Names are quite important when it comes to writing.
Character names are probably the most obvious the of nomenclature. A lot of the time characters like to name themselves, but sometimes they'll make me do the work instead. While Behind the Name is undoubtedly my go-to for that, having a reference for meanings and origin isn't always what I need. For more exotic names, as in my sci-fi Wizard of Oz story, I might just translate something specific (like "scarecrow") into languages until I find one I like. I still had trouble deciding between Kaliause (Lithuanian) and Muqevva (altered Azerbajani) in that case, but I eventually chose what sound sort of felt more natural to the character. I feel like that's usually the biggest factor.
On that note, some characters refuse to play nicely when it comes to their names. I very carefully named Martin from Along the Winding Road both because the name started with an M, which matched his brother's name, and because it was derived from Mars—Martin is certainly a bloodlust-type character. Unfortunately he's now quite insistent on being called Milton, which may match the theme naming, but "mill town" isn't exactly the same meaning as before. I can't decide whether I should keep his current name or switch.
There are also place names. I usually break out the good old Google Translate to name my fantasy/sci-fi worlds: for example, "Salynas" is Lithuanian for "archipelago." On the other hand, stories set in real places don't have as much leeway. Still, I love how some of the places for The Long and Winding Road turned out. Hunt was first, as I browsed some Texas summer camps and thought that the one in Hunt sounded like something workable for the background plot. Then I looked for some cities/towns a reasonable distance from Austin (using a used car resale website) until I stumbled upon Killeen. Hunt, kill. Haha. Then a friend noted that the camp I had chosen—Camp Lonehollow—had quite a nice name for a post-apocalyptic story, and I was slightly amazed at how that had turned out.
How do you do your naming? What do you think is the most important factor of a name in fiction?
My naming patters are totally random XD . On the one hand I have average names like Mashall the vampire and Josephine the human. On the other hand I have obvious names like Program the computer program, or Phantom the ghost. And on the third hand I have weird and random names like Muffler the cryokinetic kid or Peaches 'n Cream the bat, that don't even make sense to me, but my characters refuse to change them.
ReplyDeleteMim
True—when they name themselves, it's hard to be consistent.
DeleteBeing mostly a FanFiction writer, I don't have to think up a lot of names - although that's not necessarily true, I guess; I have tons of OCs in Unstained, a couple Hetalia nations, and entire populations of Victorian-era towns I make up (I am a history major, after all XD;). There are slightly different factors that influence each - like the Hunger Games names I try to make fit in with the Districts, although that doesn't always work, the Hetalia OCs' names have to be popular in the nations that they're representing, and the historical ones have to conform to ethnicity and time period - but overall, the most important thing is just that they fit the character. I do try to bring up theme naming a lot, and I usually find ones that I like enough I don't have to choose between two, but if I ever do, it'll be the name that fits my mental image of them better that stays. In this case, if the character (one of the Beilschmidts, I guess? Although I thought they were called Manuel and Miguel or something) demands to be called Milton, I'd go with that. The thing is, as much effort as we put into theme naming, the average reader probably isn't going to pick up on it / do the research to realize what a clever move it was on our parts.
ReplyDeleteHaha, yeah, I never paid any mind to naming by District since I stumbled upon that idea too late in the writing.
DeleteOh, dear. They were never named such. I named (Ludwig) Manfred first, and that stuck fine, but I guess Gilbert's just less cooperative. XD I do want to make more of the characters Latino, though, and I'm even considering making Ivan's counterpart female, but I'd hate for a minor character (Armando/Antonio) to be the only "good guy" Latino. (Jethro/Austin was already cut.)
That's a good point, since Martin really isn't that obvious in its origin. I may go ahead and let him be Milton, then.