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HelpRe: Positive vs negative meanings
in reply to a message by Mercy Joy
Eh, I find name meanings really irrelevant. I find them interesting, yes, but in the real world the look and sound of the name matter much more than anything else. For example, I like the name Cecilia. I'd probably not name a theoretical daughter it, but that's because of how other people feel about the name / how it goes with my surname etc... not because it means 'blind'. It's not something that really impacts the real world.
At the same time, I wouldn't name a theoretical son Dung. Partially because I'm not Vietnamese, but anyway, besides the point, my theoretical partner could be Vietnamese and we could want to use a Vietnamese name and I still wouldn't use it. It's meaning in Vietnamese is 'heroic' which is yeah, fine, awesome, but in an English society *that* positive meaning doesn't count for much when everyone else is wondering why he's named after poop. Equally, there are other names which would work in English but would be pretty terrible in other languages, and I'd stay clear of them too. None of it's what the name originally means, but what it means to other people, if that makes sense.
And one thing I hate is when budding writers put far too much thought into their characters names. It's one thing using a name you like, or which suits the character, or like... y'know... you have a soothsayer oracle type character who you name Cassandra or Sibyl or whatever. That's fine. But the thing is, 99% of your readership isn't going to look up the etymology of a name, so putting too much effort into whether a name's meaning 'describes' a character rather than it fitting the character/setting and being appealing or unappealing is a bit pointless, and more than that, unrealistic. There's plenty of brunette Xanthes out there, and Finns who aren't Scandinavian, and Cecilias who aren't blind. And, going back to my point with Dung, the impression people get of a name is going to trump etymology any time. I did a quick search and found Radomil, which means 'happy' + 'dear', pretty nice meaning, but 92% of the people who did the polls thought it sounded devious. Bahadur, which means 'warrior, hero, brave' got a similar response. So even though they have positive etymological meanings, the average reader might find them more suitable for a villain rather than a protagonist.
And then you also get my pet hate, people who give their characters cool names with cool meanings, and feel that needs to be included in the text. Stuff like ' "Hello, my name's Neil" Neil said, "It means cloud. Which is good because I'm a magical cloud elf" ' or 'Kamalani, who had long brown hair and blue eyes and was the most beautiful girl ever, had been named Kamalani because her mother thought she was a gift from heaven.'
I mean, bleaugh, terrible writing aside, it's weird and useless information, and it's awkwardly shoehorned in.
And then there's people who write a very specific setting and think the meaning of the name being appropriate is more important than the name fitting into a setting. It's not a good idea to name you Tolkein fanfic elf Blade even if he is a total bamf. Or you're writing a fantasy novel and craft a whole different society and culture and language, and have a character called Ciel, and Ciel magically means 'sky' in your made up language too - and so, erm, your fictional world is actually just a magical version of France? (Of course this goes back to my rant about shoehorning etymology into writing)
Or...orr...orrr, the very worse crime! You're writing a story about 16thC Hungary. Rather than doing some research and picking names that were actually used - Erzsébet, Anna, Krisztina - or chancing it with names that might not have been widely used but wouldn't stick out terribly like Natalia or Maria, you decide that your character must be represented by her name, so go with Hikari or Phaedra to underline how 'light' and 'good' your character is. Thereby thoroughly confusing everyone. Argh.
Sorry, I'm not ranting at you. It's just...I wanted to go on a rant, haha.
Anyway, neither name you mentioned is my style. It also goes back to my rant about different kinds of meanings - yes, Brighton might mean 'bridge settlement' but to me and just about every other Brit, it means, quite simply, Brighton. Like the place. That doesn't make it very useable in my books, but that's just me.
At the same time, I wouldn't name a theoretical son Dung. Partially because I'm not Vietnamese, but anyway, besides the point, my theoretical partner could be Vietnamese and we could want to use a Vietnamese name and I still wouldn't use it. It's meaning in Vietnamese is 'heroic' which is yeah, fine, awesome, but in an English society *that* positive meaning doesn't count for much when everyone else is wondering why he's named after poop. Equally, there are other names which would work in English but would be pretty terrible in other languages, and I'd stay clear of them too. None of it's what the name originally means, but what it means to other people, if that makes sense.
And one thing I hate is when budding writers put far too much thought into their characters names. It's one thing using a name you like, or which suits the character, or like... y'know... you have a soothsayer oracle type character who you name Cassandra or Sibyl or whatever. That's fine. But the thing is, 99% of your readership isn't going to look up the etymology of a name, so putting too much effort into whether a name's meaning 'describes' a character rather than it fitting the character/setting and being appealing or unappealing is a bit pointless, and more than that, unrealistic. There's plenty of brunette Xanthes out there, and Finns who aren't Scandinavian, and Cecilias who aren't blind. And, going back to my point with Dung, the impression people get of a name is going to trump etymology any time. I did a quick search and found Radomil, which means 'happy' + 'dear', pretty nice meaning, but 92% of the people who did the polls thought it sounded devious. Bahadur, which means 'warrior, hero, brave' got a similar response. So even though they have positive etymological meanings, the average reader might find them more suitable for a villain rather than a protagonist.
And then you also get my pet hate, people who give their characters cool names with cool meanings, and feel that needs to be included in the text. Stuff like ' "Hello, my name's Neil" Neil said, "It means cloud. Which is good because I'm a magical cloud elf" ' or 'Kamalani, who had long brown hair and blue eyes and was the most beautiful girl ever, had been named Kamalani because her mother thought she was a gift from heaven.'
I mean, bleaugh, terrible writing aside, it's weird and useless information, and it's awkwardly shoehorned in.
And then there's people who write a very specific setting and think the meaning of the name being appropriate is more important than the name fitting into a setting. It's not a good idea to name you Tolkein fanfic elf Blade even if he is a total bamf. Or you're writing a fantasy novel and craft a whole different society and culture and language, and have a character called Ciel, and Ciel magically means 'sky' in your made up language too - and so, erm, your fictional world is actually just a magical version of France? (Of course this goes back to my rant about shoehorning etymology into writing)
Or...orr...orrr, the very worse crime! You're writing a story about 16thC Hungary. Rather than doing some research and picking names that were actually used - Erzsébet, Anna, Krisztina - or chancing it with names that might not have been widely used but wouldn't stick out terribly like Natalia or Maria, you decide that your character must be represented by her name, so go with Hikari or Phaedra to underline how 'light' and 'good' your character is. Thereby thoroughly confusing everyone. Argh.
Sorry, I'm not ranting at you. It's just...I wanted to go on a rant, haha.
Anyway, neither name you mentioned is my style. It also goes back to my rant about different kinds of meanings - yes, Brighton might mean 'bridge settlement' but to me and just about every other Brit, it means, quite simply, Brighton. Like the place. That doesn't make it very useable in my books, but that's just me.
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