So I'm translating my book, which isn't exactly "general writing", I suppose, but with all the rebuilding of puns and other jokes that only work in English, one could see this as a bit of a rewrite. Now, what about names? I know several names in Harry Potter got Dutched up in the translations and I'm wondering if I should do that as well. However, mine is not a fantasy with fantastical names. Some names, like the town's name, translate easily, but in general you're not supposed to change names. I agree, but while the MC's name could still be an uncommon Dutch name, there are a lot of English-only names (take Rooney, for example, the main supporting castmember) and it just looks off in a Dutch text. Anyone have anything to say about this? And on the off chance that anyone knows a Dutch version of "Rooney", I'm listening.
https://www.irishcentral.com/irish-surnames-explained-part-iii https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/top-100-irish-last-names https://www.babynamespedia.com/meaning/Rooney The first two links above aren't especially helpful, but the third one might be. How about using the name "Held"? Or, https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=Rooney So, possibly "Kampioen"?
where's the story set? If it's set in America or the UK or something I don't know why you'd change the names.
Something curious I finally twigged to after marrying a genuine Latina: In the U.S., when we write about people and places in other countries, we use the names that are used in the country. Thus, Sao Paolo, Brazil, is "Sao Paolo," not "Saint Paul." King Felipe of Spain is "Felipe VI," not "Phillip VI." But when Spanish language media report on people and events in the U.S. -- they translate the names. So instead of New York I would see "Nueva York." Tom Brady would be "Tomás." I still haven't decided if I should be amused or irritated. Different strokes for different folks.
Harry Potter is a children's series so it makes sense that they'd localise names for it. Kids aren't likely to know English particularly well and benefit from seeing names they recognise. If your story is for adults, they're going to be familiar with English language names, especially given that the Netherlands consistently tops the charts in ESL abilities. With that in mind, I wouldn't bother localising names of people or places.
Yeah, I looked it up as well. I enjoy learning the meanings of names anyway and it is indeed champion, but the character's original name is Rob Rooney, and he consistently gets called Rooney. And it works. But it's one of those things that doesn't translate to Dutch. Calling him Kampioen is just going to make things confusing and/or stupid. I'm sure I'll figure out something at some point, but it has to be just right. Fictional rural town in the US called Herringwood (a small tribute to a red herring joke in The Secret Of Monkey Island). And that translates very well to Dutch. Haringwoud does sounds like some small Dutch town. I never really wanted to translate the names, though, but there are a couple that are just grating when encountered in a Dutch text. Yeah, I can spend hours going through names that are exactly right for a character. I had a latina character, whose brief arc sadly had to be cut, and she had a latina name obviously. In a completely different story that will absolutely never see the light of day, I made sure to differentiate between names from different middle eastern countries, while they'd look the same to the average reader. Problem is, the translation would kind of make the story take place in the Netherlands entirely. Does that make any sense? I didn't specifically place it in America because I wanted it to be an American story. That's just where it went because I chose to write in English. The translation drags it down to dyke-central. It's definitely not something you want to feed your kids, no. But while the Dutch do seem to be above average in foreign languages, I did get a lot of remarks from people close(r) to me that they preferred to read it in Dutch. And these are mostly media-people; you'd think they can do the English.
Why not make it a nickname? Maybe he looks like a certain English footballer with an Irish name? If that might open up a libel suit, maybe a rounding of a Dutch name that makes it Rooney instead of Renee or whatever might be the Dutch equivalent?
If the translated version is going to have a Dutch setting, then the characters should have Dutch names. Why does it have to be a translation of "Rooney"? Rooney is just a name you chose for him, right? So -- choose a Dutch name. How about "Pim"? (Which I believe means something like "resolute protector.")
Yeah, when I looked up the Rooney-name I got that Irish mug, alright. The nickname idea could work, though. I'll still not go with "Rooney", but it opens up avenues I haven't though of yet. To be honest, I'm sure something good will pop into my head at an inopportune time in the future. It's just that Rob Rooney has a good rhythm. Both parts can be used in different situations effectively. Serious: "Rob. Dude. Come on, man..." Party time: "Rooney! Dude! How's it hangin'?" Somewhere in the middle: "Robbie, we've got our work cut out for us." I'll need to find something that versatile, if I'm not sticking with the English versions. The story is actually set nowhere. It's just a town somewhere. The language in which it's written determines the country it's in, and the names used in that country. But I want Dutch readers to still be able to recognize the names when Hollywood turns it into a money-printing machine. No. La-la-la! That is too going to happen! Anyway, Rob also works in Dutch, so it's just a good surname I need to worry about. I'll have to take your word in Pim; never looked into Dutch names that much, strangely. Though you'll have to look hard to find a name that can't be bastardized into something heroic. My first name means "The King", or so everybody keeps saying, but the way it's spelled is actually bastardized Anglo-saxon for "The Red". My parents accidentally named me Commie.
That’s interesting. I suppose to me a sense of place is paramount in a story, but I can see where you’re coming from.
I also thought that was strange, but then I remembered watching both Let the Right One In (original Swedish movie) and then Let Me In (American remake). One was set in Sweden and the other in America, but in the same time period. It didn't bother me, and of course most people who read it in one language would never read it in the other. Still seems kinda strange though...
I would make more of a point of the place if it mattered to the story. In this case, it doesn't. All the reader needs to know it's a small town. I keep calling it rural, but I wonder if that doesn't just mean "has a lot of rednecks". The currently shitcanned spin-off was supposed to take place in Las Vegas. There would have been no issue on the name-translating in that, but I only know Vegas from the movies, which wasn't enough to build a story on. I figure that's why I didn't make a point of Herringwood. The hell do I know about the States? I know! I'll make vague stuff up. The more vague it is, the more interchangeable it gets, the less nationality matters. Yeah, but it's my brand of strange. All the characters need is a stage.
This makes me feel like you're conflating the story being in Dutch and translating the names. Why can't you translate the whole story and leave the names English? Dutch doesn't have any incredibly restrictive morphology that demands you change names to fit declension patterns like Latvian or Russian do. It doesn't have a tiny phonetic inventory that requires profound changes to simple English words like Japanese and Hawaiian do. So why can't you just have a story that's written entirely on Dutch with a character called Rooney? Have you asked these people their opinion on that? As for the localisation itself sort of putting the story in the Netherlands, I'm getting flashbacks to the Phoenix Wright games where they tried to make the English version set in America but didn't change any of the artwork, leading to characters who were very clearly eating onigiri in a beautiful Japanese cityscape talking about their hotdogs in Chicago. If the only thing grounding your story to a given country is the names, then I'm honestly deeply concerned. You've not got any references to landmarks, local delicacies, cultural touchstones?
I'm doing that now. But some of these names are very American, or English, whichever you prefer, and in a Dutch text they do pretty much the same as a pothole in a freeway. It's definitely not smooth. I should check some Dutch writings, see what they did, but I don't find the Dutch language that great. I have not. Good idea, though. That might be oversimplifying it a bit. Where the story takes place exactly isn't important. Not for my story, anyway. There aren't any landmarks to speak of because the town is fictional. Perhaps if I had ever personally visited America, I could have chosen a real town to work with, but Herringwood could be bent into any shape or form I needed. The only important thing was that it shouldn't be a big city. There is a local delicacy, though. Very important to the story as well. Gina's Famous Chicken Wings, available at the Rising Wind Diner, across the tracks and up around the bend. Anyway, I'm not very worried about the lack of specific location. It's all very character driven (an unfortunate choice of words for a story built on a lost car), and absurd enough to not matter where it is placed.
I'm not convinced this is true, but if you have managed to create a story totally divorced from any particular socio-economic environment then congratulations, you don't need our help. If you don't want to keep the names because they sound bad in Dutch, and don't need to worry about it totally throwing off your worldbuilding, then it sounds to me like you've made your decision.
Does Rooney sound totally off in Dutch? I mean is a name like Runi something someone could name their kid in the Netherlands, like some obscure name? In The Walking Dead, one of the main antagonists is named 'Negan' which is in fact, a real name, but I bet a lot of readers/viewers had never heard it before (at least I hadn't). So you may not have to change all of the names if some could pass as obscure names a parent would choose or create. You wouldn't want ALL of them to be like that though.
A lot of American names are Dutch, or of Dutch origin. I once worked with a chap named Peter Borgemeister. Sounds German to me, but he said it was Dutch. I guess the meaning would be the same in both languages -- "village master" (mayor?). And, of course, we have carloads of various and sundry Van Somethings. The things is ... it's fiction. The names in English are arbitrary -- you plucked them out of thin air. So don't worry about translating Rooney -- just open up a telephone book and look for a name that strikes your fancy.
I can understand why you'd want the names to at least be very similar. I'm thinking of a scenario, perhaps some years in the future, after this book is published and becomes a bestseller. An American is talking on a message board much like this one to a Dutch friend and discussing the story. It would make sense, even though the setting is different. for the names to be similar. Ok, not necessarily. I just thought again about Let The Right One In and Let Me In. The characters have totally different names. The boy's name is Oskar in the original and Owen in the remake. But now that I've written that I see they are very similar, starting with the same letter and having the same number of syllables. Interesting. Oskar isn't a common name at all in America, in the 80's or since. Probably not since the 50's, and that would be spelled Oscar.
