Read the article, I think it's interesting food for thought.
I've never liked my name, so I have invented all sorts of nicknames for myself over the years. For a while, I refused to go by Britt because so many other girls did. Then, after other girls started to go by Brittany, I let people call me Britt (but I never really liked it). I've been Anne and Rachel and Jaina and several other things, and I have friends who call me all of these. But my real name certainly had an effect on me--it's part of the reason I like to imagine so much. I spent a lot of time imagining that my name was something other than Brittany.
As for what it says about the place/family--I think we all do that subconsciously. We know that if we're writing a fantasy story, we're not likely to name a character Sally because that just doesn't seem to fit with the fantasy world. But for sci-fi, Sally doesn't seem so ludicrous a name.
So I don't know. Maybe I think too much about my characters' names. But names give a definite flavor to a story, and it takes a good understanding of the culture you've created to be able to come up with names that fit it.
There's my two cents, assuming it's worth that much.
[This message has been edited by Jaina (edited April 12, 2005).]
But I kid you not I have to work with a man whose name is Mr. S. Boner.
He is a nice guy and he knows how awkward it makes people feel to cll and ask for him.
But it's an interesting thought to consider...
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But the kind of parents who name their son Jake don't tend to live in the same neighborhoods or share economic circumstances with the kind of parents who name their son DeShawn.
My father named me Richard, the name that he had chosen for himself when he came to this country. Although I was aware of the declining status of this name throughout my youth, I never had any problems with using it as my name. Then again, I never had any problem using anything else as my name either.
One thing that I find moderately curious in retrospect, why would my father name his second son after himself? I'm afraid that the explanation offered in GATTACA for this sort of thing just doesn't cut it...though my middle name is Surpassing Brilliance (in Chinese, of course). My father claims that this means brilliant son of the next generation, which makes sense because my brother would then be first son of the next generation.
It is true, the official explanation has always been that it was because I demonstrated truly remarkable mental development immediately after being born. But that doesn't explain why my father's name was still available.
Loser probably didn't have many expectations placed on him so when he did well and rose above his name, he was aplauded etc...
Winner on the other hand had a lot to live up to. He was expected to be a winner and when he didn't meet those expectations he became depressed and just gave up all together...
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It is interesting to look at some of the trends and try to guess...er...figure out "Why?". Some very interesting ideas in both of the naming articles.
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But the kind of parents who name their son Jake don't tend to live in the same neighborhoods or share economic circumstances with the kind of parents who name their son DeShawn.
JBSkaggs: Really? There were about five Brittanys in my graduating class alone. It really is a mid-80s name, though, so most of the people who have it are in their late teens/early twenties right now.
[This message has been edited by Lanius (edited April 12, 2005).]
[This message has been edited by Lanius (edited April 12, 2005).]
A male student answered, "Rich."
makes me think that maybe, even though i already know quite a bit about Slicer, Viniece, and Yulanaia, perhaps i do not yet know everything... i really should go back and try to establish the whys of all my character names in my stories. not my whys, but the whys of their parents, the whys of their cultures, and the whys of themselves...
well. as for my own name, my parents gave it to me because they wanted their youngest boys named from the scriptures. and me especially they wanted to join the scriptures together. my full name is Andrew Lehi Patridge, Andrew was an Apostle in the Old Testament, and Lehi was a prophet in the Book of Mormon. as for myself, i go by Drew, i do so because i feel it is a much more unusual nickname for an Andrew to use, plus i feel it has artistic meaning. i even used the name Kaita in my Japanese class, which is a noun form of the draw verb in Japanese
My parents did that so they'd be best friends.
So much for that, I guess 
The other fun part about names in our family is that sometimes if one of us kids complained about something random, a typical response would be "You guys are just lucky we didn't name you kids Egbert, Hortensia, and Bartholemew! Quit whining for a minute and be grateful!"
Dunno what this says about me... 
But I love my name, which roughly translates to: (G-d is my judge)(date palm)(man of peace). Cool concepts, all, and with pretty renditions if you ask me. They don't really make too much sense together, but definitely cool concepts
And then there's the black names that weren't originally black, but European. Tyron, for instance. That's a Celtic name, but most guys I see with that name are black. My name (which I'm not going to give--I'm too cautious) is actually a Slavic name, but most people with my name are black (except for of course me).
I absolutely hate it when people assume that I'm black from just reading my name--not that I have anything against blacks, by the way,for I certainly do not. I'm just tired of people thinking I'm black just based off of my name. It gets on my nerves.
What's really interesting, though, is that my name is actually an Eastern European word (not sure which language exactly) for "fairy," which I think is completely appropriate as I love fantasy. Looks like my parents named me the right name, eh?
My kids have unusual-- well, they used to be unusual-- Celtic or Welsh names. Who knew that the name Liam would get popular when I gave that name to baby #3 back in 1996? But it's sometimes fun to see how people try to pronounce Dierdre.
As for the black vs. white type names, I have a cousin, born and raised in Idaho, named LaDawn. Definately not a black person, but there are many caucasian people in the Intermountain West whose names begin with "La." Remember BYU coach Lavell Edwards? And my maternal grandmother's name is Lawana. But then, I have a black friend in VA named LaTanya.
~LL
Nobody has ever explained Watergate to my satisfaction. And yes, I know about the burglarizing and wiretapping of the DNC at the Watergate Hotel, along with various theories about the FBI being involved one way or another. The part I don't understand is the scandal.
Since something like that is pretty subjective, I guess there is no explanation. As for my father, I don't know what he believed or now believes. If he was disillusioned with Nixon after the Watergate scandal, then I tend to think he must have believed that a) Nixon wasn't directly involved in it and b) Nixon failed to begin the coverup as quickly and effectively as he should have.
But then, I only ever knew the man post-Watergate. Perhaps there was a time in his life when he believed in things like right and wrong.
I can see where in the case of Crystal Roach being an attorney, it could actually help her. What if her opposing attorney fails to see her as a serious threat and therefore does not prepare his case as well as he might have going up against Lester Wellington or whatever?
I think if I were hiring an attorney I'd figure anyone who can survive past childhood with a name like Crystal Roach is bound to be pretty tough.
I think Roach is a French name pronounced more like "Rosh". Of course, flipping through the Yellow Pages and reading the name from an Anglo perspective, yeah, it would be harder to take seriously.
Of course with a strong track record and public renown, it could be a name that people would remember and even look for.
Just the same, I think I would add a "B" to the beginning. I'd rather be Crystal Broach. Of course then people would probably think of me as nothing but a tall, blonde bimbo!
Another influence on how we react to a name is how famous that name is in Hollywood. Unless their name is very common (John, David, Michael, etc), a mega movie or music star ends up with the patent on that name, at least as far as in the entertainment world. Parents might name their children after their favorite movie star but a writer would never use that name unless they purposely wanted to draw a comparison or make a contrast.
Finally, I think we all have an internal rhythm and sound we like for certain names. I noticed while reading the lists of the 20 Blackest Names that I tend to veer toward that same kind of sound and rhythm when naming my characters, particularly the female names. I really like three syllable names ending in an “ee-ah” or “ay-ah” sound. I never once considered any of the names I’ve created as “black” but I’m sure someone might.
I think it is a great idea to explore if our characters’ names had any affect on their lives but in general, it is going to be impossible to have every one of our readers judge our characters the same way just by their names.
His partner is Cameron M. Oakes the Fourth. The name just screams that he has a different background than Huang.
limo said
quote:
I think if I were hiring an attorney I'd figure anyone who can survive past childhood with a name like Crystal Roach is bound to be pretty tough.
quote:
If first and last names go well together characters can be more memorable.
What's weird (to me) is that both Jeraliey and I have stories on the go with characters with similar names.
Her character is Jeraliey Hudson. My character is Jeremiah Hudson.
We've agreed (in jest) that whoever publishes first must change the name of their character to something truly awful. Actually, neither of us care, but it I find it interesting that we would choose names that were similar, names that had a nice ring to it. Names, perhaps, are incredibly important in a story.
Otherwise, neither of us would bother
Grr.
If he were my character I would emphasize that he pronounces his last name as two syllables instead of one. I prefer having first and last names being different numbers of syllables. That way, when I decide whether other characters refer to him by first name or last name I can achieve different effects. To wit:
"I won't warn you again, Scott."*
"I won't warn you again, Michael."
"I won't warn you again, Yankovich."
"I won't warn you again, Huang." (Try pronouncing Huang as one syllable and as two syllables.)
Can you feel how the one and three syllable names leave the end of the sentence flat?
From a writer's perspective it is handy to have a two syllable name available for the speaker to choose. In subtle ways a two syllable name with this sentence gives the speaker a cadence that is intelligent and menacing. Choosing the one or three syllable name gives the speaker an oafish cadence.
Of course I can always compose my sentences to achieve any affect I want. But if a character has the same number of syllables in first and last names I lose some flexibility.
(* I realize this dialogue is terribly cliche and would never encourage anyone to write anything like it.)
[This message has been edited by Doc Brown (edited April 15, 2005).]
An interesting thing happened to my grandmother once. Her name was Flossie May Hicks (hey, it was a different generation). Once she got a piece of mail addressed to Floosie May Hickie.
Jaina, I have always been compared by people who know me to Anne of Green Gables. I would say I've always been quite a lot like her. In that sense, I love the name Ann. But, also from those books, Rachel Lynd is a meddling busybody, so that's why I didn't like the name Rachel as much. As an adult I like it a lot better than I did as a kid. I guess I don't mind as much that it doesn't lend itself well to nicknames. All my siblings had names that were easily shortened, but what do you do with Rachel? You can go with Rae, or Ray. Spelled the second way it sounds like a man's name. Or you can just leave off the 'el' sound. But then how do you spell that? Rach looks wrong, but so does Rache. Oh well. I was always 'Rachel.'
Recently, I have been submitting stories under my first two initials and last name. I started doing this after a Google search revealed that I am a pro-skateboarder in Europe. (Dang I'm, good. )
A Google search on your name is not a bad idea. At least you can see if anyone else is using it that might cause confusion.
OK, so there is one at the very end of the results that isn't.--Mel
[This message has been edited by MCameron (edited April 16, 2005).]
As another suggestion, Google your name every now and then. The last time I did mine was about 5 years ago and no one else was using it then. Now I get page after page talking about skateboards. (I didn't know I even had a skateboard.)
Hmm. Apparently I took first in the discus throwing competition at the Greater Miami Conference. And I'm on the Board of Education for some place in North Carolina, a Greensboro Lady Gater, a nursery attendant volunteer, and I took 7th place in technical sketching and design at the TSA national competition. And I'm only on page 2, out of however many pages makes up 13,800 results. That's crazy.
autumnmuse: That's funny, I didn't even think of Rachel Lynde. She didn't bother me much after the first book when Anne had to apologize to her. That kind of put her in her place, so to speak, though she was certainly never my favorite character!
I'm not sure why a Huang would pronounce their name with two syllables. And for the purpose that Doc stated, it doesn't matter how that character pronounces his own name, only how other people tend to pronounce it. Of course, you can then do something amusing with how he percieves people calling him Hu Ang. Some possible meanings could be amusing, although I suppose that it is possible you could interpret as simply being a name (a rather strange name, but a name).
Don't worry, Survivor. I pronounce Huang correctly in my head, tone and all.
In my Rampion story I struggled to find a name that sounded distinctly germanic, but not like an aging opera diva. That, in conjunction with this thread made me think about the way a name can conjure an instant image of a character. Take Ender's Game as an example. "Hot Soup" Han Tzu never has a physical description, but you get a clear picture of the kid, don't you?