Kernel of Insight: Naming Conventions

Welp, this has been a hellish week/month/semester.  I am still writing, but my revisions hit a major snag this week, with a writer's block, a poor section that needed a lot of work, and other issues that only now just got resolved.  Still expect my next chapter no earlier than December.  But, at least progress is being made.  That's better than nothing.  Anyway, enjoy this look into some of the naming conventions I use when deciding character and location names and the like.

Let's talk about naming.  I always try and have some relatively interesting names for different characters and many of them are original, like Minava, Kano, or what have you.  However, when naming places or certain people, usually based entirely on personal preference, I will take certain naming conventions or even whole names from other properties and adapt them.  One that you might not have seen coming is Alnor, our old aquillan friend.  His name is a take off on the Marvel hero Namor.  Granted, there's not many similarities, however I liked the sound the syllables of Namor's name created.  It had a powerful, regal tone to them.  So, I created a similar tone.  Basic naming conventions break down into four different types.  Adaptations from other sources, like what we say before with Alnor and Namor, straight copies of other sources but in different uses, religious symbolism, and basic etymology adaptations.  These do not, of course, take into account any names I create myself.

            When copying a name from another source, I tend to favor the weird or the unique, but I don't like using them in the same manner that others have.  For example, fans of Final Fantasy might notice that Mina's town, Gesthal, is the same as an unsavory emperor in one of their games.  There's almost no connection, but I felt the pronunciation and sound was such an interesting bit that I decided to use it.  This has happened in other works that I have created, such as naming a robot after Dragons from myth and fiction or adapting a full name out of two or three names, like Gilbert Albelo, a combination of two names from different characters in Ogre Battle.  I tend to keep these at a minimum, mostly because I can usually find decent names of my own to make, but it's a nice little tribute/ easter egg.

            Religious symbolism in naming is a bit more common, but only just.  It's usually reserved for Dragons, Metronians, and Goetians, as they have direct religious parallels.  And even if they don't they may have parallels to me.  For example, Agni, the primary villain of my book at the moment, is actually a force of good in Hindu lore.  However, I selected the name because he is a force of fire, divine fire even, which adds a layer of interesting religious discomfort with Agni's eventual appearance and presence.  Likewise, Rudra is, I believe, a wind spirit of sorts, but because I saw the name used for a dragon long long ago, I adapted it for use with one of my dragons.  Such is how it goes.

            Basic etymology adaptations are always fun.  Even if the etymology of Serano is different from earth, it can lead to some interesting names.  Nihilons are directly taken from the laten term Nihilo, or nothingness.  It is meant to be a connection to the Void.  aquillans also have a connection with the etymology aqua, because they are aquatic beings.  Nal-vey, Jela-Vey, and Sel-vey have some basic etymology in them, but are more adaptations of syllabic sounds.  Nal sounds like nothing, Sel is silver, Jela has a more golden feel to them.  Bear in mind, these are just how my mind might perceive these sounds.

            I like to think that these kinds of conventions are how most writers come up with certain things.  We either have easter eggs we want to include in our stories, themes, or what have you that allow us to create naming conventions that fall in line with a specific idea we have.  Very little comes from a vacuum, as they say.  And the adaptations and conventions can be as toned down or as insane as the writer.  I especially like in One Piece how all the main character's attacks are named after fire arms and they get more insane and high caliber the deadlier the attacks.

            No one pulls a name out of thin air, there is always something.  Sometimes its simply a sound that we enjoy hearing, sometimes it's a name we heard before, sometimes it's a combination of unlike terms to create something wholly new.

            Originally I didn't include last names in my stories, especially this one.  However, I think it adds a level of identity, familiarity, and memorability to certain characters.  Minava Gren, Celine Gren, Nivtenc van Arios, it adds something else to remember.  Of course, one of my greatest fears is that if I bring the name up again, people will just have forgotten it existed to begin with, because when talking with people you are familiar with, you seldom ever have to use last names.  It's important for introductions, but after those are out of the way, they are less important and fade into the background.  Also, last names offer another layer of intrigue and possible hints at a character's true nature.  I am especially fond of Deminos Savant.  While he is a failure in many areas as a conjurer and a mage, a savant is someone who is considered wise, a genius, or otherwise is knowledgeable in something they shouldn't be.  I think this plays nicely into the idea that Deminos has potential.

            Now, whether or not people pick up on these little naming conventions or tricks is kind of a crap shoot, so being all clever and smug about naming...isn't really recommended.  From my perspective, these are sorta like in jokes that I write into the story for no one but myself.  However, if other people can discover them, I think that'd be really cool, as there are several I didn't mention here.

            In the age of Wiki, there is plenty of user compiled data on anything from video games to books, so it's not hard to disseminate this kind of information once it's been acquired.  I suppose somewhere, deep down, I would like people to care enough to do that over my book, just the same as others have for anime or video games that I've loved.  Sometimes it's fun just to see how powerful or crazy someone is by visiting a wiki.  Wasted many an hour myself on Naruto, One Piece, and Toriko wikis, just sort of bathing in the crazy and the community.

            I suppose that's one reason for naming conventions, and easter eggs in general.  We want to expand our sort of internal community, but we don't want to solicit that kind of gathering.  We want people to find what we have hidden and to understand its meaning and in that way, draw us wayward people, writers and readers, closer together.