Dreaming up Sevia (Names)

Some readers have been intrigued or confused by my choice of names for the characters in this series. I think choosing the right names is vital for creating a believable world, but I didn’t want to invent my own names, because made-up names sound…made-up.

For the Sevian ethnic majority, I chose European names. For example, an important character is called Peter, his wife is Oxsana, his son is Alexander, and so on. For characters from the Tur-speaking minority, I chose mostly Central/South Asian names. The main character of my upcoming book is Preen, her husband is Rama, and his friends are Desh and Erkan.

A character’s name is meant to immediately identify the language/cultural group he or she belongs to, both for readers and for other characters. This is important, because the loss and suffering caused by ethnic conflict is one of the major themes throughout the series.