I disagree with this... But perhaps it's more to do with the expectations parents have of their children, how they interreact with them, etc. like Leaka said. ALL Turkish names have a meaning, and everyone knows what their name means. It's a really important part of the culture here. Over the years I've taught thousands of students, and although it seems so stereotyping to say it, they usually conform to their name type and its meaning--it's uncanny. I have found that names in England also reflect the upbringing and moral philosophy of their parents, and therefore partly influence their character. I wonder if there is any research on this?
You'll notice if you reread my post that I did in fact bring up the issue with parents. In my experience, the names don't affect the named quite as strongly as you seem to have experienced, so I'll loosen my claim a little. As for Leaka I should say my post adressed her point as well, it being fairly similar to yours. Perhaps I didn't go into as much detail on that aspect of it. Certainly names can and do reflect expectations of what a person will be like, on many levels: cultural, personal, etc. And depending on the time the name was chosen and by who, this might reflect more or less of a person's true character. But it is also important to look out for expectations. For humans, these can color reality quite handily, and so while I can't and won't claim this is the only reason for the seeming truth in a name, I can say that it plays a very big part. I should point out that all names in general have a meaning, though in some places it might be less important to know what it means. In my eighth-grade GATE(basically reading by this point, but it really stands for "Gifted and Talented Education) class, we had to look up our names. And some seemed to fit and some didn't. We had several names that basically meant "God's Gift", and I can tell you right now those did not fit. Others had meanings that were arguable, such as "Princess", which could either mean regal or spoiled, or a host of other things. So it could seem to fit quite well depending on how you interpreted it. As for studies, names, and not just the names of people have always had a special significance to humans, and there are studies of every sort on the connection between name and reality.
I've been facinated with names & their meanings since childhood & have gone thru many dictionaries of names since then. Names for my characters are no problem for me since I have many sources. For a few years I was a member of the Writers' Digest Book Club & ordered many books on names; including Character Naming Sourcebook, The Melting Pot Book of Names, & Names Through the Ages. From an Asian import store I picked up the book Japanese Names for Babies. Languages have always interested me & I've traveled a lot. So I have a pile of language books. In the back of each is a glossary. Many times I've used them to find a word in another language to use as a name. In playing word search games, I find a jumble of words, when lined up, form an interesting name. I write it down for later use. And I found that writing certain words backwards can form an interesting sounding name. I recently finished a short story, which takes place in ancient Egypt, with characters named Tsep-Met, backwards for "tempest", & Nis, backwards for "sin".
In my stories, names rarely directly reflect a character. They are usually implicative of the parent's hope for the character.
In my next short story, I'm planning on being creative. Would it be interesting and unique if my main characters' names reflect the complete opposite of the character? For instance, I have a character who is very dull and depressed, and I'm thinking of giving him a name that means "cheerful" or "happy." I know this probably wouldn't work for an extremely serious story, but I'm planning on making this one somewhat of a funny, ironic short.
I was just on a break and skimming threads...sorry to come into this so late. I was thinking. I'm 48. In all my years the sweetest, sexiest, most handsome guy I ever met was 20-25 years ago. Drop-dead gorgeous. His name was...Dexter. If there was ever a name that didn't fit a person, that was it. (Apologies to any Dexters out there.) The guy left me speechless, which was a bit inconvenient, since a mutual friend had asked me to help him with his taxes. Seriously, a complete description would probably result in a forum ban. My normal reaction to most guys would be "He's cuite", "He's nice", or in my husband's case before we started going out "He's arrogant" lol. This was on an entirely different level. I couldn't stop thinking "You are sooooo NOT a 'Dexter'." Never saw the guy again, and haven't thought of him in years. Reading what FantasyWriter said about names reflecting the opposite got me thinking, though. One of the main characters in the story that I'm working on is a very sexy guy. I've been calling him Michael. I love that name, but every day I think "that is just so boring and cliche". So I was just thinking...why not Dexter? I just might. Oddly, it would change his personality for me a lot. I'd have to rewrite a bit to make it fit. Really interesting. Cady
I have always thought that Thadius Sterling was a stalwart name, it rolls off the tongue like the sweet lick of a lollipop.
I'm writing a fantasy novel and I like the name Grave the Gray. He's a magic user and I just like the way the name rolls of the tongue and it clicks too. I also have Willow Sparks, another magic user. It clicks as well.
Its called Legend of Grave. The story is about a young man named Wolfius, who is in his early twenties, he is sorta like a medieval reporter. And he wants to write one of the best interviews in the history of all mankind. So he hears these rumors of a sorcer named Grave the Gray. So he decides that he wants to interview this Grave fellow. The Gray was a title added onto his name because many people fear him and believe the rumors of him staring into the eye of the dark arts. Well then Wolfius finds Grave and Grave isn't very impressed. He's a bit grumpy and moody. He seems to have a bit of a stale relationship with people. But Grave isn't old. Only six years older then Wolfius, Grave is twenty-six. They end up.....well more or less Wolfius ends up getting Grave and himself in trouble. And they sorta have to find a way to fix it. They dot the lands trying to find people that will take on the problem themselves. Basically its a journey to find people who are willing to take on the biggest problem of them all....saving the world. Grave wants to get back to his peaceful moody world. Wolfius just wants an interview from Grave. lol! So instead of actually saving the world to solve their problem. They are going to hire someone to save the world and solve their problem all at the same time.
I picked Kate's name for power While I had always had a 'Kate Almir' (pronounced Al-meyer) since in middle school, I never had a middle name. In keeping with her strong, former gladiator past, I named her: Katherine Elizabeth Almir because it was a name that could be said with power like Maxiumus' was in "Gladiator."
I work in a book shop... not as fun as it sounds. I found my slef buying baby name book, after bay name book. Now i have 3... Best books I have ever invested in. When ever I need a name, a discrption and meaning are always in hand.
That sounds like such a good idea! (About the baby name books) I go online sometimes, but I like to have a hardcopy with me. Names are always something I have a hard time with. I usually just use initials to describe who they are like, MC for main character, BF for best friend, etc. Then afterwards, when I'm done, I replace with names.
Lliliean (yill-e-yan) Llilith (yil-lith) Xavie (za-vie) Lique (leek) I am basicaly using conventional sounds in unconventional ways It makes for some uique names
I have a friend who has a pretty rare pain disorder-- her immune system thinks her body's a foreign invader, so she's both always in pain and prone to long lasting sicknesses. She suffers from both bipolar disorder AND obsessive compulsive disorder. (also a rarity, as they work on the same parts of the brain in different ways, from what I'm told) The net result of all of this is that she has a lot of issues with depression and especially anger. Her name is Joy. Irony aside, Joy and I collaborate on a huge sci-fi project where a side cast of characters come from a government cloning/genetic manipulation experiment, so their names are both incredibly unique on their own, but lean towards being disturbing when you understand the reasoning. Jay, Max, Cue, Tes, Ell, Ess, Vay, Ecks, Ten, etc... Keep in mind, names are usually thought up before a person is born at the soonest, and a short while after birth at the latest. A character whose name means "fire" and who turns out to be a pyromancer (for a random example) is about as common as naming your son Rocky expecting him to become a boxer. Unless said pyromancy is genetic, then the name can be justified.
I have a confession. I'm almost at the point where I will have a finished novel but my characters are still lacking names. They are still called things like 'The Poet', 'The Russian' and 'The whore'. I'm thinking I kind of like it this way but it might possibly get confusing to the reader, no?
