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Please Help Me Name This Character
Please help me name this character, I want a name that suits her looks and personality as well as a nn that is either one or two syllables long that she will mainly go by.The character I'm trying to name has messy super curly medium to dark red-orange hair that she usually has at around shoulder length. She has medium to dark gray-blue eyes, and a ton of freckles all over but with most of them being under her eyes and just under the bridge of her nose. What I want to write starts off with her being a young teen in the 8th grade but will follow her to being a post-college age in her late 20's or early 30's. In the first few books she'll have crooked teeth that she is wearing braces for and a bit of trouble with acne and hair that just seems impossible to do anything with easily, and she is just growing into her body and much to her chagrin her breasts are getting big and she's going through a growth spurt.The character is American but her father was born in the UK, her father's mother's side of the family is Irish and her father's father's side is a mixture of English, Scottish, and Welsh. The character's mother was born in the US, her mother's mother came from many generations of New York state Dutch heritage and her mother's father's side of the family were mostly French from Canada but his grandmother was fully First People / Indian. The character herself would be 1/4th Irish, 1/4th mixture of English, Scottish, and Welsh, 1/4th Dutch, 15/16th French, and 1/16th First People / Indian.Her family is Catholic and her surname is Knight. She has an older brother named Gratian nn Gray, a younger brother whose name I can't decide on and the youngest is a sister named Penelope nn Nell. I haven't been able to decide on the younger brothers name but I'm thinking either Theodore nn Theo or Lucas nn Luke, but nothing is for certain, his name isn't as important as the main characters name, I don't need any help naming him at the moment. Her mother is an art historian professor at a private Catholic university in the city they live in and her father is a video game designer. She has two cats whose names I haven't decided on yet and a pet turtle named Peat. All of her siblings and her parents have blue eyes as well, Gray and her father have brown hair while her other brother, Nell, and her mother have blond hair.Her personality is a mixture of bookish and very physical, she's not a great student but she's also not terrible. She reads a lot but mostly what she is interested in reading rather than school books, she loves mysteries, fantasy, sci-fi, suspense, pulp, history, historical fiction, and is a fan of a lot of classical literature. She does her best to be calm but sometimes her fiery nature causes her to lash out at people, she is very stubborn, fairly open minded unless she is in one of her obstinate teenager moods, when she is upset she broods about things but on rare occasions will throw a tantrum before stomping out of the room, and she is very intent on having her privacy like most teenaged girls.Her favorite article of clothing is a tan men's knee-length trench coat, that looks like something a private eye would wear. She's not certain about what she wants to do with her life in the future, she loves the idea of being a private eye like in classic films, but she thinks that the life of a real private eye would probably bore her. For fun she takes martial arts classes and she also is in a junior roller derby team. She enjoys video games and often acts like she has something to prove when around boys, she wants to show them that she can rough house with the lot of them. She loves the urban city life but she also enjoys camping and hiking in the summer with her family. She goes to an inexpensive private Catholic school that is very racially diverse, her best friend is a shy girl with mousy brown hair named Iris, her god parents son Gabriel or Ezekiel I haven't decided on his name yet, and her older brother Gray. She's going to become good friends eventually with some other characters but this is what I'm sharing at the moment.Here are some photos that are similar to what I'm thinking of when it comes to her looks when she gets older.These capture the nature of how wild her hair is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/qsimple/7948066530/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/e3000/4971634828/in/set-72157594588513447/lightbox/This is around the hair color I was thinking of and her face is very similar to what I was thinking of, except my character has freckles and a more peachy less pale skin tone:
http://www.short-hair-style.com/image-files/natural_red_hair_color_curl.jpgThese also capture what I feel her face looks like, I love the second woman's smile:
http://www.zazaza.nl/model/images/beauty%20ton%20dirven.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/qsimple/7948057926/lightbox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/qsimple/7948064268/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/qsimple/7948070504/in/photostream/lightbox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/qsimple/7948068844/lightbox/And these do as well but to a lesser extent:
http://i1.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article775657.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/A+Redhead
http://www.flickr.com/photos/annemiekvanderkuil/6124526050/in/photostream/lightbox/
Thank you so much, sorry if this is a lot to process. If it is too difficult to name her based off of all of these aspects then just tell me what you would name her based off her looks or based off her personality but specify which you are basing it off of if you decide to do that.
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This message was edited 3/27/2013, 1:09 PM

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The first one I thought of was Áine (Aine). It is Irish (the character is part Irish), it means 'radiance' (the red hair reminds me of that), her mom is into history (Aine was queen of the fairies in Irish mythology). The only problem is that it doesn't really come with a nickname. I guess Ainie would work (pronounced AWN-nee) as Aine is pronounce AWN-ya. Or maybe even Annie would work.You could also change the spelling to Anya and use Annie as a nickname. That would be Russian, not Irish, but you could work it into the story somehow that her parents wanted to use Aine but chose to change the spelling to make it easier for her.I think Seraphine would be a good name for her as well. It reminds me of fire (= color red) and she could go by Seri. I don't like Sera as much because it sounds like the popular Sarah, but Seri is cute.If you want something a bit more rough or tomboy-ish you could go with Rowan and her nickname could be Ro. Other names that make me think of red hair:Lily
Paige
Phoebe
Scarlet
Seraphina
SophroniaSophronia would be kind of cool actually. She could go by Roni, Sophie, Ronia, Sophrie...
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Another question...I at first didn't mention this because I wanted to see what names people came up with on their own with out this influencing their choices, I also wanted to see if any one else on their own suggested these names, since a few people have suggested these names or similar names I'm going to let you guys see the short list of names I have so far that I was thinking of:Jo or JosieJosephine or Josephina / JosefinaMarcie / Marcy or Mara or MariMarcelineTessTheresa or Teresa“Kes” Kestrel. I'd use Kestrel as the mn and she'd dislike her first name and go by her mn instead.Kiki or Kay / K or KK” Killian. This was the name I originally was going to name this character but I suspect that even if she went mostly by her nn that Killian is just a name people aren't going to warm up to when used on a girl especially since a lot of people dislike it even for a boy because of the Kill part of the name.What do you think about these names and nn's? Do they suit her? In general do you like these names or do you think some of them are ugly? Do you agree with my assessment that Killian nn Kay won't be something that the general public will dig and I should name her something else, or do you think Killian Maeve Knight nn Kay is a great combo and other people will also like it?Thanks so much for everyone's help. :)
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I didn't read this before I replied to your original post. I feel like none of them suit her, but if you think they do you should use them. I just get very different images from them.Josephine - has long, dark brown hair. Is very outgoing, a bookworm, very intelligent sometimes a bit stiff and serious.
Josephina - definitely someone with blond hair. Very friendly and sweet.
Marceline - an older woman
Theresa - conceited and very quiet
Kestrel - a medieval witch, old
Killian - all I see is 'Kill Ian'.
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Josephine is nice but the girl in the pics you gave looks more like a Johanna plus its danish so it would honor part of her heritage and Maeve goes well with it imo. Killian is absolute awful on a girl whether she's a character or not.Kestrel isn't a bad name, but she really doesn't look like a Kestrel.She doesn't look like a Theresa either and its not a nice name imo.I think Mara suites her, but not Marceline its an ugly name imo, what about Maralyn instead.
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What about Mara as a nn for Mariane / Marianne or Mariana / Marianna?I guess I could see also doing Mara nn Mari.My only qualm is that she looks and has a personality that may be a little too similar to Mara Jade for me to use it. Mara Jade is Luke Skywalker's wife in the extended universe.
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This message was edited 3/27/2013, 5:08 PM

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Yeah I thought of Mara Jade too. You could call her Marianne or Marianna they would fit her too, if she really likes sci-fi/fantasy stuff maybe she gives herself the nn Mara after the redheaded Jedi Knight? Then you could still use it. :)
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I kinda like this idea!
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thanks, it just sort of came to me :D

This message was edited 3/27/2013, 6:55 PM

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Also..Out of this list which would be your favorite choice to name this character and if there are multiple nn's or spellings listed for your choice tell me which you prefer:Josephine nn Jo or Josie
Josephina / Josefina nn Jo or Josie
Marceline nn Marcie / Marcy or Mara or Mari
Theresa / Teresa nn Tess
Kestrel nn Kes
Killian nn Kay or Kiki
Charlotte nn Charlie
Norah nn Nori
Aurora nn Rory
Antonia nn Toni
Cassandra nn Cass or Cassie
Cassidy nn Cass or Cassie
Kassandra nn Kass or Kassie
Kassidy nn Kass or Kassie
Vivian / Vivienne nn Viv
Gwendolyn / Gwendolen nn Gwen
Louisa nn Lou or Louie
Lorelei nn Lorie
Helena nn Lena, Lenny / Leni, or Len

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This message was edited 3/27/2013, 4:58 PM

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Out of these definitely Aurora 'Rory' or Cassidy 'Cassie'. They both fit her, Aurora a little bit better than Cassie.
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I do really like Aurora nn Rory. This isn't decided yet but I was thinking of setting the book in Seattle because it's the only city I know super well and I feel that you either need to visit the city you are writing about a ton or you need to live there to really capture its essence. Part of what I love about Dresden Files is it is set in Chicago and from what I remember the 4 or 5 times I've visited is that he really captured Chicago in his books and he references real places and streets, I think if you want to write an urban fantasy which is what this book I want to write will be then it is a good idea to make your urban setting alive, you either need to invent a place or you need to really research well a real location. If I move somewhere else or have the time I may set it somewhere else but at the moment I plan on setting my book in Seattle.Now the one issue I have with the setting for the book being Seattle and naming her Aurora is that Aurora Street is one of the seediest crime ridden streets in Seattle. It's one of the few crime ridden streets in northern Seattle, everyone around here knows of its reputation, it's where you go if you want to find hookers and really cheap crappy motels and adult movie / book / etc stores. It sadly from what I hear has many underage girls prostituting themselves there, I see prostitutes there all the time but I've never been certain of their age. No one even calls it aurora street they just call it aurora, around here you say some place is near aurora and everyone knows that you mean aurora street.When I was at college in Olympia I met an Aurora nn Rory and I finally stopped disliking the name, I really like it now even for my own children but I know I could never bring myself to use this name if I still live in Seattle in the future. Think of one of the seediest streets near where you live and then imagine naming your kid the same name as that street.Hmmm do you think it doesn't matter since if I ever did get it published it wouldn't only be people from Seattle reading the book? The only problem is that sometimes the character might need to go to Aurora.
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This message was edited 3/28/2013, 1:22 AM

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You could alway have it be part of the story that her family used to live someplace else and moved to Seattle soon after she was born. Moving to Seattle and learning Aurora's awful local association would certainly give the family reason to call her Rory as much as possible. I think Aurora, nn Rory, is a good fit for the family. It has the same feel, and it seems like a good bridge between the more unusual eldest child's name and the more mainstream names under consideration for the younger siblings. I can picture parents who would name their other children Gratian, Theodore/Lucas, and Penelope choosing Aurora as well.
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I'd definitely choose a city I know a lot about as well. I don't think most people would know about this, unless they lived in Seattle. But as you are mostly going to use Rory anyway, how about making Aurore her full name? It's the French version of Aurora.
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Killian clashes SO much with the sibling names. It would make the character annoying as hell because of how it stands apart and seems super-special-spunky. If her brothers were Hunter and Draven and her sister was Reilly, I could see Killian as her name. But Penelope, Gratian, Theodore, and a girl Killian ... no way, Jose. Same with CassidyI thought Cassandra fits well because of the classicky trend going on, and Cass seems to suit the look and personality. If you want to get Kiki out of it, Kassandra can give you that too.Marceline or Marina /Mari works well, and so does Aurora / Rory.I wouldn't use Josephine / Jo unless you also use Lucas / Luke.
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Yeah I would need to change both of the brothers names if I went with Killian. I had different names for her siblings when her name was going to be Killian except I decided that I liked Gratian with Killian a long time ago but then I fell out of love with Kiki and decided that I preferred Kay but of course Gray and Kay are too similar so Gratian didn't work anymore. Then recently I realized that Killian is probably a bad choice in general because I don't think it will be a marketable name, though if I did use Killian I'd come up with different names for her brother but her sister would probably still be Penelope nn Nell. At one point I remember thinking that I might use Carmichael for her younger brother when her name was Killian but I think I remember deciding that I didn't like it since they both start with the k sound.Also I wanted to mention that I wouldn't use Josephine nn Jo with Theodore nn Theo, I would use Lucas nn Luke or a different name. Both Theodore nn Theo and Lucas nn Luke would work with Josephine nn Josie.
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Helena nn "Lena"
Louisa nn "Lou" (louie is way too masculine for a girl)
Lorelei nn prefer "Lori" over "Lorie" also like "Lora"
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All these names suit her looks and personality, but I definitely don't want to use any names I might want to name my own children so Fiona is definitely out.My favorites are:Aurora "Rory" Didn't think of this one but I really like it, it may make it to my short list.Caitlin "Cait" I like it and thought of this but I'm uncertain if I want to use something like Caitlin since it will probably soon seem dated.Margaret "Meg" I also like Mara, Mari, Mags, or Maggie.Theresa "Tess" This name and nn is on my short list of names I started before asking for help. The list consists of only 5 names at the moment.Isobel "Izzy" I like it but need to mull this one over.I like Cara / Kara and I was mulling it over but I'd prefer it as a nn but I'm not certain for what.Virginia "Ginny" I didn't think of this one but I also really like it, I need to give it more thought, though since there is a Harry Potter character called Ginny who also is a redhead I probably won't use this.Norah "Nori" I like Norah but only if she'll also use Nori as a nn.Also if her first name doesn't start with an M and doesn't clash I'll probably give her the mn Maeve.
Thank you for all of your suggestions. :)
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This message was edited 3/27/2013, 4:03 PM

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I like:
Gwendolyn or Gwendolen nn Gwen
Natasha, Natalia, or Natalie nn Nat
Amelia nn Mia or Millie
Louisa nn Lou or Louie
Johanna nn Jo or Josie
Elizabeth nn Beth or Liz or Lizzie
Helena nn Lena, Lenny, or Len
Julienne nn Jules or Julie
Rosalyn or Rosalind nn Roz
Catherine/ Katherine nn Kate, Kat, or Katie
Lorelei nn Lorie
Kimberley nn Kim or Kimmy
And I like Mara but I was thinking of using it maybe as a nn for Marceline or maybe Marcie instead of Mara.Thank you for all of the suggestions. :)
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This message was edited 3/27/2013, 3:43 PM

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Based off the whole impression including the names of her sibs.
Apollonia / Polly
Veronica
Cassandra
Vivian or Vivienne
Antonia
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I love Apollonia but I really dislike Polly, this was the name of our next door neighbor growing up and we really didn't get along.I love Veronica, I'm not certain if I like Roni or not.I've been considering Cassidy and Cassandra nn Cass or Kassidy and Kassandra nn Kass. I'm going to give it even more thought.Hmmm I didn't consider Vivian or Vivienne nn Viv. I'll think about it too. One of my best friends was named Vivian nn Viv but she was very shy so I usually associate it more with a shy person but when I think about it the sound of Vivian and Viv could fit her especially since I was originally going to name this character Killian, it's kind of similar.I also have been thinking of Antonia nn Toni, I'll give this one more thought as well.Thanks so much for all of your suggestions. They were very in tune with many of the names I was already mulling over.
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With a name that suits her looks and personality, everyone has their own perception of what names would fit.
My suggestions:
Lillian "Lilly"
Livia "Liv"
Madeline "Maddie"
Felicity "Lissie"
Melanie "Lanie"
Margaret "Meg" or "Maggie"
Amelia "Mia"
Roberta "Bobbie"
Josephine "Josie"
Susannah "Susie"
Marina "Rina"
Phyllida "Phil"Hope this helped! :)
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I like Lillian "Lilly", Melanie "Lanie", Margaret "Meg" or "Maggie", Amelia "Mia", Josephine "Josie", and Susannah "Susie".I prefer Olivia to Livia and I like "Liv" or "Livvy" and I like Marina but prefer the nn "Mari"My only issues are I worry that Lilly, Mia, and Susie might seem too soft. Also I dislike Lanie being pronounced lan-ee, I prefer lahn-ee but that isn't the natural pronunciation you'd get from Melanie.Margaret is great since it has so much nn potential. Mara, Mari, Meg, Mags, and Maggie are all nn's I think that could fit her.Actually on the very short list of names I've come up with before asking for help Josephine nn Jo and/or Josie was on it.Thanks for all of your suggestions. :)
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I think you're way overthinking the naming process here. Just pick a name you would like her to have and that you feel is consistent with the names you already chose for her brother and sister. All the details you've given here are irrelevant to what her name is.
I mean, if I was going to go by the physical description you gave, (I didn't bother clicking the links) I would have said right off, Kurstyn. Because there is a little girl in my daughter's school named this and she is all freckly with the most cartoon-hideous orange curly hair you ever saw. But obviously Kurstyn would not be the kind of name that type of parents would choose for one of their daughters, not when they've got Penelope/Nell and Gratian and maybe Theo already.Just going by her family (and their ethnicity isn't that important either; nobody keeps track of 1/16ths of this and that) I'd say name her Charlotte and call her Charlie.
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I like Charlotte nn Charlie, thanks for the suggestion. :)
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Actually... I know my ancestry down to 1/32nds. (My mom and grandma are very into genealogy.) What bothered me most here is that the fractions don't add up. :-) Of course if you were saying in terms of naming, then no, the 32nds don't matter that much.
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Whoops I was sleepy, ummm what would it be then 1/8th French? Her great great grandpa is fully French marries someone who is wholly First people and their son marries someone who is French what would that make her, 1/16th First People and?
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Great-great grandpa: full-blooded French, gives half to son
Great-great grandma: full-blooded First People, gives half to sonSon (great-grandpa): Half French, half First People, gives a quarter of each to child
Son's wife: full-blooded French, gives half to childGrandparent: Three-quarters French, one-quarter First PeopleCan't finish this without knowing about the other grandparent and the parents...
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I said it in the original post but I think I can figure out the rest on my own. Thank you. :)
Grandfather: Three-quarters French, one-quarter First People
Grandmother: 100% DutchMother: half Dutch, three-eighths French, and one-eighth First People
Father: half Irish and half some amount of English, Scottish, and Welsh.Daughter: one-fourth Dutch, one-fourth Irish, three-sixteenths French, one-sixteenth First People, and one-fourth a mixture of English, Scottish, and Welsh.I'm pretty certain this is correct, thanks once again I haven't done slightly more complicated fractions in forever.
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Yep! No problem, I tend to like word/logic problem-type-things.
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The devil is in the details. This is what I meant by overthinking. That kind of thing really isn't important to the story, the naming of the character or the development of either as you've described them.
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Yeah, I'm just curious when it comes to what the percentiles would be, the percentiles aren't important but it actually is important to know my characters heritage, it may have something important to do with the story, and at the very least it can give the character flavor, for example maybe it is a tradition in her family to make dutch babies for breakfast. I think that the details make characters more realistic as long as you don't over load the details on the readers and dole them out slowly, then they don't drown the story they instead spice it up.Character development is actually something I do a lot of. I haven't done any writing in a while but I play rping games all the time. I approach character development as if they were real people, I try to figure out details about their life so that I can put myself in their shoes to try to understand their perspective, I do this for rping and when I'm acting I like to figure out my characters motivations.Yes I should be careful not to get too mired down in details to the point where I don't actually write but all of this information is important to the character. When it comes to naming her I decided I'd just give you guys all the information about her that I felt might be relevant so you guys can decide which information is important for figuring out her name.I personally name characters based off looks and personality, then I try to make a matching sibset but that's usually because I have the main characters name in my head first then I try to figure out their siblings names if they have siblings. But what happened was I finally stopped being so stubborn and accepted that if I want to write a book that will be marketable then I should try to name my character something that people will view favorably. My main character had a name for a long time but I've decided that it just doesn't work. Her name was going to be Killian Maeve Knight and as much as I like it I really don't think Killian for a girl will be something that people will warm up to even if she had a nn. The other problem was none of the nn's for Killian seemed right to me; Kiki, Kay / K, or KK. Kay was the closest to being right, but then I definitely wouldn't have her older brother be Gratian nn Gray.

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This message was edited 3/27/2013, 2:59 PM

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