I'm Gonna Name Names
Last week I mentioned doing a post on names, so I thought I would do it this week before I forget.
Names are super important, and can make or break a character when you're first introduced to them. As a fantasy reader/writer, I'm especially conscious of this, as I've had more than one book need to do extra lifting to get me past the ridiculous names. I realize that saying that leaves me open to criticism about my name choices, and that's fine! I know Victoria and Pretoria are too similar, but I made that choice with my eyes wide open.
But let's talk about Pretoria as an example. As I mentioned last week, I didn't even know that was used as a name until I went poking around for names used in 1900. I knew roughly how old she was, and baby name popularity lists go back at least to the 19th century, so I had a look. When I saw that name, I immediately wanted to use it. It's a good, strong name, and was only popular briefly (as in for a few months), so it would lend an extra sense of time to her story. I didn't want to use any of the old-timey names from that period like Esther, but I ended up doing it anyway, since that name is unique to that period! It did take me a while to completely decide, though. Having a Victoria and Pretoria together is a bit... much. But Latin names are cool!
But it's not just looking at a list and picking one, it has to sound right, and more importantly, read right. It has to look good in text, and be easy on the eyes. But by sound, I don't just mean pronunciation. Cadence is important too. Victoria Ravenwood. Say it out loud. 4 syllables and 3 syllables, two little bumps of emphasis. It's satisfying. Or it is, to me. Pretoria Ferguson, same thing. Millie Brown. 1-2-3. Bam. Sounds good.
Now, Russian names were much harder, since I didn't know much. I had to research, and I uncovered a lot more than I thought I was going to. Take Katya, for example. Her full name is Yekaterina Konstantinovna Gurevich. The middle name in Russian comes from the father's name, which meant I had to decide what her father's name was just to finish her name! (It's Konstantin) And I had to, because I learned that to other Russians she doesn't know that well, she would be addressed as Yekaterina Konstaninovna. Only non-Russians would call her Yektaerina Gurevich at first. Then the nicknames. Wow. I didn't know there was a system for it, or that there were so many. I don't to speak out of turn, so I recommend looking it up yourself, but it's fascinating. Names are so important and flexible in Russian, and it will come up again in Book V. Yes, V. You'll see. Ahem.
Midnight Magic was completely different. As a full-on fantasy novel, I could name characters whatever I wanted, which was can be intimidating. Usually with names I'll start with the first letter, since you don't want characters with names that start with the same letter. (Again, how names look is important. Your eyes just skim over things a lot of the time, so when you see 'V' you know it's Vimika and not Seris or Delica). Aurelai was easy. That name just came to me one time and I kept it. But the other wizards all have long, convoluted names. That was deliberate, it's a cultural thing for them, but they had to sound right. Have a certain kind of musicality. Vimikathritas Malakandronon is a mouthful, but sounds sort-of, kind-of, barely-if-you-squint-real-hard Greek... ish. (Actually, it's a very roundabout homage to Kethry, from Mercedes Lackey's 'Vows and Honor' books, whose full name is Kethryvaris, which is my favorite fantasy name of all time. They look way farther apart in text than they sound in my head.) On top of that, V and A are sort of inverted versions of one another, and Vimika and Aurelai each have three syllables, and... it's sweet to me!
First letter, syllables, appearance, mouth feel, memorability, similarity to other names, cultural significance. Notice 'meaning' isn't on there? It's not important to me. It may be different for you, but it's such a secondary concern that so very few will ever pick up on that it's not worth it, and can become a little too clever if you try to push it. Sveta and Millie's conversation about the meaning of their names in Book II is an outlier, and I had to look them up after the fact.
Now, having said all that, there are some little extra things I think about, but I don't want to give away everything! Some names are more important than others, and had a little more thought put into them. Others are little easter eggs. For example, Katya, Sveta and Inga all have very deliberately chosen surnames, but you deserve the joy of discovery for figuring it out yourself!
So that's a little window into how I think about names. Probably a little scattershot, and certainly not comprehensive, but I have a lot of books I want to write, I don't want to hand out a whole road map to puzzle over!
Hope you enjoyed it. Stay safe, and thank you for reading!
Names are super important, and can make or break a character when you're first introduced to them. As a fantasy reader/writer, I'm especially conscious of this, as I've had more than one book need to do extra lifting to get me past the ridiculous names. I realize that saying that leaves me open to criticism about my name choices, and that's fine! I know Victoria and Pretoria are too similar, but I made that choice with my eyes wide open.
But let's talk about Pretoria as an example. As I mentioned last week, I didn't even know that was used as a name until I went poking around for names used in 1900. I knew roughly how old she was, and baby name popularity lists go back at least to the 19th century, so I had a look. When I saw that name, I immediately wanted to use it. It's a good, strong name, and was only popular briefly (as in for a few months), so it would lend an extra sense of time to her story. I didn't want to use any of the old-timey names from that period like Esther, but I ended up doing it anyway, since that name is unique to that period! It did take me a while to completely decide, though. Having a Victoria and Pretoria together is a bit... much. But Latin names are cool!
But it's not just looking at a list and picking one, it has to sound right, and more importantly, read right. It has to look good in text, and be easy on the eyes. But by sound, I don't just mean pronunciation. Cadence is important too. Victoria Ravenwood. Say it out loud. 4 syllables and 3 syllables, two little bumps of emphasis. It's satisfying. Or it is, to me. Pretoria Ferguson, same thing. Millie Brown. 1-2-3. Bam. Sounds good.
Now, Russian names were much harder, since I didn't know much. I had to research, and I uncovered a lot more than I thought I was going to. Take Katya, for example. Her full name is Yekaterina Konstantinovna Gurevich. The middle name in Russian comes from the father's name, which meant I had to decide what her father's name was just to finish her name! (It's Konstantin) And I had to, because I learned that to other Russians she doesn't know that well, she would be addressed as Yekaterina Konstaninovna. Only non-Russians would call her Yektaerina Gurevich at first. Then the nicknames. Wow. I didn't know there was a system for it, or that there were so many. I don't to speak out of turn, so I recommend looking it up yourself, but it's fascinating. Names are so important and flexible in Russian, and it will come up again in Book V. Yes, V. You'll see. Ahem.
Midnight Magic was completely different. As a full-on fantasy novel, I could name characters whatever I wanted, which was can be intimidating. Usually with names I'll start with the first letter, since you don't want characters with names that start with the same letter. (Again, how names look is important. Your eyes just skim over things a lot of the time, so when you see 'V' you know it's Vimika and not Seris or Delica). Aurelai was easy. That name just came to me one time and I kept it. But the other wizards all have long, convoluted names. That was deliberate, it's a cultural thing for them, but they had to sound right. Have a certain kind of musicality. Vimikathritas Malakandronon is a mouthful, but sounds sort-of, kind-of, barely-if-you-squint-real-hard Greek... ish. (Actually, it's a very roundabout homage to Kethry, from Mercedes Lackey's 'Vows and Honor' books, whose full name is Kethryvaris, which is my favorite fantasy name of all time. They look way farther apart in text than they sound in my head.) On top of that, V and A are sort of inverted versions of one another, and Vimika and Aurelai each have three syllables, and... it's sweet to me!
First letter, syllables, appearance, mouth feel, memorability, similarity to other names, cultural significance. Notice 'meaning' isn't on there? It's not important to me. It may be different for you, but it's such a secondary concern that so very few will ever pick up on that it's not worth it, and can become a little too clever if you try to push it. Sveta and Millie's conversation about the meaning of their names in Book II is an outlier, and I had to look them up after the fact.
Now, having said all that, there are some little extra things I think about, but I don't want to give away everything! Some names are more important than others, and had a little more thought put into them. Others are little easter eggs. For example, Katya, Sveta and Inga all have very deliberately chosen surnames, but you deserve the joy of discovery for figuring it out yourself!
So that's a little window into how I think about names. Probably a little scattershot, and certainly not comprehensive, but I have a lot of books I want to write, I don't want to hand out a whole road map to puzzle over!
Hope you enjoyed it. Stay safe, and thank you for reading!
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