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Carlos! That is so great! 🙂 Oh yes, I have had that same problem before. Although mine usually comes when I just give my character a working name cause I can’t think of a better one, and then the working name gets stuck with my character. Sigh. But yeah, once it gets stuck, my character and I just have to deal with it.
I noticed that most of these names are guy names, what are your favorite letters/sounds for girl names? Or are they the same as for the hero names?The Scattered Writer
@jenali According to my list, my most popular choice for girl names is E with 10 of the 15 names belonging to girls. Next is A with 8 out of 21 being female, and then L with 9 out of 10. Surprisingly or no, I only have 7 girl names beginning with J. My overall theme seems to be J names for boys and E names for girls. ☺️ M also has a high ratio for girl names (5 out of 8) and it may be worth mentioning that I have no girl names that start with H but a dozen or so for boys. 😮 As for sounds, I’ve noticed that for girls I favor names with a long E sound somewhere, or ones that end in a short A like Nora, Lorenetta, or Eleena which has both come to think of it. Also, as a side note, A LOT of my female villains have the sound of the name ‘Kai’ somewhere in their names. Tykkai, Nykkai, Kailahi, etc.
Hey, just at a glance, could you give me your opinion on the name Ariszi? I. E. How it looks like it should be pronounced, if it’s a hero or a villain’s name, if it’s a girl’s or a boy’s name. I’d really appreciate it! 😄
*is probably geeking out about something*
Hmmm, Ariszi sounds like a girls name (to me anyway). Also probably a hero, though maybe a small time villain. As for how it looks like it should be pronounced…..coughcough. I am really terrible at pronouncing things. Just a warning… Anyway! It sounds like Ar-iz-zee, or Ar-ees-zi. How is it supposed to be pronounced?
The Scattered Writer
@jenali Thank you so much for your input! Ariszi is actually a boy’s name but I’ve often thought it sounded a bit girly myself. 🙂 As for the pronounciation you were very close. I always figured it like ‘Uh-riz-ee’. Thanks again! This has been most helpful 🙂
*is probably geeking out about something*
@graciegirl Ha! At first I misread it as Arsizi, and then I thought that was very close to Parcheesi. 😛 I pronounce it as Ar-ee-zi, and it does seem like a girl’s name to me. If not a girl, then probably some thief that should be in Ranger’s Apprentice. … In other words, I like it.
☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀
@jenali For girls’ names, I usually like the letter’s A and J, though it varies. A lot. 😛
☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀
@dragon-snapper Lol! Oh, my goodness! It is absolutely hilarious that you should say that about Ranger’s Apprentice because I actually based this name off of one of the Genovesan assasians that was after Will and Halt in Halt’s Peril! 😂 His name was Marisi, and I really liked it so I dropped the M and added a Z in there for fun.
Thanks for your input! In my story world Ariszi is considered an odd fairy-ish name, so I’ll use that as an excuse for why it so difficult to handle. 😜 To be honest, how people pronounce my character’s names isn’t that big of a deal to me. They’re welcome to say it however they want. I’ve suffered at the hands of some author’ enforcing their, in my opinion, ‘not as pretty’ pronounciations one too many times, and I just don’t have the heart do that to my readers. 😄 Thanks again, it’s been giggles! 😉
*is probably geeking out about something*
@graciegirl Hahaha! That is too funny! I remember Marisi now. That one was good. 🙂 Too avoid too much confusion, I usually spell their names how they sound, unless of course, that looks terrible (too often). The problem is that I usually envision my books as movies.
☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀
I love this topic! I use a Baby Name Book (paper copy) to find my names, because I haven’t actually found a good website yet (so if y’all have any recommendations, I’d love to hear them).
I’m pretty obvious with my names. Like, guess who is the villain and who is the hero: Grymelda or Cerdic?
I’ve said this before, but I like to look at the roots of names. Example: the appendage “win” or “wyn” means “friend.” (I think it’s a pattern in English names.) Kerwin means “friend from the swamp.” I built a whole character around that name alone. “Aelfwyn” means “friend of elves.” So sometimes I piece together names. For instance, I used the suffix “olf,” which means “wolf,” to create the name Wynolf– a wolf who is a friend. I used “gara” which means “spear” to create the name Garawyn– “friend with a spear”–who is a high-spirited, protective heroine in one of my stories. It’s one of my favorite ways to create names.
As far as name pronunciation, sometimes I’ve had readers ask me how to pronounce my characters’ names, and I say, “I don’t know. I do it differently every time.” Anyone else like that, or is it just me? I honestly don’t care how you pronounce my character names, for the most part. Just please don’t say “agape” (as in, standing with one’s mouth open) when the name is obviously “Agape” (as in, Christlike love). There’s a very big difference. 🙂
@graciegirl If you hear you’re character’s name as Uh-riz-ee, you might consider spelling it Aryszee. Or just Aryzee. A “y” might make readers more likely to make an i sound than an e sound. But then it could be mistaken for “uh-RYZ-ee,” which I don’t know if you like. I usually write a name a couple of different ways, checking out how it looks if I sub out all the i’s for y’s, or some of the i’s for y’s, or add an extra n, or add an extra e… etc.YA Fantasy Writer
Obsessive Character Namer
Find me at hisinstrumentblog.wordpress.com@his-instrument Thank you for the suggestions! That’s pretty cool how you choose your names. I might have to look in to getting a book like that. 🙂 Tbh, I haven’t thought about my name spellings for some time before now. I actually have different grammatical rules for if the name is for a fairy, elf or man. It’s similar to how Tolkien has rules for elvish names that begin with C or names containing AU. The rules for men are the same as our world’s rules in my book, but names for fairies and elves are a bit different. Y is not allowed to be at the end of any fairy names and Es can only be used at the end in the instances where you need a vowel/consenant/e set up, like Lane. If you want a long EE sound at the end you have to use an I, and a Y in the middle of a name makes the long E sound. Por exemplo, Lyara is pronounced LEE-(air)-uh. If I followed my rules for fairies and spelled Ariszi, Aryzee instead, it would have to be pronounced Uh-REE-zee. Actually, since it ends with two Es it is automatically disqualified as a fairy name. Now, whether or not it is advisable to invent a whole new set of grammar rules for one’s story is open to debate, but that’s my current excuse. 😜 Who knows? I might decide before the final draft to botch all those rules and just make all three different types of names like our world’s. After all, just from the little feedback I’ve received on here it’s becoming obvious that my silly rules might be causing more trouble than they’re worth! 😂
*is probably geeking out about something*
@his-instrument I had a small baby book at one point in time too, but I copied all the names and their meanings down into one notebook…it took a long time. 😛
Ooh, roots for names, I’ll have to do that too. I love roots. ☺ I have had people mispronounce the characters names, but in my book, it’s pretty straightforward.☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀
@gracie-girl Wow, that’s advanced. I once had a civilization where all the names ended in “iel,” but that got really boring really fast. I like the idea of name patterns for different races, though. That’s neat! But, maybe you just want to make those rules something for readers to figure out, rather than telling them. Unless it’s important to your story.
@dragon-snapper Yeah, I’ve been typing all the names in my baby book into an Excel document. I’ve made it to G after about two years. In the girls’ section. So yeah, I want an online baby name book. 🙂 And roots are fantastic. I have a whole list of some of them if you’re interested. Also, just want to put this out there, I love finding character names, so if y’all would ever like help with constructing a name, let me know. You can say something like, “I want a name that means fire,” and I can give you all the names I know of that have to do with fire. Any way I can help with that. Names are one of my favorite parts of writing.YA Fantasy Writer
Obsessive Character Namer
Find me at hisinstrumentblog.wordpress.com@his-instrument Yeah, I agree. I know I would be super bored if the author of a book I was reading suddenly branched off into an explanation of their special grammar! 😆😛
*is probably geeking out about something*
@his-instrument Ooh! I like lists too. 😀 At one point, I had an entire name devoted to notebooks, then I needed to notebook for another story idea, so that backfired. 😛
☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀
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