Character names you liked

[Brenda]

Character names you liked - that you've written!

I've really only written one story that wasn't using established characters from Dragonsong. And even Ghost in the Tunnels isn't finished yet. However, I was rereading it the other day and decided I really like some of the names I came up with.

Sarla
Nirella
Tabiollo
Tristio
M'rel

I have a hard time coming up with random words that sound good as a name, so I was really pleased with these!

What names pleased you when you came up with them?

[Grey Bear]

I don't often create names now for characters, especially as how I've got several dictionaries in other languages that I can use (plus a whole host of people on my MSN from different countries) to find words that I can use as names. My favourite ones are usually Japanese or Maori (finding an English-Maori dictionary was a bitch, let me tell you) such as "Sakura". I find that its hard to create a name for a character that doesn't sound like something that just fell off the back of Star Wars or Star Trek.

GB

[McClance]

I like McClance, myself. :D

When I was first designing my series, I wanted a name with "Mc" in it. "Clance" just followed naturally.

I also like...

Varthikes
Shevaliphing
Vethes
Slezaphing

which I named some of my Dragons.

I also like The Eeshew, which I named an individual of the space-dwelling Euq (I like that name, too :D ).

That's all for now. :)

[Anareth]

Kinda addicted to -sh and -th there, huh, McClance.

I honestly don't make up names that often--most of my stories are set in situations where the weirdest I've had to get is naming a charachter who was born and raised in ancient Rome, and that just involved some research.

GB, I think "Sakura" is an anime name. I know I've seen it come up as a fandom name. (Yes, I'm fully aware it's an actual word, but I'm just saying..in fact I remember, Card Captor Sakura.) Though I like ripping off Japanese names myself. Satomi is lifted from "Geisha, A Life" and I used it for a fantasy character. (Of course that story's meant to have an Asian flair anyway.)

[McClance]

Kinda addicted to -sh and -th there, huh, McClance.

The "-th" probably comes from reading Pern. As do the "-ph". When I came up with my Dragon names, I decided to follow a certain rule as well.

Male Dragon names start with 'V', end with 'es', with 'th' somewhere between.

Female names are similar except it's 'S', 'ing', and 'ph'.


As for The Eeshew... Well, the 'sh' just flew out naturally.

[Grey Bear]

Kinda addicted to -sh and -th there, huh, McClance.

I honestly don't make up names that often--most of my stories are set in situations where the weirdest I've had to get is naming a charachter who was born and raised in ancient Rome, and that just involved some research.

GB, I think "Sakura" is an anime name. I know I've seen it come up as a fandom name. (Yes, I'm fully aware it's an actual word, but I'm just saying..in fact I remember, Card Captor Sakura.) Though I like ripping off Japanese names myself. Satomi is lifted from "Geisha, A Life" and I used it for a fantasy character. (Of course that story's meant to have an Asian flair anyway.)

Sakura - its Japanese for "Cherry Blossom", methinks. I snitched it from the Japanese Cherry Blossom festivals. I've never heard of Card Captors, but the mere name makes my blood run cold. Icky Japanese tackanime!

GB

[TamTam]

Sakura - its Japanese for "Cherry Blossom", methinks. I snitched it from the Japanese Cherry Blossom festivals. I've never heard of Card Captors, but the mere name makes my blood run cold. Icky Japanese tackanime!

In junior high, we had to learn a song called "Sakura" for band class.

I know what you mean about names from other languages, though. I have a girl named Rohini in a fanfic. I used to work for a woman with that name, and I've always loved it.

How about Drasdal? I think it points out that this character is drab and dull without actually saying it.

How about Sopec? I got that one from a bottle of Scope. Just move one letter and voila! :D

[Anareth]

McClance--I hope your books come with pronunciation guides!

GB: it's a kids' show, as I recall, so of course (like all Saturday-morning cartoons) it has its perverse adult fans writing smutfic about it. Of course, given that most Anime and manga in Japan are aimed at adults and would make the delicate sheltered flowers around get the vapors, I doubt its creators would care the way, say, Rowling cares about people writing Harry Potter slash porn.

TamTam: the one problem I'd have with naming a character "Drasdal" to indicate they're drab and dull is that seems a bit, well. I mean you don't want to devote a huge amount of effort to naming unimportant characters, but I have this resistance to label-naming--good guys get nice names, bad guys get obvious evil names, boring people get boring names, etc.

[McClance]

McClance--I hope your books come with pronunciation guides!

Hm... I'll consider it. ;)

[TamTam]

TamTam: the one problem I'd have with naming a character "Drasdal" to indicate they're drab and dull is that seems a bit, well. I mean you don't want to devote a huge amount of effort to naming unimportant characters, but I have this resistance to label-naming--good guys get nice names, bad guys get obvious evil names, boring people get boring names, etc.
Very observant, Anareth! You're right to assume that I didn't spend a lot of time figuring out this character's name, and also for assuming that he's a minor character.

In fact, I wasn't going to name him at all. He only shows up for one scene, after all. It became clear, though, about half-way through his scene, that I would have to give him a name. Since I had other things on my mind, I simply looked up at my bookshelf, found some letters in the titles to rearrange, and put them together. I didn't think much of that name at the time, but told myself that I could change it later. When I did, though, I didn't have the heart to change it for the reason already mentioned.

I understand the point you're trying to make. A symbolic name is like any kind of symoblism within a story. When it's used heavy-handedly, it can seriously bomb. No reader likes a writer who grabs them and says, "Look at that ocean! It's not just an ocean, it's SYMBOLIC! Pay attention!" My English teacher always said that symbolism is most effective when it's subliminal in both the reader and the writer.

Now I'm curious. If you had come across that name in a typical story, sans explanation, what would you have thought of it?

[Anareth]

"Drasdal"? For some reason it makes me think of a wizard. I'm not sure why. It would depend on the context in which I encountered it. Not a bad name as made-up names go. Sopec sounds like a Vulcan from Star Trek. Especially if you change the c to a k. It's hard to judge a name out of context--except for a few real names which, for a variety of reasons, I stongly dislike (such as anything trendy and/or likely to end up on "Baby's Got A Bad Bad Name" at notwithoutmyhandbag.com) I tend not to have much reaction to a name without something to go on, unless it's something truly absurd with too many ys and other 'neglected' letters of the alphabet crammed in to make it look 'original.'

[Vyon]

My general rule-of-thumb is that the name has to be easily pronouncable. I prefer not to use foreign names unless I know what they mean. So If I call one of my characters Taane Moanaroa, I know it means "Man of the long sea" (a space-faring Doctor). Conversely, Karangahake, which I saw out of my kitchen window when I was living in a gold mining town, becomes "The Singing Hunchback" in my fanfic, and Waikino "bad water". It's not so hard for me to lay my hands on a Maori-English dictionary if I want it, there's one upstairs. Besides, I have enough Maori already for naming purposes. Other names are just generally made up. There's usually a good sprinkling of vowels in them, a hangover from the Maori, which is made up of syllables which all end in a vowel. I find it makes the name easier to say.

[Shalyn]

Of my original fiction, two are set on Earth and everyone has normal names. Yes, normal. So I'm not really in love with any of the names, though I do like Cordelia, who goes by Cori. However, I do rely on the baby-name databases because I want my character's names to reflect on who they are.

My fantasy fic, I haven't worked on enough to get enamoured of any names yet.

Now, my Pernese characters in my one fanfic which I'm working on, and several of my characters - I will probably re-use them in fantasy works.

Rhandezelle
Torrela
Margana
Haneset
Zhandra
Kailisu (anyone gets the joke, gets a cookie. Anareth excepted. She already got her cookie.)

Of course, they're all female names, but I prefer to write from the female POV anyway.

As for getting names, I use the phone book, open to a page and let my eyes swim until I come up with something.

Or I use the employee database where I work. Since we have such a variety of people here - we have some doozies of names. Came across a good one today - Ansarsa. I may use that somewhere.

[Anareth]

I not only get a cookie, I get bits of the story, too.

If we're talking RP names, I rather like Alavid and Eliara. (Okay, so they're from Alan and Elaine. Still.) Of the rest of my names, I'm not sure I should count the male riders, as they're all pretty generic (S'vrel, R'ven, V'tine, etc.) Kasienka SOUNDS Pernese, but it's a diminutive form of Kasia (-enka being a Slavic suffix that basically means "little".)

[Kath]

Kailisu (anyone gets the joke, gets a cookie. Anareth excepted. She already got her cookie.)


Kylie-sue?

Please, no! Tell me I'm wrong. The horror...!

[Shalyn]

Kylie-sue?

Please, no! Tell me I'm wrong. The horror...!


And Kath gets a cookie!!!!!

Once I get the story finished, you'll understand. *G*

I did make another friend's brain bleed with that one though.

[Anareth]

OMG, you HAVE to read this story, Kath. It's great. I can't wait for Shalyn to write more (hint hint.)

[Kath]

Part of me is going Yes!
The other (perhaps more sensible half) is gibbering in a dark recess of my mind.

Ah well, at least the cookie was tasty.

:D

[Brenda]

I don't get it...

[McClance]

I'm thinking it might be related to the whole "Mary Sue" and "Gary Stu" thing. Could be wrong, though.

[Anareth]

Yeah, pretty much. Related to the tendency of many (many many) Pern RPers (and badfic writers in general, especially of the young and female variety) to just adore names that are variants on Kylie.

[Grey Bear]

*shrieks*

The dreaded K names! HIDE!

GB

[McClance]

I recently came up with "Ramloia" by ramming "Ramoth" and "Lioth" together.

It's not obvious, is it?

[Anareth]

It's not the "K" that's the problem. It's the need to combine it with L, Y, and as many vowels as possible!

Uh...I'd say not, McClance, as only a total Pern geek would ever remember Lioth's name five minutes after finishing whatever book it was in. (That was....N'ton's dragon?) What's it a name for? And how would you pronounce that? "ram-LOY-a"?

[pern_queen_rider]

I love my orginal name Tarwena. It's stood out to me.

[McClance]

Uh...I'd say not, McClance, as only a total Pern geek would ever remember Lioth's name five minutes after finishing whatever book it was in. (That was....N'ton's dragon?) What's it a name for? And how would you pronounce that? "ram-LOY-a"?


Does that mean I'm a total Pern geek? :redfruit: Not that I'd mind, of course... :D

It's someone's last name which you DID pronounce right. :ok:

[Kath]

OMG, you HAVE to read this story, Kath. It's great. I can't wait for Shalyn to write more (hint hint.)


Right - where can I find it then.

Bring on the pain!

[Brenda]

Yeah, don't tell us we HAVE to read something and then not tell us where we can read it! Why isn't it posted here if it's so good?

[Shalyn]

Because I'm stuck in cliche-ville right now.

I like to have things finished, and polished, before posting them. I know where it's going, I know where it's been, but when it's finished there's always the chance I'd change something-or-other. For instance, Kylie Sue's current Pernese friend has changed names from Mareena, to Hanesa, to now being Haneset. And now Mareena is Head Bitch of the Candidates.

I was planning on writing this weekend, but got caught up rearranging my computer area. I'm hoping to do some writing tonight.

(Plus, the writing software I fell in love with? The 30-day expiration expired, and I can't afford the $229 to buy it. And, yeah, I've looked for a crack but can't find it. So I'm getting used to another software. Helps me be more "organized", and actually, it really helps when I'm writing!)

[Vyon]

:devil: Well, one I'll be using on Sunday night, out of my own fiction, but will be used for a talk on fantasy writing

StarSinger

Any guesses on who or what he is?

:devil: :devil: :devil:

Not quite the right smilie, but he does have horns.:stir: :deadtired :stir:

[Brenda]

Ruath - the name of the little white dragon that Jaxom did not impress. (http://annemccaffreyfans.org/forum/showthread.php?t=4288)

[Vyon]

None, apparently. StarSinger is the Elder Guardian of the Satyrs of Endria. He has sweeping silver horns, silver leg fleece, and was invented out of the handle of a stone urn in the Hamilton gardens. He's also one of those frustrating characters that you invent for a walk-on walk-off bit part that insist on taking over the whole story.

[Aurelia]

I like the name of Gronia for a queen rider.

i.e. Gronia, rider of gold Irdath


I love Anne's names of Dulchenth and Falgrenth for dragons....I think they're really creative.

[Brenda]

Since I've finally started writing the rest of Ghost in the Tunnels (http://www.annemccaffreyfans.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3472) I noticed a group of names I'd forgotten about, but which I really like as an example of Pernese naming.

Mother: Saranda
Father: M'rel
Daughter: Sarla

[Valihi Wingsecond]

I can't stop staring at Grey Bear's avatar... And... the... butt cleavage... Why is it so fascinating???

Ah, anyway, names I've made that I really like... I like them all, but ones that I am particularly fond of...

Arenielle (though I was mad to see some children's book with a character called Arenelle in it, several months after I'd honed her into perfection...)
Anodelle
Heylora
Ardalia
Metreas
Delemeas (D'meas)
Saleata
Detalian
R'sad
Miralken (M'ral)
Tesori (T'sor)
Taroline
Riali
Soralie
Romajeth
Aldirath