Naming Roses

19 May 2010 | Filed Under Tools of the Trade 

We all know Juliet’s famous balcony line:

“What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”

Yeah, that’s nice, Juliet, but I think names do matter.

After all, ole Will didn’t say, “a chrysanthemum by any other name.” Mostly because “chrysanthemum” doesn’t go “trippingly on the tongue” (thanks Hamlet!). And nobody wants to be wooed by a Hank.

A good name for your characters is important. A long time ago, I came up with names for two characters. It fit them perfectly, so I wrote them down in a little notebook to remember them. Of course, I lost the notebook, and forgot the names. I had to come up with new ones. As I explained it, “The first names fit like a glove. These new ones are like mittens.”

But it’s hard to come up with decent names. I’ve heard one of the best friends an author can have is a baby-naming book.

I don’t have one. I use what the gods gave me: the internet!

The name of our Narrator hero, Prince Calder, came from the site 20,000 Names. I’d actually used the name for a previous character for a book I’m no longer writing, but I think it’s a better fit for my prince.

The great wizard Tayryn’s name was created with the help of a Fantasy Name Generator. This thing rarely comes up with good names on the spot, but if you refresh enough times, you’ll notice you’re leaning more toward certain sounds and spellings. That’s what puts you in the right direction.

Pennington, the narrator himself, and Saydie, a thief girl, got their names from plain old everyday ones. Saydie’s name and character are actually based on my old dog Sadie, complete with quirks.

When in doubt, add weird letters!

But don’t go overboard. The other day I was trying to read Rebecca Lickiss’ Never After. How on earth do you pronounce names like Zenpfennig and Urticacea without breaking a tooth?

Be smart. Name well.

Comments

2 Responses to “Naming Roses”

  1. Dan on May 20th, 2010 6:00 pm

    Zenpfinnig doesn’t look so crazy after trying to read Slavic languages (well, Polish). The rule seems to be something along the lines of “If there obviously needs to be a vowel sound in these ridiculously long clusters of vowels, add the one that makes the most sense.” And Urticacea doesn’t seem that unpronounceable (Ur-ti-kay-sha?).

    Alternately, Hermione (to me) may as well have been in the tooth-breaking category…at least I was totally mispronouncing it as her-me-oan. And that certainly didn’t stop JK Rowling…

  2. Jenn on May 20th, 2010 11:31 pm

    There’s also Mazigian which kept messing me up. I always switched the letters to get Magizian (a.k.a. Magician). Yeah, okay on Urticacea, but after a while I was just like “the U character.”

    It was kind of fun that she threw in Hermione teaching Krum how to say her name – just for those readers who mispronounced it!

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    Hi, I'm Jenn, new grad student and old YA fantasy writer. I've long dreamed of being a novelist, and I bet you have too. I hope you find my blog helpful, inspiring, and maybe just a little bit fun. (But not too much fun. Writing is serious business, you know.)

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