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In SF & F authors often use compltely made up names for their chracters. For all I know, these authors start pecking randomly on their keyboard like this...Seotri, and say that's a name.
The thing I've noticed is that in professional writing (ie published) the names feel more real, are easier to remember, and just flow better. I still believe that many of these names are made up (though I expect some are just old latin, greek, asian names no longer used). One thing I've seen consistently in amateurish pieces is names that really look like they were pecked at random on the keyboard, like the one I made up above. They often are impossible to pronounce, and therefore difficult to remember or talk about, and they sound fake.
Any thoughts on this? How do you suggest making realistic character names in a genre in which we don't want to call our main characters by commonly used names?
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Names are something that give me the biggest headache of all when writing a book. A name isn't just a name, it's a form of adjective that can conjure up an image in the reader's head of what that person looks like. Taking Seotri for example, to me that conjures up an image of a person of oriental origins. If the story they are in reflects that then to me the name is plausible.
For that reason I can agonise for weeks over a character's name until I finally set on one that fits both him and his location. And then most of the time the name I come up with is a real one anyway that I just haven't heard before. Like Toban. I'd never heard of it and it sounded right for my character but if you do a search on google up it pops with tons of matches. Guess that's part of the reason why I picked it. It sounded plausible because it was.
Makes me appreciate all the trouble parents have to go through to choose a name for their children. If we get it wrong, we just get an unrealistic sounding character but if they get it wrong...
Incidentally, if you do a search on Seotri you actually get a match. It's on a site that says it's an Indonesian word meaning quarrel or something. So like I said, if you do come up with a plausible sounding name, the chances are that's because it's already in existence.
[This message has been edited by Gwalchmai (edited February 02, 2004).]
posted
I wonder about this too, but try to stay within the realm of normal lettering for words or names.
What's kind of funny is that I don't think Seotri is all that bad of a name. You might not like it at first, but once you read it a few times, it might seem just as normal as Zachary or Ezekiel or Frodo or Beorn.
But what I try to do is first avoid bad letter groups. Seojju Seofpti etc
Or get a name in my head that I try to match a spelling with. Sotira Sotiree Sotrei Not too different from your original name, but I might prefer one of those.
A reader will more easily remember a name if it is lesser syllables, I'd imagine. So instead of Sotiriheeri I'd use Sotira or something that a reader can pretty easily pronounce and also remember. Not good to interrupt the flow of the story.
I use normal letter groups, 'ch' 'll' might wind up in Jachell or Challin. Other languages can be fun though, to incorporate other combinations. Like, you might get away with a 'Svet' beginning as opposed to a "Ztin" which is almost a dead-end right there.
One thing I do is have my character names written in a notebook as I progress in my story. I need a new characters? Which letter have I not used yet to begin a name? I don't want seven characters who share the same first letter. So I begin with the first letter, then either a consonant or a vowel and then just find the rest. This can take a little while, but if the name you come up with just doesn't seem to flow for you, back to the drawing board to change it a little until it almost rolls off your tongue )
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Real names are taken from the primative languages of the cultures that use them. My own given name means "hard king", and is still indelibly associated with kings and the aristocracy (including--in our own culture--many negative connotations of effete decadence). You can look up the ancient origins of almost all names fairly easily. The old meaning of that name (as a word) often says a lot about its history (as a name).
A plausible name has just this quality, it has an almost primeval connection to the roots of the culture in which the character lives. The first thing to do is to get a feel for the language of your imagined culture. And don't bother saying that you aren't working out a language, because you must if you are going to use a lot of made up names. If your imagined culture uses an existing language, then you have no real excuse for not naming the characters of that culture with names taken from that existing language.
It doesn't take a lot of feel for the language, just enough so that you know how it sounds, and have a sense of which kinds of words are considered euphonious and which seem harsh and dissonant. Then make up an archaic form of a word for something that describes some element of the parent's (or other name-giver) aspirations for the character.
Give that name a history, independent of the named character. When other characters hear that name, they think of the famous general or the wicked queen or even just how everyone on their neighborhood rocksar team seemed to have that name at one point. Make the character aware of the implications of being named Seotri or whatever.
Real names are like that, they have meanings, both the meanings they started with (Hi, I'm KNT-835, that means I was the 835th clone of the KNT varient of the caste genome) and the meanings that they accrue ("Everyone knows that fives are more adaptable than those stuck up ones").
Of course, your names should be pronounceable if they are part of a spoken language (and if you're going to use some kind of strange phonetic conventions, then that should be an integral part of the language you invent as well--if Aec' is pronounced ayEX, then it should be an important element of the language that has a meaning outside of something for your readers to say when they're reading out loud). But it is setting them in a cultural context that illuminates and suggests the history of your character and the milieu described which invests them with a sense of being 'real'.
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My bottom line is being pronouncable. Many people are audio readers, even only in thier heads, and a word they can't pronounce stops them cold. A name's even worse, because it's used so often.
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I found a nice little program that helps me create names that have a basis in reality. Name definition files are used to create random names based on different patterns and rules.
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I like George Lucas's approach the best. Live with the names for a while, saying them out loud. The good ones will stay with you, and the bads one will become more and more foul. Of course, this is the man who gave us the unfortunate name of Count Dooku. But you can't beat Han Solo, Lando Calrissian (sp?), Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin, Padme, Amadallia, etc. Of course, some of his names (e.g., Darth Vader) are derived from other languages (such as German).
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I read somewhere (forget where) that you can come up with nice names by just changing one letter (or so) from existing names. For a story I am working on in a far future, I am using some baby name sites to come up with related names (within a language group) with meanings I like, then am altering them by a letter or more, or in other ways - they maintain their relationships and sound good together (or not, depending on what I am doing), but I don't have to invent the wheel. I enjoy "morphing" names. Of course, if you are doing alien races you might need something more drastic...
Posts: 465 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
About 5 years ago I bought a book of Baby Names, so I have used that one as well. I have used the one-letter-at-a-time method too.
But I also like the Lucas way. I come up with names write them down and say them for a while, use it in some dialogue etc... If it is easy to say, then I keep it in my Journal for future use.
I will sometimes take current words that are used all the time and come up with phonetical equivalents for names.
I think if it isn't cumbersome to say then it usually works. Just remember, you don't want a guy name Jose living (as a native) in Sweden, or a guy named Sven living in Mexico. You have to think about goegraphics and culture when naming your character. Jose and Sven wouldn't be brothers or even neighbors, for that matter.
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I often find myself thinking of a commonplace name and adjusting letters. One of my favorite chracter names, Hanre, came from Henry. (an appropriately kingly name) His brother's name is Zackaryn, which should also look familiar.
I think I posed the question because I've been aked to crit. some work with some abismal names. I hate to actually suggest to someone to come up with differenct character names, but somehow they just sound *wrong*.I guess in all things I should be honest.
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If you want to make your morphed names fit actual language development theory, you might want to look for information on Grimm's Law.
Jakob Grimm (as in one of the Grimm brothers who collected and wrote down all those fairy tales) was a linguist as well as a folklorist, and he came up with a law that describes the way consonants shift in languages as time passes.
For example, if you have a word that starts with a hard G sound, over time, it will change to a word that starts with a K sound.
So you can take a name, like Gordon, and in time it will evolve into a name like Korthon.
The law is circular, though, so some other sound (I can't recall right off) evolves into the hard G sound, and it goes round and round.
My stories are usually have a fantastical setting which exists along side a mundane one, so my names are everyday names that stand out to me or that I particularly like the sound of, combined with something unexpected like a noun. So for example, I might have a character called Betty Cylinder so that the whole name compliments this combination of fantasy and reality.
[This message has been edited by Nick Vend (edited February 03, 2004).]
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I do a couple things to populate my list of names to pull from. First, I take from real life, any rare but good-sounding name I come accross. I happen to work at an athletic facility where every member has to check in to the computer, so I get to see everybody's name as they come through. =This has landed me with some very original names like Danica, Adina, Than (short for Nathanael), Sadler.
Also, try to come up with alternate spellings of common names. Taudd instead of Todd. A major character in somethings I'm working on now is Areck, pronounced like Eric.
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Names are something I myself have always had problems with, and the fact is that I believe stories will meld the name to the character is appeals to. And why that hurts me is that the names I come up with I always relate to another name which does hold meaning to me. Bottom line for me is, I truly think I gotta just pick a name and stick with it. People will come to relate it with your character over any pre-associated thoughts.
Ender, for example, well, I'm not going to break down his character because that'll spawn a whole new topic here(and dont think it wont), but before reading you might think of it as outlandish or whatever... and yet perhaps you'd subconsciously associate it with something. I believe in one of Card's forewords he tells of how he just made it up, and then it turned out to be Turkish(?) name for one out of a million. Anyway...
Hopefully enough of my thoughts got conveyed out of my semi-coherent post you're reading here... but I always ramble on.
However, the Grimms law has intrigued me. That'll be something I'll think of on my next creation.
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while we're talking about names, could a ask for a little suggestion? I have a Ben in my novel, the main protagonist, but I want it to be short for something other than Benjamin (it's a fantasy, real names just don't fly). My initial idea is Alben. Except that sounds like Alvin and that makes me think of the chipmunks, and I don't like that image. Any ideas?
Posts: 292 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
Alben doesn't necessarily lead to Alvin (it didn't in my mind, at least); but suggestions might include Allben, Aelben, Aolben, Olben, or Elben.
Posts: 26 | Registered: Feb 2003
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What if it was short for something completely different, like Hank/Henry in English? Maybe Bartholomew or something? Ben could also be short for Benevolence, which might be an interesting name for the character, depending on how you incorporate that into his story.
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Thanks for the ideas, cicero & dave. I think I like Elben. It just gave me a little personality quirk: Ben now hates it when others call him "El." Posts: 292 | Registered: Feb 2004
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Also, I found an interesting site on the meaning of sounds. I'm not sure exactly how much scientific validity it has, but as a tool in name creation it looks like it may be quite useful.
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The actual letters don't matter, I believe, simply mimmic (sp?) the pattern of names you recognize, by pattern I mean the consonant/vowel relationship.
Example: drutzzxxct (random typing) Is much harder to say than Ziroby (a name I "mimicked")
I, just now, took the name, "Robby" and then applied it to other letters. Coming up first with Zrobby and then deciding a vowel had to seperate the "Z" and "R," hence Zirobby and then I chose to delete one of the "b"s.
And so "Ziroby," was born. To me "Ziroby," is alien in sound and feel but not unpleasnatly so, it is easy to read and remember because the vowel/consant placement and ratio is not unlike a name/word we already recognize.
Just my two-cents
[This message has been edited by Alias (edited February 17, 2004).]
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