Mishmashing letters without meaning isn't a good idea. You might want to add meaning to your names based on their meaning in a different language, if you aren't inventing your own (Dothraki for example, but even Dothraki is based on existing languages). Of course don't pull a Paolini and say "Galbatorix" was taken from Welsh when even the fans of Inheritance acknowledge it was taken from his ass instead. @Mckk: I want to but I have a gripe with it because I'm jealous about the fact Katniss might be a better female lead than the protagonist of my ongoing novel.
@Man in the Box - loool Katniss is indeed a pretty awesome lead. I'm sure yours is too! And I just noticed you quoted me in your sig I feel flattered!
@outsider - I'm sorryyyy!! Nothing wrong with the name Peter at all. It's a solid, stand-up name and it's the name of a very significant apostle/saint [/quote] As apolistic names go, it sure beats Judas.
That was a loooong time ago, lol. Your words gave me hope since, if drivel sometimes makes it to the shelves, then I can hope to be published one day.
Oops, sowwie The squiggles are the phonetic alphabet (IPA). I was just wondering if the author was like "I need some future-y name for my character. Hmm, Peter is too normal... How about Peeta, as if a British 6-year-old had spelled the name 'Peter'?" Heh, Paita means 'shirt' in Finnish
I'm afraid I agree. Anana may look okay (not great) on paper, but when you go to say it, it just sounds ...unappealing. Like a series of grunts. Un ann uh. I had a friend once named Aurora, and it was similar. Looked fine, connotation wonderful ...but it was awkward to say her name out loud. Orr rroar uh, Orr rroar uh ...putt putt putt putt putt. Sounds like trying to start your car. The last thing you want is to create a name that people are going to make fun of. And the 'banana' has already been mentioned here. Do you want people referring to your carefully-crafted character as Banana? They will.
Beats Jacob too - important name though that might be and an honoured individual, Jacob means "he who snatches the heel" or basically, "liar". I wish I could remember some of these Hebrew names, but some of those Old Testament children had unfortunate names man, like, "agony of my soul" or something. Peter beats quite a number of names!
Yeah I know it's the phonetic alphabet, but I had no idea that's what it's called I did nearly call it that but then thought maybe I should just call them squigglies cus then nobody could say I was wrong Paita means shirt? It looks like it should be a name to me. Note to self: never name a character Paita
We could take this multi-layered comedic mantle a step further and suppose some poor person with a stammer may try to pronounce it then we could find ourselves with anananananananananananana Batman! Sorry.
I find both Peeta and especially Katniss really silly names, actually, so how a name is received is probably very individual. But I agree on Anana, it sounds a little weird. Maybe Arianna, if you want something similar? Or is it too "real"?
It's precisely because it's a shit pun that I wrote it. Some of you people really need to lighten up. It's a Friday, go n have a drink, get laid. Do what you've got to do. . . Or sit here and discuss endlessly what names are believable and 'real'. Guess what, if you as the writer tell me a character's name is anana or banana or fifi-trixibell, I'll believe it because its there in print telling me so. Ffs.
Shoot. Jacob's the name of my main male character. Though, I was thinking about changing it because it's the number one baby name right now. (In the US.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittaria I like Katniss. If I wanted to name a character after a plant and found that Katniss was one, I'd go for it. Sounds cool. Peeta's pretty lame though.
It's not pronounced Un ann uh. It's Uh nah nuh. And I like the name. I like the meaning of the name. Maybe I'll change it to Ananna or even Inana (but I'm not going to take the name Inanna from another mythological goddess and apply it to my own goddess), but I'm keeping it. It fits my character, it fits my story. I'm not too terribly worried about it being related to banana or ananas. They don't call pineapples ananas in the US. But I'm going a poll on my Facebook to see how many of my friends and fans know that ananas is a pineapple. Also, I always thought the name Peeta was a good name. It sounds like Pita (as in bread) and he's a baker. I thought it was clever. And Katniss is a plant. Just like Primrose. And Rue. And Clove. I always thought that in this post apocalyptic world she created, they named their children after things. I think it's clever, but maybe I just have no taste in names...
Katniss kinda got ruined for me. My cousin who loves the series was texting me about them, and nearly every time she would type "Katniss Everdean" it would auto correct it to "Cat Piss Ever Clean". So now I very time I read that name end up thinking "Cat piss is never clean...".
Perhaps spell it Anina then. Or Arnana. Or Ahnuna ... ?? You can't control the way people pronounce something but with spelling. I guarantee your audience will pronounce Anana Un ann uh. But meh, if you're determined, whatevs.
I disagree. Not everyone pronounces Anna as ann uh. Some people pronounce it ah nuh. Ilana and Inanna are both pronounced with the ah not ann sound. I'm sure there's away I can explain the pronunciation in the storyline if I have to. But I really don't think there will be a problem. Besides, Anana (or Ananna, haven't decided yet) is the name for my Earth Goddess. So if people get banana or pineapple from her name, then it's even more relevant to her character. Win-win.
@Renee J - lol. Don't worry, Jacob's such a common name that no one would think twice about it anyway. @Lea`Brooks - you alone have the power to decide what names you wanna use, don't feel that we're trying to convince you still. I think the discussion just got interesting/funny for other members, that's all. It's smart of you to do a poll on FB though. If you don't think the relationship with bananas and pineapples is a bad thing, then you're good to go. Just bear it mind that this kinda association with fruit is often taken as something more comical rather than clever. Btw, I pronounced Anana in my head as "An-nan-na" personally. Spell the name using typical phonics if you want to ensure most of your readers will pronounce your names properly. On the other hand, it doesn't matter because to some extent, the reader takes possession of the characters we create. Either way, all the best
