to make exotic names. But then, I don't write SF either. My stories are more for showing how a young transgender person should be raised. Some here tell me my stories are so optimistic so as not be real, thus, they are considered by the reader as fantasy. But, fantasy is good. There are some, though, that do have love, support, and a lot of help from friends and family.
So getting back to my process for picking character names for my stories.
In my story Leigh Anne, for instance, I don't know exactly what I was thinking when I wrote down the protagonist's name, but it just kinda jumped in to the frame, and my mind took the picture. Now, of course, my story would not be the same if I changed Leigh Anne's name.
I like your name of Jellfree Briggs. That could also be putting Jell-o and free together, just leaving out the "O". Thank you, D.A.W., for sharing this insight. I am sure there will be those like me that actually think about what you wrote here.
"With confidence and forbearance, we will have the strength to move forward."
Love & hugs,
Barbara
"If I have to be this girl in me, Then I have the right to be."