"Myrmidon"? Does not at all sound like a name to me. Vaguely sounds like a species of extinct reptile, or perhaps a dinosaur.
Yes. It was actually a real greek name and would have been used as a kind of pseudonym in a french society by a person who stands outside the usual rules anyway. But if the associations that the readers have with this word are so odd, it does not work for the audience, even if it would have worked for the people in the book. Back to the drafting table it is, then.
I wouldn't spend so much time choosing names. That usually leads to pretentious names that seem more like titles, or worse, like characters in a Tom Clancy espionage thriller. My WIP is set in Paris, 1792 during the revolution when things are getting really nasty. It's still fantasy, which allows me some elbow room with naming characters... but as I'm using some of the real personalities of the time, the fictional characters need to belong to the same world. That said, one such real life person that plays a large role in the story, Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just, lives up to his name, in a bad way. After his initial introduction, he is simply referred to as, 'Saint-Just'.
Achilles' crack squad of warriors at Troy, without googling, reading other responses, or checking the spoiler ETA: Seems nobody else likes Brad Pitt's lesser films.
Does it have something to do with King Arthur? Maybe connected to the Welsh language? Nope, just looked it up. Wrong!
He wasn't famous when "Cool World" was filmed though, IIRC, and his higher profile lead them to change the advertising campaign.
What am I supposed to do? I guess the character himself spent a lot of time choosing a name for himself, so it needs to be something he would actually use.
I first read it in my head as "meridian" and then corrected it to "mer-mydon" and still think I'm not saying it right. Never heard of it. No real feeling about it. However, based on how I sounded it out in my head, I decided it sounded a little like Bibendum - eg. the Michelin guy:
Makes me think of Roman Gladiators (or one of their types) or a sea god/creature. I know I know it from somewhere, but can't pinpoint it.
Did my best not to look at any replies before answering your question. Never heard that word before. Kind of sounds like a gnome or some mythical creature, idk?
Haha! You should've seen the responses I got from my brothers when I told them my MC's (main character's) name: Me: So then Valfredo-- Brothers: Who? Me: Valfredo, my main character. Brothers: you know alfredo's a type of food, right? Me: No, it's Valfredo, not alfredo--and no, I've never heard of it. Brothers: Yeah, it still sounds like alfredo . . . Me: . . . I'm keeping it anyway. Then there was this response in the First Three Sentences thread when I posted my first three sentences (which have his name in them): Tenderiser: . . . except that Valfredo makes me think of alfredo. It doesn't seem suited to a dragon, somehow. Spencer1990: . . . I also think that Valfredo is dangerously close to alfredo, haha. Me: I'm keeping it anyway, so there! ETA: Before I read the responses, it made me think of mermaids. Like some other language for the word, not a mermaid name.
Have I heard it before: Yes. On Nationstates (nation roleplay forum), an Arms Manufacturing Company. Greek in origin. Evokes, to me, images of the sea.
Nonetheless, I think it should be a name that's approachable to the reader, not too common, but not too foreign either. There's a reason Tolkien named his two most important characters in Lord of the Rings the way he did... Frodo and Sam. The three protagonists in my story are... Rosemarie, Mabel, and Adeline (three 12 year old girls). Supporting fictional characters: Valerie (courtesan) Gael (animal trainer) Lazare (opera house owner) Claire (actress, opera singer) Hugo (tailor, costume fitter) George & Henry (two crocodiles) I don't think I've spent more than 10 minutes on any one name. It lends a random, sort of realistic feel to things. Unlike watching a movie, a mystery or thriller, and a character is introduced; he's the same actor you've seen in a dozen movies, each time he plays the bad guy so there isn't any mystery at all. Charles Dickens does this with his characters, same with JK Rowling, the names they chose give away the role of that character. That kind of thing doesn't work for me.
Well, yes, that's why I started the thread. Because I wanted to know whether this name is like that. I personally had never heard the word before (although I have a broad general knowledge), but it sounded good for a chosen surname. But I am german, so I have no idea how it sounds to anglophone ears. Turns out, it's completely different for you guys. (And again different for players of certain computer games.) In fact, that's the same problem I had with his first surname. Was fine for germans, but odd for english speaking people. And since I will first and probably only publish the story on the english speaking internet, I need to consider the peculiarities of the english speaking reader. But I just realized, that I didn't specify that it will be his surname, because to get feedback about the associations people have with this word, it wasn't necessary. The character's first name will be "Adras", which is fine enough. I have now chosen a french surname, although I might change this again, too.
At some point, you'll just have to choose what you like and stick with it. It's different to introduce a name standing alone on a forum and introducing in context in the story. I told you the reactions to my character's name, and I've decided to keep it anyway (other people I've spoken to have liked it). It's not a made-up name, but a name I found on a baby names website. I wanted it to have some meaning which itself is not as important as it used to be, but I still love the name so I'm keeping it. I just like how it rolls off my tongue and it's so attached to his character I'd have a really hard time writing him with a different name. I know because I've tried . . . no other name fits him.
I know the feeling. I wrote a story with a female MC who I named "Lauren" off of a slight physical similarity to an old classmate. No, it wasn't erotica, but thanks for asking. However, I learned that there were only (at time of writing) about 75 women, worldwide, working in the job she had. That job was integral to the story, and one of those ladies was named "Lauren". I had to change it. I just had to change it, but I couldn't take doing so, so I changed it to "Laurel", referenced it only once in the story, and called her "Laurie" the rest of the time. In my head, she's still Lauren.
I don't quite understand why you had to change it... because someone in real life had the same job and name as your character?
Ah, I didn't realize that, that you're German and we were discussing surnames. I suppose you could use a French, English, or even a Nordic surname?
That makes me confident that I can indeed write for an English audience. Thank you for the compliment. ... Or did you realize that my English was a bit odd in certain places, but thought I was just dumb? Yes, at some point I will. It's my fall-back plan. ^ ^ I have the same problem with the characters former name. If I don't come up with something I'm happy with, I'll take my first idea. If there are so few people who have this job, somebody could think Iain Aschendale wrote about her. And she could complain about being protrayed wrongly.
It's a little better as a surname now that you've explained it, but since it brings to mind the type of unit class from Fire Emblem for me also, I'd find it a little odd if your character is some sort of soldier or fighter. It would be a bit like giving someone the surname "Archer" just because they were an archer. But I guess most people wouldn't think that. It's just unfortunate that Intelligent Systems - or whoever - decided to turn that word into a class.
