Happy π Day! March 14, 03/14, pi! (Although I suppose we'll have to wait another 5 years before we get an even π-er day--03/14/15.)
Why is pi significant? It's certainly not because it's a number of circular mathematical importance, heck no. I hate math. That's why I cherish my relationship with my calculator even more than I cherish my friendship with Krispy.
No, pi is significant because one of the main characters in our long-neglected novel is a girl named Pi. Well, she's named Piety, actually, but we can't blame her if she prefers "the mathematical constant used to refer to the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diamater" versus "reverence for God or devout fulfillment of religious obligations/the quality or state of being pious/dutiful respect or regard for parents, homeland, etc./a pious act, remark, belief, or the like".
Why Pi? Krispy and I came up with the name after tossing name-ideas around and eventually the conversation degenerated into declarations of desiring delicious desserts. Like pie. Hey, pie! No, pi!
...and thus Pi was born. Or named, at any rate. But since the story is set in a world quite parallel to our own in some aspects, well, being named Pi seemed a bit strange, so we had to retroactively come up with a full name for her. Piper? Penelope? Pia?
None of them seemed quite right. And then, because we are cruel people, we decided it'd be much more fun if she had a name she didn't like, and/or was named after some kind of virtue that, if not necessarily anathema to her personality, was at least the sort of thing you'd roll your eyes at.
How about Piety? Hmm. Sounds plausible, can be shortened to "Pi," wouldn't want to be named that ourselves. Great!
And so did Pi gain her full name. I'm sure she hates us for dumping "Piety" on her, but come on, girl, we hung Pi on you too, while thinking about delectable deliciousness. You can blame us for everything, but give us credit where due too!
Valentine's Day is Val's birthday, and so March 14th must be Pi's birthday--symbolically, at least. Unlike Val, she wasn't created or named or what have you on this day, and it might be a bit much to have her actual factual canonical birthday be today. Nonetheless, she has a day unto herself--Pi Day. We hope that makes up for all the teasing you've received in your life.
Showing posts with label names. Show all posts
Showing posts with label names. Show all posts
4.08.2008
On Animal Group Names
So we all know the standard flock of birds, herd of horses, pack of wolves, etc. And I thought, well, you know, I'm not totally sure what you'd call a bunch of snakes, so I thought I'd look it up, and ended up wasting too much time reading lists of animal collective names.
I knew of a murder of crows, of course, because it sounds dramatic and particularly badass when you're a thirteen-year-old goth-girl writing your first fanfic. (I wasn't thirteen when I wrote my first fanfic and I'm not and never was a goth, but that doesn't mean I'm above throwing around stereotypes and mocking all the thirteen-year-old goth-girls out there. I never said I was nice. And incidentally, Word 2003 counts "badass" as a real word. That's cool.) I'd also heard of the corresponding unkindess of ravens. Apparently a bunch of crows can also be called a horde of crows or a parcel of crows, but those just lack the panache of "murder of crows". I mean, come on, a parcel of crows? That makes me think of brown paper packages tied up with strings, which makes me think of The Sound of Music and that's not very conducive to writing things full of emo angst and melodramatic lovelorn gothiness.
Some animals get far more than their fair share of alternative group names. The websites I perused all agreed that dolphins are but a pod, while peacocks are variously described as being a party, a pride, a muster, or an ostentation. I guess I’m not that surprised considering that peacocks are showy little bastards in the first place and so it figures that they'd have a bunch of names for themselves. Foxes also get several names, gathering into a leash, an earth, a lead, a skulk, or a troop.
The names often emphasize a particular animal's symbolism in society, such as say a pitying of doves or piteousness of turtledoves (doves can also gather into an arc, a dule, or a flight), or a business of ferrets, or a pride of lions. (Took me a while back when Lion King II: Simba's Pride came out to realize the pun inherent in its title. I never said I was fast, either.) Larks and skylarks sure get to sound exciting being an exaltation or ascension of larks and exultation of skylarks.
Then there are the names that are moderately more boggling. Take jellyfish, for instance: a smack of jellyfish. Maybe there's some kind of obscure marine biology terminology or slang that explains the inexplicable choice of "smack" for describing a group of jellyfish. Or maybe the name just smacks of weirdness because jellyfish are so damn weird-looking. There's also goldfish—you know what groups of goldfish are called? A glint of goldfish, which is fine by me because goldfish are, after all, shiny—or a troubling of goldfish. Which troubles me because goldfish are the most normal and inoffensive kind of pet fish you can get, except for that spooky fish from the only episode of South Park I've ever seen.
A wreck of seabirds is actually rather fitting, except that would sound terribly ill-omened to me if I were sailor—no wonder the Ancient Mariner shot the albatross. (Though apparently you call a bunch of albatrosses a rookery; there are other birds gather in rookeries too, like penguins, which also gather in colonies, and seals, which are not birds and also gather in pods and herds.)
These group names can be subcategorized too, such as for crocodiles, which become a bask of crocodiles on land and a float of crocodiles in water. Pheasants are a bouquet when flushed into the air, a nide when in brood, and in general form a nest or nye of pheasants. Geese in general form flocks, while in flight they form skeins and on the ground they form gaggles.
See? Distracted—completely sidelined by looking up all these weird animal group names. I totally meant to just mention a few oddities and amusing tidbits and then make a brief post on snakes.
So snakes: In general, a group of snakes can be referred to as a bed, knot, den, nest, or pit of snakes. Then we get to subcategorize again, because vipers form generations, cobras form quivers, and rattlesnakes form rhumbas. Ain't that catchy? I like the alliteration they've got going there.
However, I could not find on these collective-term-lists a name for a bunch of serpents. Undoubtedly this is because these lists were focusing on non-mythological creatures populating the animal kingdom, which is why they didn't list such things as a choir of angels, a quarrel of lawyers, or a glory of unicorns--and anyway, most people would probably just lump snake and serpent together.
I do seem to recall though that serpents in a group are referred to as a tangle. I asked several of my friends (including my dear Krispy) and they all agreed, yes, a tangle of serpents. Some cursory Google searching would seem to indicate that this term derives from the fact that the Greek Medusa has a tangle of serpents upon her head instead of hair; other than that and the fact that if you throw a bunch of serpents together they're probably going to look tangled, well, I don't really know if the term has any more significance or origin than that. Plus, Robin Hobb refers to groups of sea serpents as "tangles" in her Liveship Traders trilogy.
Being that Krispy and I are dealing with cosmic serpents, I believe we have a cosmic tangle on our hands. Or a cosmic bed. Or a cosmic knot, a cosmic den, a cosmic nest, a cosmic pit, a cosmic generation, a cosmic quiver, a or a cosmic rhumba. Things just sound so much more awesome when you add "cosmic" in front of it, don't you think?
I knew of a murder of crows, of course, because it sounds dramatic and particularly badass when you're a thirteen-year-old goth-girl writing your first fanfic. (I wasn't thirteen when I wrote my first fanfic and I'm not and never was a goth, but that doesn't mean I'm above throwing around stereotypes and mocking all the thirteen-year-old goth-girls out there. I never said I was nice. And incidentally, Word 2003 counts "badass" as a real word. That's cool.) I'd also heard of the corresponding unkindess of ravens. Apparently a bunch of crows can also be called a horde of crows or a parcel of crows, but those just lack the panache of "murder of crows". I mean, come on, a parcel of crows? That makes me think of brown paper packages tied up with strings, which makes me think of The Sound of Music and that's not very conducive to writing things full of emo angst and melodramatic lovelorn gothiness.
Some animals get far more than their fair share of alternative group names. The websites I perused all agreed that dolphins are but a pod, while peacocks are variously described as being a party, a pride, a muster, or an ostentation. I guess I’m not that surprised considering that peacocks are showy little bastards in the first place and so it figures that they'd have a bunch of names for themselves. Foxes also get several names, gathering into a leash, an earth, a lead, a skulk, or a troop.
The names often emphasize a particular animal's symbolism in society, such as say a pitying of doves or piteousness of turtledoves (doves can also gather into an arc, a dule, or a flight), or a business of ferrets, or a pride of lions. (Took me a while back when Lion King II: Simba's Pride came out to realize the pun inherent in its title. I never said I was fast, either.) Larks and skylarks sure get to sound exciting being an exaltation or ascension of larks and exultation of skylarks.
Then there are the names that are moderately more boggling. Take jellyfish, for instance: a smack of jellyfish. Maybe there's some kind of obscure marine biology terminology or slang that explains the inexplicable choice of "smack" for describing a group of jellyfish. Or maybe the name just smacks of weirdness because jellyfish are so damn weird-looking. There's also goldfish—you know what groups of goldfish are called? A glint of goldfish, which is fine by me because goldfish are, after all, shiny—or a troubling of goldfish. Which troubles me because goldfish are the most normal and inoffensive kind of pet fish you can get, except for that spooky fish from the only episode of South Park I've ever seen.
A wreck of seabirds is actually rather fitting, except that would sound terribly ill-omened to me if I were sailor—no wonder the Ancient Mariner shot the albatross. (Though apparently you call a bunch of albatrosses a rookery; there are other birds gather in rookeries too, like penguins, which also gather in colonies, and seals, which are not birds and also gather in pods and herds.)
These group names can be subcategorized too, such as for crocodiles, which become a bask of crocodiles on land and a float of crocodiles in water. Pheasants are a bouquet when flushed into the air, a nide when in brood, and in general form a nest or nye of pheasants. Geese in general form flocks, while in flight they form skeins and on the ground they form gaggles.
See? Distracted—completely sidelined by looking up all these weird animal group names. I totally meant to just mention a few oddities and amusing tidbits and then make a brief post on snakes.
So snakes: In general, a group of snakes can be referred to as a bed, knot, den, nest, or pit of snakes. Then we get to subcategorize again, because vipers form generations, cobras form quivers, and rattlesnakes form rhumbas. Ain't that catchy? I like the alliteration they've got going there.
However, I could not find on these collective-term-lists a name for a bunch of serpents. Undoubtedly this is because these lists were focusing on non-mythological creatures populating the animal kingdom, which is why they didn't list such things as a choir of angels, a quarrel of lawyers, or a glory of unicorns--and anyway, most people would probably just lump snake and serpent together.
I do seem to recall though that serpents in a group are referred to as a tangle. I asked several of my friends (including my dear Krispy) and they all agreed, yes, a tangle of serpents. Some cursory Google searching would seem to indicate that this term derives from the fact that the Greek Medusa has a tangle of serpents upon her head instead of hair; other than that and the fact that if you throw a bunch of serpents together they're probably going to look tangled, well, I don't really know if the term has any more significance or origin than that. Plus, Robin Hobb refers to groups of sea serpents as "tangles" in her Liveship Traders trilogy.
Being that Krispy and I are dealing with cosmic serpents, I believe we have a cosmic tangle on our hands. Or a cosmic bed. Or a cosmic knot, a cosmic den, a cosmic nest, a cosmic pit, a cosmic generation, a cosmic quiver, a or a cosmic rhumba. Things just sound so much more awesome when you add "cosmic" in front of it, don't you think?
3.03.2008
What's in a Name Redux
Now that I'm done dealing with midterms (for the time being), I can make another post about names without feeling guilty. So in honor of having fun and procrastinating (what 2 books I have to finish reading by tomorrow?), I'd like to blog about a few instances of Names Being Important and/or giving another delicious layer to the people they belong to in a few personal areas of interest. But first, let's start off with something a little more dense--namely Shakespeare (he's getting such a shout-out these past few posts).
From Romeo and Juliet, we have this famous passage:
Now, on to the fun things. The Harry Potter series has fun multi-layered names that I've enjoyed. These include those that may not have direct "meaning" per se but they evoke the type of person the character's supposed to be. I'll cover a few of these latter type names, but only if time and space permitting (since I ought to be reading). Before I go on though, I must make a token SPOILER ALERT warning for those who haven't read Book 3 and onward and don't want to be spoiled. (Spoiling people who don't want to be spoiled is a big no-no for me since I hate it when it happens to me and would hate to do that to someone else.)
Let's start with Professor Remus Lupin. No, I didn't realize he was a werewolf until the big reveal at the end of Book 3, but in hindsight (which is always 20/20), it couldn't have been more obvious with a name like that. Professor Lupin's entire name cries wolf. His first name, Remus, references the myth of Rome's foundation, in which the twins Romulus and Remus are suckled and raised by a she-wolf. The last name, Lupin, references wolf directly with the root of lup. Lupus is Latin for wolf, the Latin species name for wolf is canis lupus, and loup is French for wolf. You don't understand how much this stuff makes me squee inside.
Then there's the whole Black family. Sirius Black's animagus form is a huge black dog. The black part is a bit of a given, but the other relation is that Sirius, the star, is known as the "Dog Star" as it is located in the constellation Canis Major. It's also the brightest star in the sky, and what is Sirius but the most (in)famous member of the Black family in the storyline's recent years. Sirius' younger brother, Regulus, is also named after a bright star. The star Regulus is located in the Leo constellation, and not only is Regulus the brightest star in the lion constellation, it's the Heart of the Lion. Though it was mostly the clues given in the 5th and 6th books (esp. the RAB bit) that made me believe that Regulus did the right thing in the end, seeing the connections Regulus' name drew helped cement that belief. I mean, Sirius' brother named after the Heart of the Lion--the lion being the symbol of the Gryffindor House, which is where our main protags are from--has to mean something.
There's also the Black sisters, Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Andromeda. Bellatrix and Andromeda continue the Black family tradition of constellation names. Bellatrix is another meaning laden name because it's the name of the 3rd brightest star in the constellation Orion and means "female warrior," and isn't that exactly what Bellatrix is to He Who Must Not be Named? Narcissa, on the other hand, isn't constellation named, but she's a good example of one of those names that "fits" for reasons other than literal meaning. The name references "narcissus," which aside from being a rather pretty white flower is also the name of the Greek youth who fell in love with his own reflection because he was so beautiful. Narcissa, herself, is described as a pale beauty (platinum blonde, blue eyed, fair skinned -- unlike her dark-haired sister Bellatrix and cousins Sirius and Regulus), and while we don't see anything that suggests she's particularly vain, she is what amounts to a wizarding world aristocrat, and there's an air of self-centered snobbery to the old blood.
Moving on from Harry Potter, we enter the world of manga and anime. Briefly, I'd like to note the role of names in Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (which is a great film by the way) and Kubo Tite's manga/anime Bleach. Name is the key to power, identity, and freedom in Spirited Away. The girl protagonist, Chihiro has most of her name taken from her when she signs a work contract with Yubaba. She is left with a fragment of her name, Sen, to be called by, but she is warned by friends to remember her true name if she wishes to succeed in saving her parents and leaving the spirit world. The boy Haku is apprenticed to Yubaba but cannot leave his apprenticeship or remember who he is/used to be because he has forgotten his real name. Names are the key to unlocking spiritual power for shinigami in Bleach. For the protagonist Ichigo to truly gain the power of his zanpakutou, he has to first learn its name.
The more recent manga/anime hit Death Note (by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata) plays with names as well. The initial draw of the series is the Death Note's cardinal rule: "The human whose name is written in this note shall die." You find out later that you have to know the person's full and true name, as well as what they look like to make it work, but the implication on the importance of names is clear. It's the name rule that really becomes an obstacle for main character Light because his nemesis only goes by nicknames and fake names and famously by the letter 'L.' So there's a lot of playing with the concept of hidden and "true" names.
Then there's the manga/anime Loveless (by Yun Kouga). I can't really do an analysis of this justice, especially since the English Tokyopop release includes a really wonderful essay about the power of words and names in this series, but I need to mention it. It's strange to explain and I've read like 6 volumes and I'm still confused about stuff, but basically, the plot involves these dyads of a 'fighter' and a 'sacrifice.' Battles are conducted between fighter and sacrifice pairs and fought with words that form spells.
Where do names come in? The dyads are paired by name (fighter and sacrifice share the same name), and not just any name; it's a "true" name. We find out in the beginning that main character Ritsuka's brother, Seimei, revealed his true name (Beloved) to Ritsuka before his death. It is this "true name" that designates a fighter to his/her sacrifice, and it is from this shared name that they draw their strength and power. It is what connects them in a deep and spiritual way--like soul mates. Thus, having a pair with unmatched names is not just frowned upon, it's viewed with a fair amount of disgust. And for Ritsuka, who is trying to cope with the loss of his brother, growing up, and figuring out who he is, names take on an especially meaningful role. His "true name" aside (he can't quite make heads or tails of it yet), Ritsuka's struggle to find who he is under the psychological torment he's been subject to since Seimei's death is tied to the name Ritsuka. It's this name--not his "true name"--that he ultimately identifies with and uses to reaffirm to himself who he is. This action is especially significant in the context of Loveless because as mentioned before, words are spells are power in the series.
So in such a world, names perhaps hold the most power of all words and spells.
From Romeo and Juliet, we have this famous passage:
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;While Juliet is essentially arguing that it is what a thing is or who a person is that matters--not what it/he/she is called--she does not disregard the impact the name nevertheless has. While Romeo's name may not change his "dear perfection," it is his name and all that it represents that makes their love so star-crossed and tragic. The weight of their family names is the biggest obstacle in the way of their love.
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.
Now, on to the fun things. The Harry Potter series has fun multi-layered names that I've enjoyed. These include those that may not have direct "meaning" per se but they evoke the type of person the character's supposed to be. I'll cover a few of these latter type names, but only if time and space permitting (since I ought to be reading). Before I go on though, I must make a token SPOILER ALERT warning for those who haven't read Book 3 and onward and don't want to be spoiled. (Spoiling people who don't want to be spoiled is a big no-no for me since I hate it when it happens to me and would hate to do that to someone else.)
Let's start with Professor Remus Lupin. No, I didn't realize he was a werewolf until the big reveal at the end of Book 3, but in hindsight (which is always 20/20), it couldn't have been more obvious with a name like that. Professor Lupin's entire name cries wolf. His first name, Remus, references the myth of Rome's foundation, in which the twins Romulus and Remus are suckled and raised by a she-wolf. The last name, Lupin, references wolf directly with the root of lup. Lupus is Latin for wolf, the Latin species name for wolf is canis lupus, and loup is French for wolf. You don't understand how much this stuff makes me squee inside.
Then there's the whole Black family. Sirius Black's animagus form is a huge black dog. The black part is a bit of a given, but the other relation is that Sirius, the star, is known as the "Dog Star" as it is located in the constellation Canis Major. It's also the brightest star in the sky, and what is Sirius but the most (in)famous member of the Black family in the storyline's recent years. Sirius' younger brother, Regulus, is also named after a bright star. The star Regulus is located in the Leo constellation, and not only is Regulus the brightest star in the lion constellation, it's the Heart of the Lion. Though it was mostly the clues given in the 5th and 6th books (esp. the RAB bit) that made me believe that Regulus did the right thing in the end, seeing the connections Regulus' name drew helped cement that belief. I mean, Sirius' brother named after the Heart of the Lion--the lion being the symbol of the Gryffindor House, which is where our main protags are from--has to mean something.
There's also the Black sisters, Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Andromeda. Bellatrix and Andromeda continue the Black family tradition of constellation names. Bellatrix is another meaning laden name because it's the name of the 3rd brightest star in the constellation Orion and means "female warrior," and isn't that exactly what Bellatrix is to He Who Must Not be Named? Narcissa, on the other hand, isn't constellation named, but she's a good example of one of those names that "fits" for reasons other than literal meaning. The name references "narcissus," which aside from being a rather pretty white flower is also the name of the Greek youth who fell in love with his own reflection because he was so beautiful. Narcissa, herself, is described as a pale beauty (platinum blonde, blue eyed, fair skinned -- unlike her dark-haired sister Bellatrix and cousins Sirius and Regulus), and while we don't see anything that suggests she's particularly vain, she is what amounts to a wizarding world aristocrat, and there's an air of self-centered snobbery to the old blood.
Moving on from Harry Potter, we enter the world of manga and anime. Briefly, I'd like to note the role of names in Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (which is a great film by the way) and Kubo Tite's manga/anime Bleach. Name is the key to power, identity, and freedom in Spirited Away. The girl protagonist, Chihiro has most of her name taken from her when she signs a work contract with Yubaba. She is left with a fragment of her name, Sen, to be called by, but she is warned by friends to remember her true name if she wishes to succeed in saving her parents and leaving the spirit world. The boy Haku is apprenticed to Yubaba but cannot leave his apprenticeship or remember who he is/used to be because he has forgotten his real name. Names are the key to unlocking spiritual power for shinigami in Bleach. For the protagonist Ichigo to truly gain the power of his zanpakutou, he has to first learn its name.
The more recent manga/anime hit Death Note (by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata) plays with names as well. The initial draw of the series is the Death Note's cardinal rule: "The human whose name is written in this note shall die." You find out later that you have to know the person's full and true name, as well as what they look like to make it work, but the implication on the importance of names is clear. It's the name rule that really becomes an obstacle for main character Light because his nemesis only goes by nicknames and fake names and famously by the letter 'L.' So there's a lot of playing with the concept of hidden and "true" names.
Then there's the manga/anime Loveless (by Yun Kouga). I can't really do an analysis of this justice, especially since the English Tokyopop release includes a really wonderful essay about the power of words and names in this series, but I need to mention it. It's strange to explain and I've read like 6 volumes and I'm still confused about stuff, but basically, the plot involves these dyads of a 'fighter' and a 'sacrifice.' Battles are conducted between fighter and sacrifice pairs and fought with words that form spells.
Where do names come in? The dyads are paired by name (fighter and sacrifice share the same name), and not just any name; it's a "true" name. We find out in the beginning that main character Ritsuka's brother, Seimei, revealed his true name (Beloved) to Ritsuka before his death. It is this "true name" that designates a fighter to his/her sacrifice, and it is from this shared name that they draw their strength and power. It is what connects them in a deep and spiritual way--like soul mates. Thus, having a pair with unmatched names is not just frowned upon, it's viewed with a fair amount of disgust. And for Ritsuka, who is trying to cope with the loss of his brother, growing up, and figuring out who he is, names take on an especially meaningful role. His "true name" aside (he can't quite make heads or tails of it yet), Ritsuka's struggle to find who he is under the psychological torment he's been subject to since Seimei's death is tied to the name Ritsuka. It's this name--not his "true name"--that he ultimately identifies with and uses to reaffirm to himself who he is. This action is especially significant in the context of Loveless because as mentioned before, words are spells are power in the series.
So in such a world, names perhaps hold the most power of all words and spells.
2.26.2008
What's In a Name?
Let's be frank. Names are ridiculously important, and they are a big issue for me and Alz. If you ever have the (mis)fortune to peek in on one of our brainstorming sessions--whether it be for our joint work or individual work--you'll see how much we trip and stumble. Indeed, the list of "Project ____" names that Alz posted a few posts back should be indicative of this.
For this collaboration, we just went for the hit or miss style of naming people. We tended to do very quick character sketches before attempting to find a name for said characters. Interestingly enough, the method we've been using the most is "So what letters don't you use a lot?" and then we instant message names starting with whatever less-used letter we've settled upon. (Let me tell you, names beginning with U and Q prove to be difficult.) Surprisingly, this method has worked well for this unnamed novel.
We take other factors into consideration as well, such as the sound and spelling of the name in relation to how we think a character is or what a place ought to be like. We also like looking up name meanings or using root words and translating them into another language. I'm especially into names with meanings because I think it adds another layer to characters. It's like randomly clicking around on a DVD menu and finding a hidden Easter Egg.
The most important thing is, of course, "fit." The name and the character have to click. This part is more on the subjective side of things and is too hard to explain since it's more of a feeling than anything else, but I still find it of utmost importance. A name can be hilarious or beautiful or incredibly clever, but if it doesn't somehow capture the character--if it's not "right"--it's all for naught. Names are, after all, an integral part of identity. It's a word (or maybe a handful of words depending) that identifies a person to him/herself and to the rest of his/her society, making it powerful.
We see this for ourselves in our literature and culture. In folklore and fantasy, there's the idea of the true name, in which the knowledge of names is power and in which names are thought to reflect some true aspect of the thing being named. In a similar vein, an article published in Psychology Today a long while back interviewed people who had changed their names, and these people said they'd done it because they were unhappy with their given names, that those old names did not reflect who they really were. Naming practices reflect the belief that names can help shape a person's character/personality and/or guide their destinies. Just look at all the baby name books out there! Chinese names are written and spoken with the surname first, expressing a cultural emphasis on the importance of the family and one's place in a family group. And finally, my specific literature example is from the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller. At the end of the play, John Proctor cannot bring himself to sign a false confession and says
I thought this would be an interesting topic on its own, but also because in our current story, Alz and I have found ourselves with more than one character who dislikes their name or at least goes by something other than their given name (i.e. a nickname). This is abnormal, at least for me because I don't often have characters who go by nicknames. Although, I do touch on the "true name" idea passingly sometimes.
So what are some of your favorite names for anyone, real or fictional? How do other people go about naming the Proper Nouns populating their stories? And to reiterate, what's in a name?
P.S. A fun fact related to all this is how Val was named. (I know, I already mentioned him. I can't help picking on the poor dear.) We used our original method of just throwing out names and even looked a few up, but nothing seemed to stick. Then finally, Alz said, "Happy Valentine's Day!"--(and it literally was)--"VALENTINE. HIS NAME SHOULD BE VALENTINE." To which the conversation continued as follows:
K: I guess...we could call him Val and then he can be really embarrassed about it later.
A: I don't know. I just thought, you know, it might be a sign.
We didn't actually name him Valentine, but it's something else, and it's still shortened to Val.
For this collaboration, we just went for the hit or miss style of naming people. We tended to do very quick character sketches before attempting to find a name for said characters. Interestingly enough, the method we've been using the most is "So what letters don't you use a lot?" and then we instant message names starting with whatever less-used letter we've settled upon. (Let me tell you, names beginning with U and Q prove to be difficult.) Surprisingly, this method has worked well for this unnamed novel.
We take other factors into consideration as well, such as the sound and spelling of the name in relation to how we think a character is or what a place ought to be like. We also like looking up name meanings or using root words and translating them into another language. I'm especially into names with meanings because I think it adds another layer to characters. It's like randomly clicking around on a DVD menu and finding a hidden Easter Egg.
The most important thing is, of course, "fit." The name and the character have to click. This part is more on the subjective side of things and is too hard to explain since it's more of a feeling than anything else, but I still find it of utmost importance. A name can be hilarious or beautiful or incredibly clever, but if it doesn't somehow capture the character--if it's not "right"--it's all for naught. Names are, after all, an integral part of identity. It's a word (or maybe a handful of words depending) that identifies a person to him/herself and to the rest of his/her society, making it powerful.
We see this for ourselves in our literature and culture. In folklore and fantasy, there's the idea of the true name, in which the knowledge of names is power and in which names are thought to reflect some true aspect of the thing being named. In a similar vein, an article published in Psychology Today a long while back interviewed people who had changed their names, and these people said they'd done it because they were unhappy with their given names, that those old names did not reflect who they really were. Naming practices reflect the belief that names can help shape a person's character/personality and/or guide their destinies. Just look at all the baby name books out there! Chinese names are written and spoken with the surname first, expressing a cultural emphasis on the importance of the family and one's place in a family group. And finally, my specific literature example is from the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller. At the end of the play, John Proctor cannot bring himself to sign a false confession and says
"Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!"showing what a name represents and its importance to his personal and moral integrity.
I thought this would be an interesting topic on its own, but also because in our current story, Alz and I have found ourselves with more than one character who dislikes their name or at least goes by something other than their given name (i.e. a nickname). This is abnormal, at least for me because I don't often have characters who go by nicknames. Although, I do touch on the "true name" idea passingly sometimes.
So what are some of your favorite names for anyone, real or fictional? How do other people go about naming the Proper Nouns populating their stories? And to reiterate, what's in a name?
P.S. A fun fact related to all this is how Val was named. (I know, I already mentioned him. I can't help picking on the poor dear.) We used our original method of just throwing out names and even looked a few up, but nothing seemed to stick. Then finally, Alz said, "Happy Valentine's Day!"--(and it literally was)--"VALENTINE. HIS NAME SHOULD BE VALENTINE." To which the conversation continued as follows:
K: I guess...we could call him Val and then he can be really embarrassed about it later.
A: I don't know. I just thought, you know, it might be a sign.
We didn't actually name him Valentine, but it's something else, and it's still shortened to Val.
2.24.2008
The Birth of Suilong
Krispy and I decided that we needed another cosmic serpent (who doesn't?) and so we decided that we'd rather create one than steal borrow one from an existing mythology. Then we decided that we should have this cosmic serpent be the Asian-inspired one we'd talked about before, and therefore being Asiatic, this cosmic serpent needed an appropriately Asiany name, as I continue to abuse and create various Asian-related adjectives.
We'd talked before about Japanese/Chinese/Asian names and words, including hebi (Japanese word for "snake") and nure (what Alz believes might be a possible alternate reading of the kanji for "snake" in Japanese, but isn't sure) and various other Japanese and non-Japanese names and words, which lead to a discussion of how sucky it would be for said snaky to be a snake named rabbit (Japanese, "Usagi"), a snake named lion (Arabic, "Usama"), or a snake named bear ("Ursus", Latin). I also suggested the combo name of Usaginure ("Rabbitsnake"), but we eventually got distracted and moved on, never deciding on a name for our new serpent.
Last night we once again turned to the name problem.
Says the Alz, "What's the Chinese word for dragon?"
To which replies the Krispy, "Well, dragon is Long."
Says the Alz, "What about the Chinese word for snake?"
To which replies the Krispy, "The word for snake sounds like you're saying 'uh' but with an S in front and the tone goes upward at the end."
What followed was Alz trying out various combinations of potential spellings in order to mentally sound out this word (remember, this was all text via instant messaging): Su, sa, si, sui? And since sui means "water" in Japanese, we decided to randomly moosh languages together to create a semi-bastardized Asianish name for our newly-designated water-elemental cosmic serpent. We did go through a number of variations concerning punctuation, including Sui-Long, Sui Long, and Sui'long, and I since I had come up with the name, I got to force Krispy to decide on the spelling of it. Reasoning that the apostrophe looks a bit weird in the name and apostrophes in names is off-putting to many people (yours truly often included), she settled on Suilong.
After a bit more discussion concerning a rather nebulous previously-envisioned-but-still-unnamed cosmic serpent, we decided the color scheme of the previous nebulous cosmic serpent we'd envisioned wouldn't match Suilong because the previous serpent is bony-white and spiky. This wouldn't really suit a water-themed snake, we thought, and so we went all out on Suilong, whom we also decided is female because we have too many males running around.
She can fly without wings à la Asian dragons, we decided, and Suilong is seriously deadly lethally viciously venomous. Her venom eats through glass. It'd probably kill you just from a drop touching your skin, never mind getting injected into your body. Or at least that's what I so far imagine.
But what color to make her? Blue? White? Blue and white? We already have cosmic serpents that are on the white/silvery color scheme, so Suilong ought to be different. And then Krispy said, Omg maybe she should be gold, and Alz said, Ooooho I like gold it's shiny omg like a goldfish?
We talked about koi fish, being tricolor with black and white and gold/orange/red, and the beautiful shiny gold of goldfish scales, and Krispy suggested gold with red markings around her eyes, with an orange fin running along her spine. For a while we mused on eye color, because while I thought blue would make a nice contrast in all her gold and red glory, the aforementioned other cosmic serpents already have blue eyes. We talked about her having dark eyes or golden eyes or dark golden eyes like various kinds of fish. Red we discounted because her eye markings are already red, and when I suggested creepy pearly white eyes, Krispy said it was too creepy and too much like a cooked fish. With that image in mind, I was inclined to agree.
Finally I suggested dark red eyes, midnight-red, while Krispy suggested copperishly colored eyes like a shiny penny. Now, I happen to be very partial to shiny things (this may have been evident earlier when talking about making Suilong gold), and when Krispy threw the choice on me because she'd decided on Suilong's name format, I chose coppery eyes for our water snaky. More contrast against the red and gold, I said.
Krispy is supposed to draw our new cosmic serpent, by the way. That's right, Krispy, I'm putting this in the blog. DRAW SUILONG. And in color would be nice too. ♥
We also plugged along further plot-wise last night, found Suilong a nice place in the story to settle in, did a little chronological rearranging of points, added to and clarified some scenes, started a new scene, and worked out some "research" for our researchers to, well, research. Things are coming along nicely—our baby is developing steadily and well. I'm so proud.
We'd talked before about Japanese/Chinese/Asian names and words, including hebi (Japanese word for "snake") and nure (what Alz believes might be a possible alternate reading of the kanji for "snake" in Japanese, but isn't sure) and various other Japanese and non-Japanese names and words, which lead to a discussion of how sucky it would be for said snaky to be a snake named rabbit (Japanese, "Usagi"), a snake named lion (Arabic, "Usama"), or a snake named bear ("Ursus", Latin). I also suggested the combo name of Usaginure ("Rabbitsnake"), but we eventually got distracted and moved on, never deciding on a name for our new serpent.
Last night we once again turned to the name problem.
Says the Alz, "What's the Chinese word for dragon?"
To which replies the Krispy, "Well, dragon is Long."
Says the Alz, "What about the Chinese word for snake?"
To which replies the Krispy, "The word for snake sounds like you're saying 'uh' but with an S in front and the tone goes upward at the end."
What followed was Alz trying out various combinations of potential spellings in order to mentally sound out this word (remember, this was all text via instant messaging): Su, sa, si, sui? And since sui means "water" in Japanese, we decided to randomly moosh languages together to create a semi-bastardized Asianish name for our newly-designated water-elemental cosmic serpent. We did go through a number of variations concerning punctuation, including Sui-Long, Sui Long, and Sui'long, and I since I had come up with the name, I got to force Krispy to decide on the spelling of it. Reasoning that the apostrophe looks a bit weird in the name and apostrophes in names is off-putting to many people (yours truly often included), she settled on Suilong.
After a bit more discussion concerning a rather nebulous previously-envisioned-but-still-unnamed cosmic serpent, we decided the color scheme of the previous nebulous cosmic serpent we'd envisioned wouldn't match Suilong because the previous serpent is bony-white and spiky. This wouldn't really suit a water-themed snake, we thought, and so we went all out on Suilong, whom we also decided is female because we have too many males running around.
She can fly without wings à la Asian dragons, we decided, and Suilong is seriously deadly lethally viciously venomous. Her venom eats through glass. It'd probably kill you just from a drop touching your skin, never mind getting injected into your body. Or at least that's what I so far imagine.
But what color to make her? Blue? White? Blue and white? We already have cosmic serpents that are on the white/silvery color scheme, so Suilong ought to be different. And then Krispy said, Omg maybe she should be gold, and Alz said, Ooooho I like gold it's shiny omg like a goldfish?
We talked about koi fish, being tricolor with black and white and gold/orange/red, and the beautiful shiny gold of goldfish scales, and Krispy suggested gold with red markings around her eyes, with an orange fin running along her spine. For a while we mused on eye color, because while I thought blue would make a nice contrast in all her gold and red glory, the aforementioned other cosmic serpents already have blue eyes. We talked about her having dark eyes or golden eyes or dark golden eyes like various kinds of fish. Red we discounted because her eye markings are already red, and when I suggested creepy pearly white eyes, Krispy said it was too creepy and too much like a cooked fish. With that image in mind, I was inclined to agree.
Finally I suggested dark red eyes, midnight-red, while Krispy suggested copperishly colored eyes like a shiny penny. Now, I happen to be very partial to shiny things (this may have been evident earlier when talking about making Suilong gold), and when Krispy threw the choice on me because she'd decided on Suilong's name format, I chose coppery eyes for our water snaky. More contrast against the red and gold, I said.
Krispy is supposed to draw our new cosmic serpent, by the way. That's right, Krispy, I'm putting this in the blog. DRAW SUILONG. And in color would be nice too. ♥
We also plugged along further plot-wise last night, found Suilong a nice place in the story to settle in, did a little chronological rearranging of points, added to and clarified some scenes, started a new scene, and worked out some "research" for our researchers to, well, research. Things are coming along nicely—our baby is developing steadily and well. I'm so proud.
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