It starts like this
“The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter”
Finding names for our fiction is indeed not easy!
Today, we are going to talk about the naming of cats... I mean characters and locations!
First, we'll take a glimpse at some moments in history that influenced the way we choose names.
Then, I will bombard you with tips and tricks for naming characters and locations.
And finally, I'll talk about how you can use Second Life as a resource to choosing creative names quickly. It's
NaNoWriMo! We can't waste any time!
II. ANCIENT GREECE, THE BIBLE, THE ROMANS AND MEDIEVAL TIMES
One of the first acts of free will was most likely the act of naming. Naming people, objects, animals, places, anything to which man associated meaning.
Though absolutely fascinating, the history of naming is as complex as History itself. So, I'll keep it short and I'll use a Western point of view.
In Ancient Greece, we can find the earliest evidence of the use of compound names. Married women were given the name of their husbands, not their fathers. It's also interesting to note that hereditary family names began to be used later on by the elites in the Byzantine period (traced back to 330 AD and dissolved in 1453).
An undeniable influence was (is) the Bible. Many of the names present in the Bible have meanings related to the personas who bore those names. For example, Noah means rest and the comfort that he brought after the Great Flood. Or Abraham which means the father of a multitude, as he was the patriarch of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. And the list continues. There are many examples.
In Ancient Rome, the Tria Nomina (three names) was used quite often. The Tria Nomina was at first used only by aristocrats. However, its use became widespread for practical reasons. It was easier to identify people and it was actually what distinguished citizens from foreigners.
So, the Tria Nomina was composed of the Praenomen, the Nomen and the Cognomen.
An example of a Praenomen or Given Name is Quintus, who was the fifth child, or Gaius, which possibly meant to rejoice. The Nomen or Clan Name reflected clan membership and social status. For example, Aurelius meant golden. And the Cognomen, which was a personal nickname, usually made reference to a physical or moral characteristic, for example Rufus meant red haired.
Sometimes Cognomen were not always very... favorable. For instance, Crassus meant fat or plump!
By Medieval times, and as the population grew, it wasn't as easy to know who was who. Surnames were then often created considering people's:
* Occupation - for example Mason
* Their location - where they were born, where they lived
* Or inherited names like Jackson (son of Jack)
The names of saints were also quite common and often chosen for protection.
Names do tend to have a meaning. They tend to reflect the culture, the history of the place, of the clan or the family.
III. NAMING CHARACTERS
After galloping through History at high speed, let's move on!!
If you're like me, you do a lot of research to find the right name for your characters. It is often a painstaking process that consumes a lot of time and energy. We cannot afford that luxury during NaNoWriMo.
Let's try to find a few effective approaches and weed out the ineffective ones.
*Consider the genre of your story – the names of your characters should make sense within your genre, regardless of it being a Sci-Fi novel, a mystery or a historical romance.
*Consider your setting and era – we have spoken about Ancient Rome. Someone called Johnny would most likely not fit in that context! Unless you're writing about someone called Johnny who is traveling through time!
*Consider the age of your character - when was he born? Which names were popular back then?
*What's the first thing you want your reader to know about your character even before he has done or said anything, anything at all? A Michael and a Mike carry two different messages. As does an Alexander and an Alex.
*Borrow from your experience – check names and nicknames in your family or your friends. Just don't use their whole name. Recycle (this is a word you'll hear often today). Pick a bit from one side, a bit from the other and combine names to create something new.
*Ponder carefully if you really want to use a name that doesn't fit your narrative – it could be an intentional, conscious decision on your part, but be careful. For example, some names might be considered old-fashioned like Bertha. So, if you do choose the name Bertha, make sure the choice of that name has a reason and let the reader know why you chose this particular name. If you don't explain it somehow, you risk creating what I would call “static noise” that will distract your reader from what really matters. But avoid info dumping! You have to come up with a way of showing why you chose that particular name – perhaps it's a family name or perhaps a parent got drunk, made a bet and lost!
*Avoid choosing a name that has been overused - something like Jack or Joe might be too familiar and distracting.
*Don't choose a name that is clearly evocative of someone who actually exists or existed, especially if they were people who had a negative impact - for instance a political or historical figure. Make sure your character, who is actually a very nice person, doesn't have the name of a serial killer! Again, if you do make that choice, make sure you have a pretty good reason to do it, and make that choice part of the story, perhaps part of the character's background!
IV. NAMING CHARACTERS - DIGGING DEEPER
*Avoid using names that sound similar - using the same first letter in several names will make it more difficult for your reader to know who is who, to distinguish the characters from one another. So, use distinctive names. Use different initials and even names with a different number of syllables.
*Read the names out loud - something that works on paper may not work quite well when spoken out loud, and you never know if your story won't be turned into an audiobook one day!
*Use alliterative names if you want to draw attention to a specific character - classical examples are Peter Pan, Clark Kent or Bilbo Baggins.
*Be selective when choosing names that are hard to pronounce - these names suggest something foreign, something strange and exotic. As tempting as it may sound to have a completely unusual name, be very selective. Make sure it does make sense in your story.
*An interesting aspect we should consider when we are talking about unusual names is how important it is for readers to know the exact pronunciation of a name?
As I read online a while back, I can't remember where so I'll paraphrase,
It's like when you read book and come across a character's name that you don't know how to pronounce, so for the rest of the book, whenever you see their name, you have to go “skdajokstjk” in your head.
It's complicated!
But some writers want the reader to know exactly how the name is pronounced. If that's your case, you can always add a pronunciation guide.
This, however, creates a few problems. It's not always easy to explain to a reader who is not familiar with phonetic respelling (those symbols you find after the entries in a dictionary) how to decode those symbols.
Also, where do you place the pronunciation guide? At the beginning of your story? Won't it be distracting because the reader has not seen all those names yet? Or at the end, perhaps with a short note at the beginning of the book for reference? Is this useful?
I personally tend to find those listings quite distracting. I avoid them as a writer and as a reader I basically ignore them.
However, if you really want to have that “pronunciation guide”, I read about an interesting solution to make it more interesting. You can create a short poem or a limerick. The rhyme would then help the reader figure out the right sounds. This is not always easy to do and it's definitely not easy to integrate in your story, but it's an option!
*Use Scrivener's name generator – it provides several options including a listing by nationality.
*Check online for unusual names - there is a myriad of resources out there, from good old Google to specialized genealogy sites.
*Browse through old phone directories, sometimes you can find really interesting names and their spellings.
*Check out the names of brands or products - for example make-up and perfumes. They often have pretty unusual names because the company wants them to be catchy and easy to memorize. Sometimes, you don't even need the whole name; perhaps you just need a word or a certain sound that you can recycle into a name.
*Check gravestones - some people find this slightly morbid, but a very rich source of ideas for names, and even for biographies, are gravestones. You can create the whole life of one of your characters just by drawing inspiration from gravestones.
*Take notes, take plenty of notes throughout the whole year! - you may not use what you find for your Work-In-Progress but they may come in handy for a future story.
*Create a contest for your readers - if you're already published, why not have a contest and use the name of the winner for one of your characters. A crime writer did this recently and one of the characters who was brutally killed by a serial killer had that reader's name. This might be a bit too extreme, but involving your fans in the naming of your characters sounds like a fun thing to do, and it's a great way of promoting your work ahead of publication. It creates curiosity and anticipation.
*Recycle, recycle, recycle - I've mentioned this before and I cannot repeat it enough. Mix the name of your friend's pet and part of the name of your street. Get bits of information everywhere and reuse them, creating something new.
*Use name generators - there are so many out there for different genres and for different cultural backgrounds. On a side note, there's even a Bullshit generator, I'm not joking!
*But, consider this, not all characters need to be named - as a matter of fact, naming a character tells your reader that that character is important for the story. It states that the reader should pay close attention. And often enough, the character is only a walkthrough. So, you have to be careful not only about the name you choose for a character but also whether that character needs to be named or not!
*And don't take things for granted - check and recheck, and triple check!
Now, let's get back to T. S. Eliot's poem. The premise of this poem is that cats have three names. I chose three sections of the poem.
“You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,”
“But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?”
“But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover--
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.”
So, even if you don't use some of them in the story, my suggestion is to find a first name, a middle name, a last name and a nickname for your characters.
How was this character called when he was a kid? Does the wife/husband call him by a different name? Is he called Mr. Johnson by his subordinates at work? Do the same subordinates also call him Mr. Finicky behind his back? How about his mother? What does she call him? Poopie...? This nickname also speaks volumes about the mother!
And why not be inspired by T.S.Eliot's poem and give your character that secret name only he/she knows!
Names will help you understand your character much better, they will help you come up with incredible adventures and impossible obstacles for the poor souls! Yes, we do torture them a bit, don't we!
V. NAMING LOCATIONS
Let's talk a little bit about naming locations. We could be talking about cities, towns, villages, a river, a creek, a neighborhood, a street, a subway route, a favorite spot or a farm, a cottage, a house, even a monument.
Naming a place is somewhat similar to naming a character. A few things to have in mind:
*Be realistic. Make sure the name fits the context of your narrative. By realistic I mean plausible. It has to make sense for the reader.
*Think about the image you want to evoke in your readers' mind. Is it a horribly cold place? Or a nice welcoming one?
*Think about the background history of that place. What happened there that could have contributed to the naming of that location?
*Check out maps of areas that have the same “feel”, the same look as the one in your story.
*Think about the people. Who lives there? How did they make that place grow? Or not? Perhaps the place is dying. How does life influence the name of that particular location?
*Draw inspiration from what is happening around you and, again, recycle. You may find the name of a neighbor interesting. Could part of that name be used as the name of a creek? Or an area of town?
*As happens with characters, avoid names that have been reused a million times.
Names are a sort of a capsule of information, of secrets, of past lives, and of dreams and plans for the future. Make good use of names, enjoy choosing them. Make them your allies in your story!
VI. SECOND LIFE'S WEALTH
Moving on to using Second Life as a resource.
Those of you who know me well, know that I strongly believe that virtual worlds are an amazing resource for writers.
We all know that getting stuck is not an option. We must write almost 2000 words every day (I usually aim for 2500 words, just in case!), so not knowing what to write, where to go with your characters, can be fatal!
Also, we know that we spend way too much time researching just that perfect name that we know exists somewhere out there! In fact, what we are really doing is procrastinating! But pshhh, don't tell anyone! We know we have to write about 2000 words a day and we choose to spend 3 days researching for the perfect name. We have all been there, haven't we?
So, how can we use Second Life to quickly find the right name for our character or location?
*Use the Search option in the Second Life viewer - look up People. Type a 1st letter. And then scroll down through the list of names. You have an endless array of possibilities there. As mentioned before, recycle, recycle, recycle! Don't use a name that already exists, for obvious reasons.
*Keep a file with names you come across – I have a file in my computer where I keep a list of names. Whenever I come across a funny name in Second Life or an unusual name, or even a clever name, or a completely daft one, I note it down for future stories.
A great place to spot names that are absolutely crazy are clubs in SL, especially those with a lot of traffic and regular events throughout the whole day.
*But you can be more selective and look for a certain type of name. A great way of doing this is to Look for Roleplay (RP) communities in SL. There are plenty of communities out there – Gothic, Vampire, Medieval/Gor, Sci-Fi, Furry, Steampunk.
You can find these RP sims by going to Second Life's Search or the Destination Guide and typing in what you need. Don't be discouraged if things don't work out in your first attempt.
I know a few people who don't agree with me, because they've had bad experiences, but... I like going to Roleplay sims. Their names are usually very creative. And they are very characteristic of the type of RP people are doing.
I follow a few simple rules to avoid being kicked out of a RP sim. Very briefly:
*I dress accordingly. If, at the Landing Point, there is a request for visitors to follow a certain dress code and to wear a visitor's tag, I do it. But, regardless, even if there's no such request, I always try to fit in.
*I never engage in conversation with anyone, unless they talk to me first. This is to avoid messing up their RP.
*I also always wear my writer's tag. That triggers a lot of curiosity. I end up being asked to tell them a bit more about what I am doing there, and whether the visit is related to writing. The reactions I have got from residents were very positive. I went to a RP sim once that had a few restricted areas. I walked about for a while and suddenly someone IM'ed me. I explained why I was there and that I wrote stories. So, that person offered to give me a tour of the sim. Long story short, I ended up chatting with a horse for half an hour and actually having access to those restricted areas that were amazing! You couldn't make this up! Only in Second Life!
*As most of you know, I always wear a weapon. If I'm asked to remove any weapons, I immediately agree. It's not my sim, I'm a guest. If anyone is rude, I can always say “Have a nice day” and leave! But, curiously enough, I was never treated badly. I was asked to leave once, very politely, because the sim was closed to anyone outside of that community, and I complied. They said thank you and that was it. No drama.
Let's get back to the naming tips.
*Follow SL blogs - I follow a few blogs that review new sims in Second Life or sims that have been updated recently. Even if I can't spend much time there when I read the blog post, I go and grab a Landmark for a future visit.
*Now, about Second Life in general, and this is why I mentioned the blogs, look around you - as it happens in Real Life, the objects that exist around us in Second Life can also provide interesting names.
I don't know which viewer you use, but in the Firestorm viewer, you can press the keys Ctrl+Shift+T and if you hover the mouse on top of an object, you will see a small pop up window with the name of that object and other information, including the name of the owner. This is a very useful feature because creators in Second Life are very imaginative and they come up with really interesting names that we can use in our stories.
I can't conclude this workshop without drawing your attention to the fact that
Milk Wood is a great source of material for your writing. Our lovely
Harri has created a beautiful environment for us, and she keeps renewing it again and again.
Here you can find ideas for your stories, and a character or two, just by looking around. So, even if you don't rent a home here at Milk Wood (do rent a home to help maintain the sim!), I encourage you to visit often and explore the sim!
And I leave you with a quote by Freud. I think this quote is very beautiful.
“A human being's name is a principal component in his person, perhaps a piece of his soul.”
Sigmund Freud
I wish you good luck in this crazy adventure called NaNoWriMo and I hope this workshop gave you a bunch of ideas for naming your characters and your locations.
Now, go and find the soul of your cats!
RESOURCES
Name Generators
Lizzie's Information about Writing
Lizzie's Writing Community
