SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion
Members' Chat
>
not to odd SF/Fantasy character names
I have a friend who recently called her daughter Aeryn Kaylee
I read a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett earlier this year, with a boy named Ughtred. Do not like!Do not date yourself by being too trendy. No Kardashian!
Do not handicap your child's future career choices by saddling her with a dorky name. In 40 years a respectable businesswoman will not appreciate being named Galadriel. Test possible names by prefacing them with the phrase, "Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court." You will admit that Chief Justice Skywalker Xena Jones lacks gravitas.
If you must name her something like Apple or Dweezil, at least give her a middle name that would sound well when she is a CEO -- something like Elizabeth or Caroline. She is one of the people who will be helping to choose your nursing home some day -- don't rile her.
My favorite name from fantasy books would be Arya from A Game of Thrones. I don't know if I would use it though.You could look to mythology for names. Diana or Morgan both come from myths, but aren't too out there. I named my daughter Rhiannon, and most people think it's pretty.
I have also been searching my favorite books for not too wierd but cool baby names. Baby isn't due until August, so I have a while to think about it. So, good thread. When you said he's named after you, that doesn't mean his name is Pickle, does it? Congratulations!
I am a huge Pern fan, so I've always been attracted to a lot of those names. Menolly is pretty and not too out there, and Lessa and Sharra are both similar enough to othr names not to be annoying, but still unique.
The Aimdoggg wrote: "I have also been searching my favorite books for not too wierd but cool baby names. Baby isn't due until August, so I have a while to think about it. So, good thread. When you said he's name..."
lol.. pickle is our first cats name and one ive adopted for online.
His/my name is a scottish name but ive the english spelling. The hassle ive taken for that!
I will build a list of suggestions and show my girlfriend by the end of the week. Thanks all! :)
Suggestions so far:
Aeryn
Aliera
Arya
Bria
Cecelia
Cordelia
Diana - people would think of Lady Di no doubt in the UK so thats out.
Dorothy - Eastenders means she will be called dott. Thats out.
Elaira
Janet
Kiri
Layla
Lessa
Luna
Mariesa
Menolly
Mirka
Moreta
Morgan
Opal - looks to be out thanks to Snail
Rhiannon
Sharra
Sophie - i love Howls Moving Castle, great suggestion.
Yelena
Zoe
Cordelia - from the Barrayar series and from Buffy, and from Shakespeare. The SF/fantasy/classics triple!
I like the name Luna, from Harry Potter. Also, Yelena and Opal from the Study series by Maria V. Snyder.
Opal's also the name of a villain from Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series ... I'd be careful there. :)
I love Elaira, from Wurts' Wars of Light and Shadow series.
I made an actual survey of my SF/F books so ... more names! You will let us know if you use one of the group's suggestions, right? :) *curious now*Dorothy (Wizard of Oz)
Cecelia (Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot)
Aliera (Steven Brust's Dragaera series)
Susan (Discworld)
Mirka (Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, though people who follow tennis might ask if you named her for Roger Federer'wife)
Sophie Howl's Moving Castle)
Janet (Tam Lin, based on the Scottish ballad of the same name)
Mariesa (Firestar series)
Zoe (Old Man's War series)
Snail in Danger (Sid) wrote: "I made an actual survey of my SF/F books so ... more names! You will let us know if you use one of the group's suggestions, right? :) *curious now*Dorothy (Wizard of Oz)
Cecelia ([book:Sorcery..."
fantastic Snail!
even if i dont use a group name you will hear about it :)
Dorothy - out due to dot cotton
susan - an ex called susan, out
janet - its like Jean, lots of old women currently called that. Its out
Arabella, Ardelia, & Jaenelle from the Black Jewels books by Anne Bishop.
Pickle wrote: "Aeryn - what would be the correct pronunciation of that?"It's a character from the fab TV series Farscape. Pronunciation can range from "air-rin" to "e-ron", the latter which can sound a bit masculine (Aaron)
It would be perfectly OK to alter the name slightly. For instance Cordelia to Delia, which of course has happened in the Bujold novels. My daughter is named Diana, but we named her for the villainness in the TV series "V". It worked out great, since she is indeed a warrior princess (like that other Diana, Wonder Woman) and well upon her path to world domination. I assure you nobody looks at her and thinks of Princess Di.
Oh, and be certain it not only LOOKS but SOUNDS well with your last name. Put thought into monograms and middle-name combinations. Writers will tell you that names, to a great extent, shape character and therefore destiny. We spend ages thinking about this. Remember too that she will be filling out forms, making restaurant reservations, and ordering things on line all her life with that name. Do not make it too long or too oddly spelled.
Paul 'Pezski' wrote: "I have a friend who recently called her daughter Aeryn Kaylee"Pickle wrote: "Aeryn - what would be the correct pronunciation of that?"
I have a niece named Aeryn (pronounced as Erin). My brother and his wife were having twins, and he wanted to have 2 names that started with the letter A and would work with either gender.
Brenda wrote: "Oh, and be certain it not only LOOKS but SOUNDS well with your last name. Put thought into monograms and middle-name combinations. Writers will tell you that names, to a great extent, shape chara..."That's good advice. One of my poor nieces has the initials ABC. My brother did that on purpose, and I still thing that was a dumb thing to do. My brother and I have the same initials, and that wasn't a great idea either. We had to put our initials on things for school, and my brother would use that as an excuse to steal anything of mine that he wanted.
whatever you do, do not saddle your child with "Denae Markieta" unless you want to traumatize them for life. it is known.
By the way - I see "Barrayar" on your list. I don't know if that slipped on by mistake or what, but I feel I should note that it's the name of a planet, not a person. :) (Also I would hate my parents if they'd named me Barrayar. Just sayin'.)
Plus it sounds like "barrier" when you say it out loud - or when I say it out loud. You could try the "test" I used when I was fostering dogs - if it sounded silly when I yelled it out the back door, the dog got a new name. This rule went into effect after I fostered a pair of littermates named Charles and Camilla.
Snail, I read Barrayar there not as a name, but as Barrayar. This and Shards of Honor aka Cordelia's Honor are the first books with Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan.Another wonderful character from that series is Ekaterin, which I understand is the Russian version of Catherine.
Also, Shakespeare's women, besides Cordelia. How about Emilia, Titiana, Ariel?
(I have no idea if I am right, but I have always pronounced the planet and book as 'bar a YAR.')
Miranda, Shakespeare female and the name of the planet in the firefly film.I was given my name because my Mum was running out of names beginning with D, took to making them up. Was asked if I was named after the startrek character. Had to point out I was born about twenty years before next gen.
I have a niece called Sophie after the book Sophie's choice.
A whole bunch of my favorite names are already listed here! But I am also partial to "Kiri" from The Dragonbards, "Moreta" from Pern, and "Ardys" from Search for Delicious.I also thought I'd mention that a confident young woman with a good nerdy (read "SF&F") background would not mind being named Galadriel regardless of for which company she was employed as a CEO! She'd probably just work all that much harder to live up to the expectations of her namesake ;)
Galadriel dates you -- the way Brenda/Linda does (just about all of us are in our 50s or 60s) or Gertrude/Myrtle (mostly older ladies). All Galadriels, along with the Frodos, Arwens and Pippins, will have been born either when LOTR was hot, in the late 60s, or when the movies came out. There are websites where you can track the popularity of names over time, and the trends are highly instructive. (Madison, peaking in the 80s when SPLASH hit the theaters.) I would select a name that has held a broader popularity over time. But not one of the top three or even the top five, lest your daughter be one of the four Katies in first grade or the seven Briannas in yoga class. If you go with a variant spelling, don't make it too weird -- Tawwanna is just depressing.
And say it with the test title, out loud: Supreme Court Justice Galadriel Lothlorien Miller. Is it to laugh, or not?
Pickle wrote: "when my son was born my girlfriend and i struggled for a name, so much so he was called baby for 3 weeks. Our lack of imagination meant he ended up being called after me.My girlfriend is due to..."
Give her a name she can live with. One she can learn to spell early in life and one that will spell like it sounds over the phone (for those thousands of times she'll be asked for her name while calling for tickets, appointment, whatever). A name that won't start fights or become the butt of jokes from nasty "friends" (shouldn't sound like a similar word that is derogatory).
There's nothing wrong with the more traditional names. With everyone burdening their poor kids with weird names, a traditional name might stand out by itself (Sally, Sharon, Helen, Ruth, etc.).
BTW, if you and your girlfriend have managed to get along long enough to produce a daughter, perhaps it's time to marry the nice lady?
We had "Ashe" picked out if we had a daughter. I know I read it in a book, and Ashe was a female character, but I have scoured the interwebs trying to find it again.FWIW: We had a son, named Alec. After Sir Guiness and a friend who goes by Alec. Dad and I are big Star Wars fans, so it was also perfect when he was born on May 25. :)
Liz wrote: "We had "Ashe" picked out if we had a daughter. I know I read it in a book, and Ashe was a female character, but I have scoured the interwebs trying to find it again."There is a female character named Ash in the Sword of Shadows series by J.V. Jones. Is that what you were thinking of?
Julia ... I know what Barrayar is. In fact, I suggested Cordelia earlier in the thread, for that reason. Barrayar appeared to be on the list as a name earlier, but the post has since been edited.Ash: A Secret History - Liz, maybe this is what you were thinking of?
My favorite popular from movies name is Skylar - big peak when Good Will Hunting came out.
http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
^ Plugging in names and date ranges there is superfun. US only, though.
I believe there is a similar British site. Also, in many countries there is a list of Approved Names, which you can probably find on line. German boys never get named Boromir.Oh, and be sure to check for homonyms -- names that sound like the name you select. In the US you will frequently find Skylar spelled as Schuyler -- it is a surname as well as a given name.
Wow, there are a lot of name rules in this thread. I have a rather unusual name (in the US at least) and I was never traumatized by it. I actually happen to enjoy having an unusual name. Just give her a name you like, don't stress about it so much. If she hates it completely, she can always fill out some paperwork and legally change it when she turns 18. It's not the end of the world.
Also, what's with this kind of judgement? "BTW, if you and your girlfriend have managed to get along long enough to produce a daughter, perhaps it's time to marry the nice lady?" Marriage is an individual choice and not everyone feels it's necessary. I find the assumption that anyone should tell you to get married before producing offspring kind of offensive in this day and age.
Riona wrote: "Also, what's with this kind of judgement? "BTW, if you and your girlfriend have managed to get along long enough to produce a daughter, perhaps it's time to marry the nice lady?" Marriage is an individual choice and not everyone feels it's necessary. I find the assumption that anyone should tell you to get married before producing offspring kind of offensive in this day and age. "^ This.
Shit, I went through hell as a kid because of my name. After a while you just learn to not give a damn.
It's become my personal motto.
Eta: also, yeah, the "get married" thing was kind of douchey
It's become my personal motto.
Eta: also, yeah, the "get married" thing was kind of douchey
PickleDon't forget if the name is too strange the registrar may refuse to register the birth.
Knew of one child with the word bus-stop in their name because that was where they were concieved, yeuh.
Might seem 'douchey' to have to get married before spawning offspring but what surname should a child have if her/his parents are unmarried? The father's or the mother's?
Double-barrelled for both?
Just askin....
Anyway, back on topic, my friend's niece and nephew are called Akira and Kaneda, from characters in the cyberpunk/sci fi manga cartoon.
Weenie wrote: "Might seem 'douchey' to have to get married before spawning offspring but what surname should a child have if her/his parents are unmarried? The father's or the mother's?
Double-barrelled f..."
Does it really matter? If the kid has two parents who love them, who gives a shit what their last name is or if the parents are married or not. It's really not anyone's business but the parents.
I wasn't asking if it mattered, although it may to the child when they get older.
Or it may not. Better a healthy unmarried relationship than an unhealthy marriage, I think we can all agree on which of those would do more damage to the child.
Ya know, not all married couples have the same last name. I did not take my husband's name, for instance. And while it's unlikely that we will have children, if we did we'd probably hyphenate the name. Not a big deal.One suggestion I have for naming, in general, is to make sure you can live with the shortened/nickname version as well as the whole name because, well, it's gonna happen. ;)
My mother's name is Rosemary and my Granny would always yell at anyone who called her Rose or Rosie or whatever, but no one calls her Rosemary anymore.
Same with my niece, Brittany. Everyone calls her Brit. My sister hated it, and used to fight against it, like Granny, but she's finally given in to the inevitable.
I have friends who named their children traditional names (after relatives) but call them by unique nicknames. So, William is "Liam" instead of "Billy", and Marjorie is "Mara" instead of "Margie".
Also, I have successfully resisted the use of nicknames. Only my pediatrician ever got away with calling me "Angie"
It probably depends on whether you mind it, or your mother minded it. Both my mother and niece didn't mind the nicknames - only their mothers did and, really, who listens to the mothers? ;)
Anne wrote: "There is a female character named Ash in the Sword of Shadows series by J.V. Jones. Is that what you were thinking of? "Could be, I have read the first 3...The problem has been that I remember the slient "e" at the end. That's what keeps throwing off my search.
Ah, nicknames... I have an aunt who told me when I was younger to answer a name I didn't like. That got rid of "Betsy" as a nickname. But then she also insisted that we go by our given names, thus she always calls me "Elizabeth". (Its really funny because she goes by her middle name instead of Elga.) I started to allow folks to call me "Liz" in high school when a wise friend pointed out that I'd be out of the room before they finished saying my name.
Deanne wrote: "PickleDon't forget if the name is too strange the registrar may refuse to register the birth.
Knew of one child with the word bus-stop in their name because that was where they were concieved, y..."
im not going to seriously name my child something very odd but i thought it would be a decent topic, create some chat and also give us some suggestions.
So far im liking Sophie and Aeryn :)
Weenie wrote: "Might seem 'douchey' to have to get married before spawning offspring but what surname should a child have if her/his parents are unmarried? The father's or the mother's?
Double-barrelled f..."
the children take my surname, which is rubbish as mine is as common as muck where my girlfriend has a traditional Scottish surname, but with my son we gave him a middle name of my girlfriends surname.
For my daughter we will be using two middle names, my mums and my mother-in-laws first names, its just the first name thats tricky.
The suggestions have been great.
Your girlfriend have any she's partial to?
And your kid might announce at some point that she doesn't want to be known as Galadriel (Drooly!) but instead is henceforward to be addressed as Eliza.
SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Howl's Moving Castle (other topics)Howl's Moving Castle (other topics)
The Joys of Yiddish (other topics)
The Bishop's Heir (other topics)
Ash: A Secret History (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Steven Brust (other topics)Eoin Colfer (other topics)
My girlfriend is due to give birth in March to our daughter so to avoid a repeat of last time she has been scowering baby names lists, while i have been trying to remember excellent names from past books to suggest.
Anyone got some not too odd but funky names they could suggest?