Character Naming

As an Author naming your Character is an important step right after coming up with the plot. I am here to help you choose the right character name for you and your story.

Make sure your character name is Genre Appropriate. Make sure if it's a Historical Fiction novel or takes place in a real time period that the name was used then. Or if it's a fictionalized place then you can be as creative as you wish.

Just have fun with naming your character. It is after all your story.



Sunday, November 29, 2015

End of 2015 NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)

http://nanowrimo.org/

When I first wrote about this I was a day late in adding info about this challenge for the month and now I am putting it a day before the end as I wanted to make sure I put this on before I forget.

I hope that everyone had a wonderfully great 2015 NaNoWriMo and that you all reached your 50,000 Word count by the months end, tomorrow! If you didn’t reach the goal don’t just stop, keep writing even if the months over, finish the novel. I do hope that your novel became everything you hoped it would become and that you enjoyed this challenge.

Though I didn’t do it this year I am happy to say that I did finish in November three Poems, “Beautiful Nightmare”, “Dream Lovers”, and “Violet Fields” and two Short Stories, “The Girl with the Red War Paint” and “Everly After”.  I am at present about to start two new Short Stories, “Launch: 24 Hours” and “Scarlet Archer”. I also edited and wrote on another novel as well during November.

So though I didn’t do a 50,000 Word Novel I did have a very good writing month in general!
 
So I hope that all that did NaNoWriMo will continue to write come December and that everything you write turns out as good as or better than you expected. If you care to you can share moments, thoughts, experiences from this 2015 NaNoWriMo challenge in the comment section of this post!    

Happy Writing!                                                                                                                        

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Faeryn

Meaning: (From the Fairies, Of the Fairies)

Origin: (English)

Pronunciation: (FAYR-in)

Gender: Uni-Sex

I looked this name up after looking up Elfaeryn / Elfarin *see on list of posts*. Faeryn is a very pretty name. I think the meaning is great and makes me think this would be a name fitted for a character whose parents believed in Fairies or perhaps a character from another realm or perhaps a character from the medieval era as Fairies and Elves were commonly believed in more often then.

Elfaeryn / Elfarin

Meaning: (Spring, Arin: Mountain of Strength, Enlightened, High Mountain, Exalted)

Origin: (Latin, Hebrew, Old Norse)

Pronunciation: (EL-FAYR-in, Elf: ELF Arin: AARIHN Elfarin: ELF-AARIHN)

Gender: Female, Possibly Uni-Sex

I don’t know where I first saw this name but when I saw Elfarin I thought to make the spelling Elfaeryn to be an alternative spelling. I had hard time finding information on this name so I am not sure how popular this name is. I think this would be cool if used on a medieval character because many names then started with Elf. I like the meanings and the look is interesting.

Laelia

Meaning: (Orchid, Happy, Lunar, feminine form of Laelius, a Roman family name of unknown meaning. This is also the name of a type of flower, an orchid found in Mexico and Central America.)

Origin: (Latin, Ancient Roman)

Pronunciation: (lay-LEE-ah, LIE-lee-a, Lail-lee-uh)

Gender: Female

I was looking up middle name options for a secondary characters two daughters middle names and I wanted it to be an Orchid or flower name. I went with Lunaria *see on list of posts* as one of the daughter’s middle names and the second daughters middle name I made it Laelia. This name reminds me of a Hawaiian name for some reason and so makes me think of an exotic beautiful Polynesian character. It has a nice long history of use as well.

I would love to see this name used more often and with authors of Young Adult novels almost always using unique or rare names and using nature related names this would work, just look at Katniss.

Lunaria

Meaning: (Flower, Moon-Like, Moon-Shaped)

Origin: (Latin)

Pronunciation: (loo-NAIR-ee-uh, loo-NAR-ee-uh)

Gender: Female


I was looking up middle name options for a secondary characters two daughters middle names and I wanted it to be an Orchid or flower name. I went with Lunaria as one of the daughters middle names and the second daughters middle name I made it Laelia *see on list of posts*. The look is pretty and meanings are lovely. It does when said remind me of the moon and perhaps a hippie character, made up example. Lunaria Rainbow Meadow Lark!

But you know I love this name even if it has a hint of hippie in it. I would love to see this name used more often and with authors of Young Adult novels almost always using unique or rare names and using nature related names this would work, just look at Katniss.

Lycaste

Meaning: (Orchid, Greek Mythology: The Daughter of the King of Troy, Sister of Helen of Troy.)

Origin: (Greek Mythology)

Pronunciation: (ly-KASS-tee)

Gender: Female

I was looking up middle name options for a secondary characters two daughters middle names and I wanted it to be an Orchid name. Though I liked this name I went with Lunaria *see on list of posts* and Laelia *see on list of posts* instead. Lycaste is a beautiful looking name with a pretty meaning and an interesting history of use. If you have sister characters it would be cool to have them be named Helen *see on list of posts* and Lycaste, named after the daughters of the King of Troy from Greek Mythology.

I would love to see this name used more often and with authors of Young Adult novels almost always using unique or rare names and using nature related names this would work, just look at Katniss.

Floressa

Meaning: (Flower, Blossom, Floressa is a version of Flora (Latin) with the suffix -essa.)

Origin: (Latin)

Pronunciation: (FLAOREHS-AH)

Gender: Female

This would be pretty on a woman of mythical beauty. It has a look of perhaps a beautiful woman living on an Italian Villa. It is very beautiful and I love the meanings a lot. A similar meaning name on my blog is Florian *see on list of posts*. Floressa is very pretty and could be a similar sounding alternative to names like Vanessa, Chessa, and Flora.

Maelyn

Meaning: (May, The Fifth Month, In Roman mythology Maia: (source of the month May) was goddess of spring growth. Dwells by the Torrent Waterfall, Pond, Pretty.)

Origin: (French, English)

Pronunciation: (MAY-lin)

Gender: Female

I like this name that seems a lengthening of just Mae which always seems to be used in double barrel names like, Mae Lee, Mae Ella, and Mae Belle. I have a few other names on my blog with Mae in them, Maelum *see on list of posts* and Maelle *see on list of posts*.

I have used Maelum as a surname of a character before but now seeing Maelyn I think I would love to use this name as well sometime. It has beautiful meanings and of course would make since to be used on a character or person if born in the month of May or in some reference to that month.

Aila

Meaning: (Oak Tree, From the Strong Place, Hazelnut, Bird, Bringer of Light, Bright One, Shining One, Variant of Ayla, Aila/Ayla is also a Turkish/Farsi name that means halo around the moon, and more generally it means moonlight.)

Origin: (Hebrew, Scottish, Old French, Old Greek, Finnish, Turkish)

Pronunciation:  (EYE-la, AY-Lah)

Gender: Female

I was looking on the internet at costumes or something and I think this was the name of one off the costumes. It has nice strong meanings and they are beautiful as well, especially the moonlight and halo around the moon meanings. I like this name a lot and it is short which is nice but the pronunciation would put most readers off as it has two pronunciations that don’t always looks like it is spelled.

I would however go with AY-Lah versus EYE-la if I were to see this name in a novel. Or I might even wind up saying it as AY-EYE-lah which looks more like it is spelled to me.

Coralina

Meaning: (From the Coral of the Sea, Coral Reef, and Diminutive of Cora)

Origin: (Greek, Spanish, Italian, English)

Pronunciation: (ko-rah-LEE-nə, KAORAHLIYNAH)

Gender: Female

I have added a few other names with Cora or Coral in it to this blog, such as, Corabelle *see on list of posts*, Coralie*see on list of posts*, and Coral *see on list of posts*. This is just another name with Cora and Coral in it but I think it is beautiful as well. It is a nice way to combine two short names Cora and Lina to create a longer but still beautiful unique name for a character.

I think it is beautiful and reminds me of a mermaid or someone who loves the water or who was named for a coral reef, maybe the child of oceanographers or marine biologists. I can’t for sure remember but I think I saw this as the name of a character in a Young Adult novel but I can’t remember if that is true and if so which novel. Either way I would love to see this used a bit more often as it is easy to pronounce and is lovely.

Aloysia

Meaning: (Famous Warrior, Healthy, Safe, Whole, Wood, Forest, Wide, Aloysia is a variant form, with the suffix -ysia, of Aloisia (Old German): feminine of Aloysius. Aloysia is also a variation of Eloise (Old German). Aloysia is also used as a variation of Heloise (French, Old German) and Louise (Old German).)

Origin: (French, Old German)

Pronunciation: (aa-LowWiy-Siy-aa, ah-LOI-zee-ah (German), al-ə-WISH-ə (English), al-oh-WEES-ee-ah, al-o-WISH-a, ah-loh-ee-zyah)

Gender: Female, Possibly Uni-Sex

I forget where I saw this but I think it was on a TV series. It has a Middle Ages look to it which I like a lot. The meanings are strong and it has a unique look. The pronunciation options seem endless and so that may or may not be great for a characters name but in this name I can see a few nicknames which may help. Nickname options, Al, Aloy (I would pronounce it like Aloe, as in Aloe Vera), Sia, and Alo.

Edit December 29, 2015:

So I finally remember where I saw this name, it was a name of plants in the Verbena Family, example Lemon Verbena. I was looking through some of my plant books once and saw this and really liked it but forgot until the other day where I had first saw it. I love plant names and I love Lemon Verbena's smell so that must have been why I added this name.   

Alemmania / Alammania

Meaning: (Latin name for the lands where the Alemanni lived. The Alemanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes who lived around the upper Rhine River in the time of the Roman Empire.)

Origin: (Spanish)

Pronunciation: (Al-uh-mahn-ee-uh, Al-uh-MAN-ee-uh)

Gender: Female, Possibly Uni-Sex

I saw this name when researching Almond / Almund *see on list of posts*. This is a cool foreign looking name. However the pronunciation has me put off. I put the pronunciations above because I literally couldn’t find the pronunciations on the internet. I even asked my sister who speaks Spanish and she was unsure. So I am not all that sure about the pronunciation. If anyone knows the proper pronunciations please leave a comment in the comment section and I will be very grateful. I did my best in trying to figure the pronunciation and put it above.

It has a unique look and seems a name of maybe a Princess or Duchess. It has a very royal look and that appeals to me. The meanings are decent and interesting as well.

Almond / Almund

Meaning: (Defender of the Temple, from Old English Æ {dh} elmund, ‘Noble Protection’, variant of Allman ‘German’, assimilated by folk etymology to the vocabulary word denoting the tree. This interesting and unusual surname is of Old French and Anglo-Saxon origin, and has two possible sources. Firstly, it may be from the English name for someone from Germany, derived from the Anglo-Norman French "aleman", German, or "alemayne", Germany, from the Late Latin "Alemannus" and "Alemannia", from a Germanic tribal name, probably meaning simply "all the men". In some cases the reference may have been to the Norman region of Allemagne, to the south of Caen, which was probably so named from Germanic settlers there.

The second source is from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Athelmund", composed of the elements "athel", noble, and "mund", protection. There is no evidence of any connection with the almond nut or tree. The personal name was first recorded as "Almund" and "Ailmundus" in the Domesday Book of 1086, and the surname was first recorded in the late 13th Century (see below). William and Awdry (as written) Almond were some of the earliest settlers in the New World, leaving London on the "Abigall" in June 1635, bound for New England. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Ailmun, which was dated 1279, in the "Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.)

Origin: (Anglo-Saxon, Middle English, Old English, German, Nordic, Old Swedish)

Pronunciation: (AOL-MahND, AHL-muhnd)

Gender: Uni-Sex

I was looking at names and somehow I saw this as a name. I mean Almond I think the nut but Almund does look kind of cool and doesn’t make me think nut. The meanings are pretty strong and it has a pretty long history of use as well. I think this would be a cool surname or first name if used right. I would think it cool to see a character named this. It would give a rare unique charm to the character and would be amazing to see how an author would make it fit so right. 

Just this month I used Almund as the surname of my main character in one of my short stories. The first name of my main character is Sawa and is on my list to be added in a few months. As for Almund I thought it went well with Sawa and seemed to balance the unique looking name Sawa with a more common last name, plus the last name goes well to describe her job and heritage.

Alaqua / Alaquah

Meaning: (Sweet Gum Tree)

Origin: (Native American)

Pronunciation: (AL-uh-Kwah, al-ah-kwa, ah-LAH-Kwah)

Gender: Female, Possibly Uni-Sex

A few months ago I was looking for an alternative to a name I had used many years ago, it is an extremely long story as to why I needed the change but after research and asking a few people I decided to keep the name I had. But I loved this name that looks so similar so I decided to add it to my blog. It is a unique name with a pretty meaning. It does have a very Native American look but also a Science Fiction / Fantasy look as well. I love this name very much.

I have used Alaquah just this month in one of my short stories. It is the name of a tribal elder.

Monday, November 2, 2015

2015 NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)

http://nanowrimo.org/

So November 1st - 30th it is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). This is day 2 of the month and I had hoped to put this up on the first but yesterday was hectic for me. I have heard of this writing challenge in the past years but have never participated in it myself. Basically you write a 50,000 Word Novel in One Month. A fun challenge indeed!

I will not be participating this year but just thought to bring some attention to this writing challenge. Although I won’t be doing NaNoWriMo I have been editing and adding on at least 25,000 words to one of my novels and will be writing a short story and some poems and writing a bit on another one of my novels. So though I won’t be writing a 50,000 word novel all my writing for November probably will amount to 50,000 words, lol.

So if anyone is participating this year then I wish you well and hope you are able to finish your novel in one month. Have fun writing!

If you care to I always love to hear about characters names chosen for novels so if you are writing a novel for NaNoWriMo or just a novel for another reason leave me a comment and tell me your characters names and if I don’t already have them on my blog I might add them to my list to be added in the future.

Also if you want to share minor details about your novel, writing style, or any past experiences with NaNoWriMo or writing in general then leave a comment as well as I would love to hear from you guys. I do understand though not sharing too much about your novels online, so I understand not giving too much away should you comment.  

Happy Writing!

I try to have the most accurate Meanings, Origin and Pronunciations for the names on this blog. It is best though to do research into the names you decide to use for your characters as there can be errors on my blog. Or meanings, origins, and pronunciations I have not seen thus not been able to add to this blog.





Try some of the leading Baby Name Sites and Baby Name or Character Naming books as well.


The baby name sites below are where I collect many of the Names, Origins, and Pronunciations I use on this blog.

Baby Names Sites:

http://www.thinkbabynames.com
http://www.babynamewizard.com
http://www.behindthename.com
http://www.babynamespedia.com