What’s in a Name?

 Carja's Corner  No Responses »
Oct 242011
 

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other word would smell as sweet.”

That’s what the Bard had to say about names in Romeo and Juliet. That’s right! I just went Shakespeare on you all! By the way, you’re supposed to know that “The Bard” means Shakespeare. It’s a thing.

I hate coming up with names. It’s not for nothing that Cyran goes unnamed in Tale of the Tinkerwood. Trying to find the perfect name for a character isn’t always as easy as it seems (unless you’re writing a biographical piece). Fantasy names are even harder. If you’re not careful you get gibberish.

Every so often I’ll brainstorm names and keep them for later use.

There are different ways I use to come up with names. One is to take a common name and play with it. Like Cyran was based on the name Cyrus. Another is just to throw sounds together (like Popkin). I use that one sparingly, because more often than not, the names I come up sound like they’re for a villain (Curse you, Horvath!).

With so many names out there, inevitably some of the names you “made up” turn out to be real. Cyran is apparently an unusual variant of the name Corin meaning “spear.” There was an American Idol contestant named Todrick Hall. And while on the subject of Idol, one of the Canadian Idol judges was Sass Jordan (but that’s more of a nickname…her real name is Sarah).

Some names are happy mistakes. Years ago, I mistook the name “Latara” for “Nektara” (they sound TOTALLY alike, I know).

Now I can also use the internet. Baby name websites are invaluable. You can search by origin (I’m partial to Celtic and Gaelic names).

Sometimes, your friends will come up with a name that you end up using even if you don’t spell it the same way (The Oonch!).

And then there are just names you dig, like Barnaby and Zoë (the umlaut is important).

Whichever way you go about it, once you start calling a character by a certain name, you soon find that you couldn’t imagine calling him by any other name.

  • Cyran
  • Sass
  • Mouser
  • Red Rich
  • Barnaby
  • Todrick
  • Nektara
  • Big Oonch
  • Zoë
  • Popkin
  • Deema
  • Copley

Tuesday Hoovers!

 Carja's Corner  No Responses »
Oct 172011
 

Tuesday is the worst day of the week. No disrespect to the god of war Týr (or Tiw if you prefer) for whom the day was named. It just is.

“Mondays are worse…” I can hear you say, but sadly you’re wrong. I take no pleasure in telling you you’re wrong. I’d like for your assertion to be true. But it isn’t.

Monday holds potential. A new week is before us and who knows what wonderful bounties may be in store for us?

By the time Tuesday rolls around, the newness of the week has worn off. Blam! It’s a week just like any other.

Wednesday is the middle of the week. From the top of Wednesday we can see the weekend looming in the distance. It’s an easy climb down and we’re picking up steam. Plus, you know…pay day every other week.

From the top of Tuesday you just see a big hump!

Thursday is a bit of a tease admittedly. The weekend is just beyond our fingertips. But the stores are open late and you can get a jump on your shopping needs, leaving you with that much more free time for the weekend.

The only thing Tuesday can tease you with is three more days of work.

Friday…there’s a reason people give thanks for Friday. The weekend is upon us! You made it through another week and now you can relax for a bit.

I mean why do you think they schedule new DVD and video game releases on Tuesday? To take some of the stink off the day. But even then, you’re probably not going to be able to go out to PICk UP those DVDs until the weekend anyway! And now the big titles are starting to come out on Friday, so there isn’t even THAT to look forward to anymore.

No, Tuesday, you’re the bottom of the barrel.

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