posted
The thread on last names is interesting. So I wondered about first names. More specifically, I wondered if anybody has brought their authorship skills into the real world.
My last name is Smith. I simply couldn't bring myself to name my children Betty or John. Talk about ensuring a child's eternal anonymity. So I invented new names for all three of my girls.
My eldest is Brinnameade. This is a variant based on Sabina and Meade: two names in my ancestry. But a mock-slavic interpretation of the name is "keeper of the beer" (keeper or defender). This name should be of use to her in her university dorm as well as the real world.
I was very disturbed to see a preponderance of kids named Brinna, Brenna and Briana emerge about a year after my Brinna was named. (We call her Brinna for short.) I had no idea how much influence I had over popular taste. :-)
My second daughter is named Merridew. Again, this is a construction based on some older family names. I have not yet developed a mock definition for it.
My youngest is named Rigel, after the star in the lower right corner of the constellation Orion. I was quite surprised how few stars actually have suitable, feminine sounding names. Perhaps this is why so few children are named after them. "Hello. I'd like you to meet my daughter, Alkor. I also named my mining company the same thing."
So, has anybody else ventured into the risky waters of naming real people with made-up names?
posted
My first name is pretty boring, although my last name has more history. My father didn't like his last name, so he changed it when he turned eighteen and moved away from his psycho-beast parents. It's a cross between "Thiriot," who was one of my dad's aquaintances, and "Thorough," like the transcendentalist. My dad liked Walden.
There was a girl at my high school whose name was Chalyn, pronounced "Chally." Her parents had put together two family names to make it, so I thought that was pretty cool.
posted
A friend of mine in high school was named Maritsel, a combination of Maria and Itzel. I've always found it to be a beautiful name.
Posts: 2710 | Registered: Jul 2004
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quote:My youngest is named Rigel, [...] I was quite surprised how few stars actually have suitable, feminine sounding names.
Not a Farscape fan, are you... I don't know if what follows is pronounced the same as your daughter's name:
If you didn't know, Farscape has a Rygel (pronounced RYE-GEL) and it is male. He is also a deposed dominar of some 600 billion of his people--tho' that figure could be way off, I forget, but I know it is a lot. They used a complex puppet and some CG to do Rygel's parts on the show because he is a Hynerian... essentially... an ornery, 3-stomached, two-foot tall, mustached slug w/ a floating throne. But, within the context of that show, utterly believable.
(NOT saying your girl has any similarity between with Farscape's Rygel, just so we are clear... okay?)
posted
I love unusual names, but I think that's because when I was going to school, the two most common girl's names were Kathy and Susan. (It got so bad that if someone called out, "Hey, Kathy!" I wouldn't bother to turn around because the odds were against it being me they wanted. They had to call out, "Hey, Dalton!" if they wanted me.)
And when I got to college, I asked people to call me Kathleen. (A little less common than Kathy.)
After giving an unusual name to my first daughter (and my husband getting tired of explaining to people how you say it or how you spell it--so they would say it right), we gave more common names to our other two daughters.
posted
In elementary, I went to school with a girl named Tara. That may not seem too unusual, except that her sister's name was Torrie.
Posts: 1473 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
You don't even have to have an unusual name to miss out on personalized items. When I was growing up Teresa, Terry, and Terri were all easy to find, but Theresa! it was nowhere to be found. Well almost. It actually made that much more special when I did find something with my name on it. There a lot of places now that can do customized personal items to accommodate a parent's need to be creative either with naming or spelling.
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I know we've been mostly talking about unusual names, but what about naming conventions? Some cultures use the family name first and given name second. And it seems that even as recent as a hundred years ago, the second name was used instead of the first.
Do you ever think about cultural naming conventions when christening characters? Do you ever create a naming convention as part of culture/world building?
[This message has been edited by Robyn_Hood (edited January 26, 2005).]
All my siblings have a common English name and a rather less common Chinese name. For my early demonstration of precocity, I got both my father's English name and the Chinese name "Brilliance Surpassing". I've sometimes wondered why my older brother didn't get my father's first name, I suppose it just didn't occur to him at the time.
posted
I had a story I was working on once (it's been on a back burner for a long time now) in which the culture had 5 years compulsory armed services. The trick was that you were allowed to choose when to serve those years, but if you died without having started your service, your family was automatically enlisted for life (your children, your siblings and your parents). You were also buried with the disgrace of an unadorned name. My protagonist is tentatively named Gallem Chokut.
At the age of majority, each citizen pledged to a battalion in some branch of the services. Each battalion had a mascot animal and you adopted a form of that animal as the honorific in front of your name, depending on your state of completion of service.
So if you wanted to join an particular air force detachment whose mascot was the hawk, you became Eyas-Gallem Chokut. When you began your service, you were raised to Eagle-Gallem Chokut. Upon completion of your service, the honoric switched to the end of the name: Gallem-Eagle Chokut. (It was considered an gross insult to refer to somebody without including that hyphenated honorific, thus implying that they had not served nor even pledged.)
The branches of service with the highest death rate tended to also have the coolest sounding animal names, so if you wanted the cool name, you were volunteering for dangerous duty.
Units that preferred younger active participants (say a long distance running messenger squad) had very unappealing young honorifics like Puppy. Who would want to stay Puppy-Gallem for very long? The name offered them an incentive to get their service over with early and go through life as Gallem-Wolf instead.
One of the advantages of this system was that, in order to pledge, you had to be accepted by the unit in question. By accepting your pledge, they were also stating that you were acceptable and they would hold a place ready for you for when you chose to serve. This system allowed the entire military complex to project their manpower availability over the next 40-odd years on a unit-by-unit basis.
It's a story I plan to return to one day, but due to some of the story complexities, I felt I needed to cut my teeth on less challenging material before I'd be ready to do it justice.
The story goes that her mother wanted to name her Anita, and her father wanted to name her (I swear, this story is authentic) Tarzan. Her mother won, but not without compromising on that Z with gramps.
posted
In Ghana (I think) in certain cultures there are only fourteen "first" names: One for each day of the week, for boys and girls. The child is named after whichever day of the week they were born on. Distinction between the various Kofis, for instance, comes from nicknames.
quote:My youngest is named Rigel, after the star in the lower right corner of the constellation Orion.
Rigel is also the pleasure planet in the Star Trek universe. It's just jam-packed with those sexy green Orion Slave Girls and any thing else your heart desires.
Not that that should reflect on your daughter in any way.
posted
Before we get all side-trek'd I'd better step in.
1. Rigel is a star. The planet you are referring to was Rigel 7: a hostile planet with neanderthalithic aliens that Pike had to defeat twice. In that same episode, the Orion Slave Girl appears in a different hallucination, but on some unspecified planet. Rigel 7 is in orbit around Rigel. (All from the original series.)
2. Rizah (or however you spell it) was the pleasure planet from TNG. No Orion Slave Girls in evidence. Presumably such lusty slavery practices had been abolished by the age of TNG.
(You can tell I've done my homework on these issues that bear so closely on my daughter's developmental psyche. :-)
3. Thank you for the vote of approval on the name for my daughter.
4. We have never had a pleasure planet reference from anybody, but I suppose we will one day. We only occasionally get any confusion at all. Sometimes, when seeing it written, people wonder if she's a boy because it rhymes with Nigel. (By that logic, Dawn must be a boy's name too.) The other confusion we sometimes get is that people think she is saying Rachel, instead of Rigel. Fortunately, she's a pretty feisty little bit and sets them straight without fuss.
Jefficus
[This message has been edited by Jefficus (edited January 27, 2005).]
posted
My daugher is named Teniah, pronounced "Ten-I-uh" I saw the similiar name Teniyah, named after a lake in Yosemite natianal park before I was married and had kids, and decided my first daughter would have that name. We decided to change the spelling I don't know why everyone is telling us the names of their children but I felt like I wanted to add my own two cents.
Posts: 21 | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
I like my first name, and I intend to live by it if I ever get the power (or money) to do so.
It is Alexander, which is a greek name meaning "Protector of Man" (or just men, but if I try at the former, I might be able to do the latter). I also like how the shortened version of my name is still Protector.
But I've always had a thing for the name James. Maybe because it's so versitile: Jim, Jimmy, etc.
But that's nothing compared to Bob and Bill. I mean just think about all the different names that come from each:
Robert / William Robbie / Willy Rob / Will Bobby / Billy Bob / Bill
But Bob wins because it is both a noun and a verb, where as Bill is just a noun and another noun (I don't accept the verb to bill, as it is still the same word as the other noun).
posted
I adore the study of names. First names in particular since that is usually what the person, creature or character is called more often than anything else. I take the process of choosing a name for anything very seriously - characters, my furkids (dogs) and even my fish. Every name I choose has a specific meaning applicable to the one I am naming.
I'm extremely particular when naming characters because I want the name to both look good on the page, sound good on the tongue and have a meaning appropriate for that character. It can take me a long time to name a character. When naming places or things, I am not so concerned with the meaning but I like the name to "sound" like it comes from that type of place. For instance, I have a different sound for names of cities in mountain communities than in desert communities.
I do tend to create naming conventions in that characters from the same culture will have similar sounding names where another culture's names might sound entirely different. One of the best tools out there is the Character Naming Sourcebook by Writer's Digest Books. I'm sure most of you are familiar with it. It is categorized by country of origin which is a wonderful help for my style of naming.
If I decide to have children, then I hope to use the name Rhys (Reece) if it's a male and Kanessa if it is a female. Both are fairly easy to pronounce, look good on paper, sound good on the tongue and are unique without being completely out there.
[This message has been edited by TaShaJaRo (edited February 02, 2005).]
posted
I've always loved the name Reese Hunter, a minor character in a series of books called "The Time Wars" by Simon Hawke.
I was going to name my son Reese Hunter Godfrey, but alas I have 2 daughters and want no more :-)
As to dogs I have had many with the following names:
Ben - a collie who succumbed to the mange Boozer - a mutt thru and thru and my steadfast companion from 7-14
Mandy - another poodleish mutt and Boozers "wife"
BJ - Boozer Jr., their offspring who accidentally hung himself (don't ask it was awful and tragic)
Munchkin - Lhasa Apso, had a soft palate and snored...also had really bad gas, my friend from 14-24.
Munchkins brother - Died too young, before we really settled on a name
Sable - Black lab, died at 6 months from Parvo
Amber - Golden Lab, disappeared one day to never be seen again had her from 25-30
Cerebus - Chocolate Lab, Ambers husband. disappeared with her
Moradin - Black lab, one of there pups...vanished with them
Kurgan - Black lab, one of there pups...vanished with them
Princess Waggytails - Mutt (named by my daughters), died of Parvo at around 10 months
As you can see we have not had much luck with dogs of late. I am pretty sure Amber, Cerebus, Moradin and Kurgan were stolen from our yard...the other two dying of Parvo is why I will never again get a pet from the Human Society/Animal Shelter, the pain of watching a living creature you've become attached too, die because of a disease contracted at the kennel is just too awful.
Wow I didn't intend this to be so long.
Oh we have great luck with Hamsters. We purchased 2 FEMALE hamsters back in October and were surprised in late December when they had 7 babies...two FEMALE hamsters :-) I originally dubbed them the Jesus Septuplets :-)
quote:Oh we have great luck with Hamsters. We purchased 2 FEMALE hamsters back in October and were surprised in late December when they had 7 babies...two FEMALE hamsters :-) I originally dubbed them the Jesus Septuplets :-)
The same thing happened to our gerbils when I was in kindergarten. They were supposed to be two females, but then one of them started getting really fat. If I recall, we ended up with 5 babies.
We also had fire-belly newts which were named for the greatest T.V. characters of all time (okay, I might be exagerating a bit) -- Bo, Luke, Daisy and Uncle Jesse!
posted
Ok, enough about real world names. How did you all come up with your forum names?
Mine is a combo of letters from my name, switched around a bit so that they made a cool name. Not all the letters, or course, because it's kinda hard to make a cool name using Reichard...
posted
I used to work in the animated feature film industry. I am also a hard-core Warner Brothers animation fan. So when I got bored of signing my emails with the very nonmemorable 'Jeff Smith', I decided to adopt a freeze-frame-style moniker. Remember the little gags at the beginning of Road Runner cartoons? They'd freeze Wily Coyote and put something like "Canis Starvicus" under his blurred image.
I adopted the name Jefficus Smithicus in a sort of hommage to those old cartoons. The name has stuck with me ever since.
posted
Well, my name is Alynia, made up from the Irish word for 'my dear one'. Growing up with such a name was not very pleasant. I know all the jokes too, even though some people still think they can be clever about it! <grin> And we won't even discuss my middle name - which is far worse!
There are many times I wished my name would have been Mary or Karen or something normal so that the kids at school would leave off. I understand parents want to give their kids neat names... but it took me while to forgive my parents for mine. Guess growing up in small-Wisconsin didn't help much. Maybe if I lived in California... or Ireland. hehe
posted
Mine is the first few letters of all my current dogs' names.
Takoda - Native American - means "friendly to all" though unfortunately that is not entirely true. He is a German Shepherd.
Shayla - African but I spelled it differently - means "beautiful eyes" which IS true for her. She is a Shepherd mix.
Jade - Spanish - means "jewel" which she is. She is a Rottie mix.
Rogue - my husband's contribution to the dog naming after his favorite Xmen character even though he is a male retriever mix. He is a little rogue though so at least it fits.
posted
I am not sure if anyone cares but friends of ours are from Niue where it is customary (in some families) to name a child after 'things' that you own or that you want to own, that give you some sort of status. This friend's name is Evinrude Nuclear-Warhead.
I promise this is true. (We call him Evin)
[This message has been edited by hoptoad (edited February 03, 2005).]
posted
Well, where did YOUR name come from, Robyn Hood?
quote:Well, my name is Alynia, made up from the Irish word for 'my dear one'. Growing up with such a name was not very pleasant. I know all the jokes too, even though some people still think they can be clever about it! <grin> And we won't even discuss my middle name - which is far worse!
There are many times I wished my name would have been Mary or Karen or something normal so that the kids at school would leave off. I understand parents want to give their kids neat names... but it took me while to forgive my parents for mine. Guess growing up in small-Wisconsin didn't help much. Maybe if I lived in California... or Ireland. hehe
Ah, but now you're grown up with a cool name, and you're female.
It's completely different with guys (at least with the same ammount of obscurity in a name. I'm sure Latrine and Craphouse would get the same ammount of taunting).
See, if a guy has a name like, say, Ashley (which is an asexual name, as Gone With the Wind shows), he is immasculated. Although, all he has do to is beat the crap out of the first person to make fun of him in a new school. But violence is not the answer.
[This message has been edited by ArCHeR (edited February 04, 2005).]
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Well, the origin of my screen name goes back several years to a time and place less civil than the time and place I am now -- High School!
While in the haunting land of H.S. I re-discovered my love of archery and found that I was actually pretty good. I volunteered at a summer camp and was better than most of the guys, so I claimed that Robin Hood had probably been a woman and that HIS~story had clouded the gender issue.
Later that same summer I attended a camp and was dubbed Maid Marion after winning the archery tournament. Although not fully insulted, I resolved to tell the story of the noble Robyn Hood.
Unfortunately I discovered that she was not a historical person at all, but someone from the future, living on the planet Cantona (a planet far, far away from Earth, but colonized by humans in the 22nd or 23rd century).
Determined that she would not go unknown, I wrote her story and assumed her identity; ready to fight opression and injustice...
Well, something like that. I guess you could just say she is the title character (and one of my favourites) of my WIP, which has been IP ( ) for the last dozen years or so.
posted
I suppose this is as good as any a place to introduce myself, maybe better since names are involved. I have a rather ordinary name, though it is french and I am not, and though my mom (blush) did get it from a soap opera-- Nicole. So hello.
In naming my children my husband was most concerned about taunting nicknames or any other kind of unpleasant nickname in general that we didn't like. For example, Benjamin, which we loved, was out because of Benji and Ben. Peter a "no, no" becasue the initials PP or PAP just wouldn't be kind. I am a fan of unusual names, but when my husband started suggesting Obi Wan, etc. I gave in and we stuck with common but nice (we hope): Justin, Lauren, David.
catnep. Hmmm. It's a play off "catnip" (surprise!) as my initials are NEP, and I have most often been equated to a cat...umm, hopefully in the nice ways, and I enjoy their quirky personalities.
Well that's too much about me already. Looking forward to the bantering and learning.
[This message has been edited by catnep (edited February 04, 2005).]
quote: I am a fan of unusual names, but when my husband started suggesting Obi Wan, etc. I gave in and we stuck with common but nice (we hope): Justin, Lauren, David.
As the first-born in my family, my dad suggested the name Obi Wan, but I was girl, so that name was vetoed. Of course, as a Star Wars fan, it would have been an interesting name.
posted
Anyone a Stargate fan? See the episode where Daniel Jackson throws out a name for himself: "My name is Ollo...Hans Ollo"? The way he said it I thought it was hilarious...but I am getting off the topic.
I am just happy that all my made-up names I adored can end up somewhere in my writing even if none of my children got them. I think we can all be happy that way...maybe...seems like most people dislike their names to some extent no matter how careful the parents.
Anyway my real middle name is Zero. No, not self-dubbed! The story is in Philippines there are a whole lot of people named Juan, as in "one." Hence the folks dubbed me Zero to be original, so they put it. Apparently part of the inspiration also comes from Eden "Commandante Zero" Pastora - a Guerilla fighter from Nicaragua(?). Off course nowadays on the web Zero is a very common nick. It just happens that I'm probably one of the few who can claim it as my real name.
As for my handle, ZerHoe comes from a spin on my friends name, we call him Neileo instead of Neil, which somehow turned to Neil-e-hoe(cuz he's basically a man whore). Hence Zero+hoe=Zerhoe.
My first name is also Sylvester, after Stallone unfortunately. My dad was a big rocky fan. I guess at least its good that Sly isn't so common. It's funny though, people always ask why I'm called "Sly," ever thinking im the sly devil and cunning lady's man.
[This message has been edited by zerhoe (edited February 06, 2005).]
posted
Well, as things go, I chose "Monolith" for my forum name from a character I wrote about 10 years ago (he's gone through so many changes, but is basically the same guy).
It is also a singular large stone tower(?) can't recall the exact meaning, but it is ominous and foreboding to boot. Mysterious as well too.
As for my first name it's Bryan. Irish spelling I believe and named after my dad. My brothers are Charles and Eric. Common names I'm sure of it.
As for pet names, we've had Brandy and Rusty, Irish Setter/Golden Retriever mix, brother and sister.
Max= 1/4 rotty 1/4 chow and 1/2 German Shepard. I was told he was put down.
We've had a bunch of cats growing up but never bothered to name any of them.
But enough rambling for now. Nice to meet everyone.
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) for the last dozen years or so.
