Character names - unique or everyday?

HD Simplicityy · Feb 7, 2018

What sort of naming "scheme", or kinds of names, do you use? For my science fiction game story, I took a generic female name - Alexis - and rewrote it: Ellexis. Why? One, I thought it sounded really neat and unique. Two, because from what I've Googled, if its a real name, then it has a few of the possible traits I want to develop with her....though I want to diverge too. I found these sites interesting on that subject:

http://www.babynology.com/name/ellexis-f.html

http://www.nameslist.org/english/names-meaning/Ellexis

http://thenamesdictionary.com/name-meanings/36974/name-meaning-of-ellexis This one is....strange...just warning you haha.
I question the legitimacy of the sites for saying its a real name; they don't have common sources.

What about you?

On another subject, if I had kids in the future, and my future wife and I agreed on naming our daughter Ellexis...

hahaha Or Hermione!

BenPanced · Feb 8, 2018

I just use whatever names I like that I think sound good together. No consideration of personality attributes or hidden meanings or historical significance or anything like that.

Hbooks · Feb 8, 2018

I prefer names that are friendly to read and pronounce, although I will sometimes play with spelling and adjust a letter or two from the most common spelling of the name, as long as it doesn't make it too crazy.

Harlequin · Feb 8, 2018

Please consider giving your kids names that aren't too far-out. They don't have to be Dave, but TinTin won't do them any favours either.

Sincerely,
Someone who suffers from weird name syndrome

Harlequin · Feb 8, 2018

Sorry. Serious post now. However suits your book and style. The odd spellings can work, or not, and it's all choice in the end. I guess that's not really an answer. I like names to have a bit of a connection but I'm always happy that most readers will never pick up on it. For me it's more of, there are infinite possibilities and this is one way of narrowing them down.

lilyWhite · Feb 8, 2018

It depends on the story, really. Fantasy-esque settings give you a lot more flexibility, but in general, names should be something that their parents would have named their children.

I just mostly go by "names I like" when I'm naming characters. I generally try not to pick names meant to be "meaningful" in connection to the character. Except then I did exactly that for my current WIP, but it's a magical-girl story, so it's got plenty of sillier things in it than "the main character who has a monarch-butterfly-themed alternate-identity has a name that means 'speckled fairy'".

Though speaking of "what the parents would name their child", one character in this story is named "Lyris" because her parents are musicians and they thought she might end up following in their footsteps. She became an actress instead. :greenie

Rosanna Banana · Feb 8, 2018

I tend to use whatever name just pops into my head when I'm writing but generally, I like easy to pronounce names that roll off the tongue easily. I'll admit when I read the first book in the Harry Potter series I had no idea how to pronounce Hermione... and it was super annoying for me, the reader. I think I eventually ended up googling it or heard the name pronounced properly and was like OHHHHHH that's how you say it!

DeleyanLee · Feb 8, 2018

Name choices, particularly in SF/F, says something about the world and culture you're writing in. If you're doing an urban setting, than normal names in that area is fine. If you've created a world that's not Earth, then using common Earth names is going to put a speed bump in the believably of that world. I can't tell you how many times I've been happily reading along with not quite Earth names (like your Ellexis) and suddenly run into a major character named Andrew or Simon or Ruth. They don't fit the culture the author had gotten me interested in and it became a bumpier read after that.

Decide what the culture's naming system is. Hopefully don't make it too hard for the average reader to deal with. Then the Golden Rule is: Be consistent.

Roxxsmom · Feb 8, 2018

It entirely depends on your world building. If your SF story is set in the not-so-distant future, and the characters are human, I imagine many of the "classic" names that have been in use (or cycling in and out of fashion) for the past century or two will still be out there. There may be some new naming fads, though, so you can use your imagination there. I've had young adults with names like "Hunter," "Asutin," "Whitney," and "Demetrius" and "Y'nari" in my classes, which are not names one ran across when I was a kid. Naming fads come and go, and they vary with culture and subculture.

Maybe there will be a kick for naming kids after antique cars some day, or nostalgic colonists will name their kids after famous historical figures or landmarks from Earth. Or maybe there will be a kick for naming human kids in an alien language, or with names that sound completely made up, in order to break ties with the past. There would likely be a mix of traditional and unusual (by our standard) names in a futuristic society descended from our own.

And of course, a future society won't just contain people descended from 21st century, white Americans or Europeans. Names from all over the world would likely be present in a future space setting. That's one thing SF writers do sometimes--not project normal human diversity into the future.

The further in the future, of course, the more unusual names there might be.

However, it kind of knocks me out in secondary world fantasy when characters have mundane Earth names like "Mary" and "David," unless the culture is clearly intended to parallel a time and place in history when these names were common. Biblical names, for instance, feel a bit off in a world with no Bible nor any religions that paralle the Abrahamic faiths and their history. It's not a deal breaker, but especially when such names are mixed randomly with made up names like "Lekoraka" or something within the same culture, it feels a bit odd.

It's all in the world building. Nicknames that overlap with real-world nicknames are different to me. If someone has a fantasy name that shortens to "Dan" or "Mori" or something like that, it makes more sense (sort of like Tolkien's "Sam"). Shortening names is a pretty common thing, and sometimes different names shorten to the same-sounding nickname.

HD Simplicityy · Feb 8, 2018

Roxxsmom said:
It entirely depends on your world building. If your SF story is set in the not-so-distant future, and the characters are human, I imagine many of the "classic" names that have been in use (or cycling in and out of fashion) for the past century or two will still be out there. There may be some new naming fads, though, so you can use your imagination there. I've had young adults with names like "Hunter," "Asutin," "Whitney," and "Demetrius" and "Y'nari" in my classes, which are not names one ran across when I was a kid. Naming fads come and go, and they vary with culture and subculture.

Maybe there will be a kick for naming kids after antique cars some day, or nostalgic colonists will name their kids after famous historical figures or landmarks from Earth. Or maybe there will be a kick for naming human kids in an alien language, or with names that sound completely made up, in order to break ties with the past. There would likely be a mix of traditional and unusual (by our standard) names in a futuristic society descended from our own.

And of course, a future society won't just contain people descended from 21st century, white Americans or Europeans. Names from all over the world would likely be present in a future space setting. That's one thing SF writers do sometimes--not project normal human diversity into the future.

The further in the future, of course, the more unusual names there might be.

However, it kind of knocks me out in secondary world fantasy when characters have mundane Earth names like "Mary" and "David," unless the culture is clearly intended to parallel a time and place in history when these names were common. Biblical names, for instance, feel a bit off in a world with no Bible nor any religions that paralle the Abrahamic faiths and their history. It's not a deal breaker, but especially when such names are mixed randomly with made up names like "Lekoraka" or something within the same culture, it feels a bit odd.

It's all in the world building. Nicknames that overlap with real-world nicknames are different to me. If someone has a fantasy name that shortens to "Dan" or "Mori" or something like that, it makes more sense (sort of like Tolkien's "Sam"). Shortening names is a pretty common thing, and sometimes different names shorten to the same-sounding nickname.

Oh yeah that's understandable.
Then wait...Ellexis has a brother, slightly older then her, named Nolan. Originally wanted to go with Nathan, but as the story is a game story, Nathan is taken by Nathan Drake. So Nolan is too off-putting? I am creating at least two other worlds as well. Aliens? Well...hmm...not in that exact sort. Something more (hint, hint...) celestial. Other names could come by me as I attempt to differentiate from generic names....which is why I went with Ellexis. I love it.

Brightdreamer · Feb 8, 2018

Harlequin said:
Please consider giving your kids names that aren't too far-out. They don't have to be Dave, but TinTin won't do them any favours either.

Sincerely,
Someone who suffers from weird name syndrome

Oh, unique names have their drawbacks, definitely. Nobody can pronounce it right, resulting in some downright amusing attempts to "normalize" it. Plus you never found keychains with your name on it in those tacky tourist stores on vacation. On the plus side, you learn fast that you can tune out in class until the substitute stumbles over a name - then you're up to say "present" at roll call. And I got an oddball first name, a rare middle, and a last that some people insist on getting wrong, or using the English spelling instead of the German.

(On a tangent, we were told once we were pronouncing our own last name wrong by a German woman. Our German line came by way of several generations in Russia, for one thing, and for another it had kinda Anglicized since the 1800's. So her German pronunciation wasn't even how the original immigrant root guy said it, let alone how the descendants said it - and he was rather prolific, so we definitely outnumbered her. But she was adamant. We just smiled and nodded and put another checkmark in our Lifetime Loony Bird List.)

Getting back to the OP, as others have mentioned, it's part of worldbuilding, and that rabbit hole can be as shallow and deep as the story demands. Ideally, you want something that the reader can "pronounce" in their heads as they come to it. You might also consider rough naming conventions so you get a similar aesthetic/feel (Grozzkitt andBilly-Bob probably wouldn't be brothers, unless you're going for a Men In Black sort of humor), though this isn't necessary, especially in lighter fantasy.

Lakey · Feb 8, 2018

I love naming my characters. I find it really fun. I collect names (first names and last names) from places like the donor lists in concert programs or the vast crew credits at the end of movies, even from the rosters of sports teams whose names I happen to see on TV. I write down names that sound interesting and that I might use for characters later. I love it.

I try to give my characters names that suit them -- names that feel right for who they are, that are true to the era in which they live, and that have meaning for me. (One of my characters is named after a pen-name once used by the author who inspired me to write the novel.) "True to the era" doesn't have to mean sticking to the most popular names of the time - my novel is not a parade of Marys, Bettys, Roberts, and Johns - but it does often mean choosing names that might sound a little old-fashioned to modern readers; that's all part of establishing the time setting, which is a kind of world-building of its own even in non-fantasy writing. And every once in a while, for a character who seems to call for it, I will deploy a very unusual name.

I enjoy thinking about character names so much that when working on a short story in which a character's name was not specified through the whole story, I still spent some time thinking about what her name might be, and settled on a name in my mind. Another character who appeared in that story was loosely based on another author, and I named her for the protagonist of that author's first novel.

Roxxsmom · Feb 8, 2018

HD Simplicityy said:
Oh yeah that's understandable.
Then wait...Ellexis has a brother, slightly older then her, named Nolan. Originally wanted to go with Nathan, but as the story is a game story, Nathan is taken by Nathan Drake. So Nolan is too off-putting? I am creating at least two other worlds as well. Aliens? Well...hmm...not in that exact sort. Something more (hint, hint...) celestial. Other names could come by me as I attempt to differentiate from generic names....which is why I went with Ellexis. I love it.

I don't think Nolan clashes with Elexis. I've run across the name IRL, in any case, but in a SF setting it isn't unreasonable that parents might choose children's names from different hats, so to speak, just as they do in the modern US.

I've had some friendly arguments with a British critting partner about what level of mixing and matching is feasible within a family. He insists it jumps out at him if parents have, say, three kids named Dakota, Seattle, and David, or that it would be odd for people in a given community to have highly varied names. This made me laugh, because American families mix and match name origins all the time, and of course in most modern school rosters, we have students with names from all over the world right next to ones with more "traditional" European-American names and kids with names that were once unusual but were fads the year they were born.

He's right, though, that the mixing and matching of naming styles would be less common in a village in, say, in a tiny village in a pre-industrial society.

frimble3 · Feb 8, 2018

HD Simplicityy said:
Oh yeah that's understandable.
Then wait...Ellexis has a brother, slightly older then her, named Nolan. Originally wanted to go with Nathan, but as the story is a game story, Nathan is taken by Nathan Drake. So Nolan is too off-putting? I am creating at least two other worlds as well.

As there are no A's in your Ellexis, how about turning Nolan into Nolen? Slightly different, but not wildly so, and pronunciation's not a problem.

Mburrell · Feb 8, 2018

A writer I know still advocates hanging symbolic names on her characters. I think you've got the right idea by giving your characters names that suit them and their circumstances. I was writing a story about a preacher back when I was practicing law. At an arraignment docket, a friend of mine represented a DUI client named, Brevert Gilmore. Upon hearing that name, I thought "The Brevert Gilmore Gospel Hour." The story about Brevert was published in Southern Humanities Review. The protagonist in my novel is named, Doyle Brisendine. I don't know why. It just sounded right. Ol' Doyle Brisendine from San Angelo, Texas.

frimble3 · Feb 8, 2018

Roxxsmom said:
I've had some friendly arguments with a British critting partner about what level of mixing and matching is feasible within a family. He insists it jumps out at him if parents have, say, three kids named Dakota, Seattle, and David, or that it would be odd for people in a given community to have highly varied names.

'Dakota, Seattle and David' could be random, or it could tell you things about the parents. Dakota and Seattle might be the children of their roving youth, while David is the child they had when they settled down to run the family business.
Just as a family with a couple of traditional names, and one of more exotic origins might represent tributes to various grandparents.
I agree that you'd be less likely to see as much variation in a more isolated place, and certainly before radio and movies widened the range of names one knew.
And, there are fads - I remember the joke about preschool rollcall from the 70's: Jason? Jason? Jason? Jason? Jason? Jason?
Not much different from a little village where all the boys are John, and all the girls are Mary, or some version thereof. This is why nicknames were invented.

sideshowdarb · Feb 8, 2018

I collect names (first names and last names)

I do this, too. Names stick with me. I'll file one away and use it somewhere down the line. I tend to go with something unique, that also reflects the character and their story. I like the name to have some meaning. For more SF/F things where I'm making up names, I focus more on the sound. I want it to sound real, and like it belongs to a language or culture that you don't really get any other insight into. An example from a story I recently put in SYW - the MC's last name is Faero, an amalgam of the Brians Ferry and Eno.

HD Simplicityy · Feb 8, 2018

Naming characters is a lot of fun...especially if you're aiming for uniqueness or different spelling

morngnstar · Feb 8, 2018

HD Simplicityy said:
Then wait...Ellexis has a brother, slightly older then her, named Nolan. Originally wanted to go with Nathan, but as the story is a game story, Nathan is taken by Nathan Drake. So Nolan is too off-putting?

Somehow I hate this less now. At first I wanted you to either completely invent names (but don't go hog-wild with too many Ks and Xes and apostrophes), or use the standard spelling. But somehow if you have a mix of weirdly spelled names and normal names it's okay. It almost feels like Hunger Games, where they've seemingly taken normal names and just evolved them through a hundred or two years of sound and spelling changes. Some names are totally normal, but some names are a bit off.

Just don't pull a G.R.R. Martin and use silly-sounding made-up variants of normal names like Rickon and Dickon.

*Disclaimer: I'm not a hardcore fantasy reader.

Lakey · Feb 9, 2018

morngnstar said:
But somehow if you have a mix of weirdly spelled names and normal names it's okay. It almost feels like Hunger Games, where they've seemingly taken normal names and just evolved them through a hundred or two years of sound and spelling changes. Some names are totally normal, but some names are a bit off.

This makes me think of Neal Stephenson’s Anathem where a lot of the names are almost like familiar names, just with a small difference - Jesry, Lio, Tulia, Moyra, Erasmas. (There are some that are more out-there, too, less anchored to familiar names.) There is a reason why the names seem to touch ours but not quite meet up with them, which I won’t spoil, but at any rate Stephenson must have worked very hard in thinking up the names he used and getting them to strike just the right note of not-quite-rightness.

I.M.Lost · Feb 9, 2018

That sounds like a great name for a sci-fi character! I think it depends on the genre. I know some people find names with "hidden meanings" annoying, but I think it's fun - it's just a little extra Easter egg. Personally I try to have all of my characters' names fairly unique (without being stupid) to hopefully associate that name with my character. I would do this even if I were writing contemporary. However, I'm writing an Irish-inspired fantasy, so pronounceable names are thoroughly out of the question ...

Harlequin · Feb 9, 2018

UK readers will be able to pronounce them. Let the Caoimhes convene.

Kjbartolotta · Feb 9, 2018

Harlequin said:
UK readers will be able to pronounce them. Let the Caoimhes convene.

Over in the States we go by something different, but don't be throwing our True Names around willy-nilly.

Harlequin · Feb 9, 2018

Lol! Am not surprised you go by something different

I just don't correct people anymore. Sunny, soony, sonny, sawn yai, w/e they can manage. Gold star for effort.

For secondary world fantasy I try to draw names from the languages, but I am a lazy conlanger so sometimes break my own rules.

Kjbartolotta · Feb 9, 2018

True Name only in a 'now you can bind me with spells' sort of sense. And actually, apologies, I would be a Caoimhín. At least over here Kevin's always been a name oddly balanced between Celtic authenticity and bland suburban ordinariness. Too weird to be normal, too normal to be wierd (names are powerful indicators of how your life is going to go). Pre-Eighties it was a bit of an oddity in the States (though nothing eyebrow-raising) and then it picked up steam right around the time I was born. But I did get saddled with it because a Strong Irish Name was required of me, and we already got enough Patricks and Patricias to fill a warehouse.

BTW, I've recently been trying my hand at having my names all be "Adjective Noun" or "Name That Unfolds Like Lotus Blossom" names, though with the caveat that I'm trying to model them on screennames rather than trying to make them sound pseudo-Chinese or Native American or anything silly like that. Have a long list of these to work through, so I expect to be supplied with names Doom's Bell and Light in the Farthest Cavern for a long time to come.

Character names - unique or everyday?

THE BLUEBERRY QUEEN OF HADES (he/him)

Eat books, not brains!

Eat books, not brains!

Love and Excitement

Writing Anarchist

Beastly Fido

Just Another Lazy Perfectionist

professional dilettante

Beastly Fido

Heckuva good sport

Heckuva good sport

professional dilettante

Eat books, not brains!

Potentially has/is dog

Eat books, not brains!

Potentially has/is dog