I had my characters in mind long before they had names, so set about naming them. I named one character as an intentional nod to his nature. I came up with a first name for another, Alex, but had no last name. I was thinking, and my mind supplied immediately, "Lareine." I laughed for a few moments because, well, Alex is an utterly bisexual were-woman pimp (that is, he occasionally turns into a woman), and "la reine" means "the queen." Originally I didn't want to use it, as I didn't want to get too heavy into the whole name-reflecting-meaning thing, but it just stuck.
For my "princess" (a prince who had been forced to crossdress throughout his life due to a prophecy), I wanted a thoroughly feminine name because I was not softening the blow for him in the slightest. I came up with Mirabelle, a name I find both pretty and extremely feminine. Before I use a name I usually run a google search on it, just to make sure I'm not unintentionally using anything that has a meaning I don't know about, and especially if I'm making up a name, in case I'm making up something that someone already made up. I like to be original. Well, "mirabelle" is a variety of sweet plum used in pies and things. It's a name too though, so there was no problem there. Interestingly, it's one of the Lorraine region of France's specialties.
A few moments ago I was attempting to give Mirabelle a middle name, as I like to do so and I realized I hadn't. The first thing that popped into my mind randomly was "Chantilly", which I knew I had heard but couldn't recall what it was, exactly. I did my search, and recalled that Chantilly is, besides a region of France, a type of cream and a type of lace. PERFECT. Not only am I naming my poor MC something that's UTTERLY feminine-sounding, to underscore that, they're both used in cute, sweet little pastries and one is lace, for crying out loud. They're also French, a language many regard as romantic. Best of all, I did this completely unintentionally.
Anyone had similar experiences?
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63,012 / 50,000
Dec 3, 2007 - 22 05
Well, I had a character who was a wererabbit. I was trying to come up with a name, and my subconcious supplied 'Peter'. It stuck. An hour later I suddenly yelled "D'oh! Peter Rabbit!" but it was too late to change.
55,228 / 50,000
Dec 4, 2007 - 18 33
well, i named an MC ashton, which has connotations of an actor for a lot of people. *sigh*
i also subconciously named my italian guy tony. how cliche is that?
oh, and my villan is named hillary. which has no connection to a certain presidential candidate. none at all. *cough*
35,000 / 50,000
Apr 2, 2008 - 18 21
I had a character called Alicia and I created her a while back as a secondary character in a story of mine.
She is:
--Sarcastic
--Dresses in lots of dark colors (black, purple, blue, occasionally red) and rarely wears bright colors, giving off the impression of being a stereotypical "goth" or "emo" and hates it when people call her "emo" or "goth"
--Italian born and raised in New Jersey
--Parents are divorced
--Dyes hair often, no-one (except family members) know/remember her real hair color
Just recently, I met a girl whose name was ALSO Alicia and acted like fictional!Alicia to a tee except that fictional!Alicia sucks in school while friend!Alicia is pretty good in school and fictional!Alicia is fully Italian while my friend Alicia is half-Italian (her mother is Italian and her father, as far as I know, is American).
0 / 50,000
Apr 3, 2008 - 14 35
I looked on a naming site for the given name of one of my MCs and found Devdas ("servant of the gods").
Since I wasn't entirely sure if I pronounce it right, so I decided to see if the nickname Dev meant anything; it supposedly means "god."
Both of those names are good for him since I wanted to show how proud he can be. He doesn't particularly like his name (because of the mention of servitude) and, though he dislikes the other MC, he does like the nickname she gives him.
0 / 50,000
Jul 22, 2008 - 14 57
I have as one of my secondary characters. He's sarcastic, bloodthirsty, and likes riddles...
And I named him Lester.
I didn't realize until later where I got it from - Lester Wolf, the guy from the kiddie coloring pages at IHOP. He's obsessed with pancakes and your typical bumbling villain. *headdesk*
I of course had to have my character comment on that and have a snorting fit...