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Posted By: Neurolanis Sep 03, 2004 - 01:22 pm

Can you use fictional names that are already published? If not, I'll probally have to re-write a couple DOZEN names in my book because lately I've been seeing the names, with the exact same spellings, everywhere!!

Posted By: Magus Sep 03, 2004 - 02:00 pm

Hmmmmm... In Wolves of the Calla Stephen King has a person who's last name is Took. I can't really think of any better examples... Roland was Used in both The Dark Tower Series and The Eyes of the Dragon. Other than that... without them being the same characters... no. Not really.

Posted By: Spiderkeg Sep 03, 2004 - 02:27 pm

In my story I have a race of humans that were "altered" by their masters, the best way of phrasing it. They're ideal soldiers, obiedient, patient, vicious, puppets. While each soldier has a name, as a group they're referred to as the "Progen" because of what they are.

Later down the road someone informed me that the same term was used in a game. However, I don't think I'll change it now. The name carries such a vast weight in my story that changing it now will really corrupt a lot of work already done.

Posted By: ricke Sep 03, 2004 - 02:55 pm

don't stress that sort of stuff. As long as the name is the only similarity (and the name isn't WAY out there original) In short, don't worry about ripping off other people - when you do it, you will know.

Posted By: MrD Oct 16, 2004 - 05:32 am

i always find my characters names subconsciously come from my life experience and i don't want to publish anything that a person from my past might read and associate the fictional character with them.

this could cause problems, especially if you linked the name you picked with the real persons mannerisms or experience!

so, i end up talking to people i know, asking for names from them, so my mind doesn't play tricks with the characters

Posted By: Neurolanis Oct 16, 2004 - 07:15 am

Thanks, guys!

Thanks, Ricke! Yeah, that is a load off. As long as they're not names like Popeye, Bugs Bunny, or Gandalf, I suppose it's all right?

Posted By: Magus Oct 16, 2004 - 10:22 am

What I find that I'm doing a lot now is deriving my names for characters from words or phrases that describe them, usually from Spanish. Spanish gives it an interesting sound to it, making it feel like a traditional fantasy name, but grounds the characters with symbolism, description or even foreshadowing that I find to be effective.

Posted By: Neurolanis Oct 17, 2004 - 01:28 pm

Yeah I've thought of getting cheap Spanish and French dictionaries.

Posted By: Queen Ehlana Oct 18, 2004 - 12:16 am

"Yeah I've thought of getting cheap Spanish and French dictionaries."

Hahaha... I hope you're joking... Wouldn't you be at least a little annoyed if you were reading a book about a character called "Butterfly"? That's how anyone who knows French/Spanish will feel if you give your character a name in one of those languages, unless it's not such a well-known word. I gave my character the name Cochonette in an RPG once, and the French people thought it was really bizarre.

Posted By: Magus Oct 18, 2004 - 04:37 am

What's Cochonette meen? Butterfly?

I only use the other language to express my character in another way and, even then, only if it sounds good.

I also, very rarely, name my characters based on words in the English language. It's rare, and usually accidental, not knowing the word at the time but it still fitting, but it happens.

Posted By: Some Idiot Oct 19, 2004 - 03:54 am

Whatever it takes to get a name on a page, man!

The best thing about writing in any current version of word processing software, is that most have a 'replace all' function. Don't bog yourself down with the technical! Get your story on the pages... everything esle can be worked out in the redraft.

I find it helps to name my characters AFTER I have become comfortable with them in the story. Until then, I call them base names like Jim.

Posted By: Gnollslayer Oct 19, 2004 - 12:29 pm

Wow, I did that too! (Naming them some base name) I had sentient dinosaurs that I couldn't really think up a system for naming, so I called them stuff like Joey and Alice. It was hard not to laugh though when I was writing it.

One of the danger, though, is that the name can stick. All my human characters still have those base names, and I can't change their names now because it's set in my head.

Posted By: Magus Oct 19, 2004 - 12:50 pm

I agree with you, Some Idiot. The story should come before symbolism, foreshadowing and names. The story is what people come and stay for, the rest is what is added afterwords to enhance what is there already. Without the fundemental story, the rest will crumble.

Posted By: Neurolanis Oct 20, 2004 - 06:00 am

I meant to use them as inspiration for names, etc. I wouldn't actually steal words from those languages. Use the sounds and wording to inspire strange-sounding words. My words are always my own.

I invent my names first, always. The big novel (I've just finished the rough draft to) that I'm working on has over 200 chracter names in it. Before I started writing, I sat back with dictionaries and gloassies. I was relaxed, and looked at it as I was starting to write my novel by writing up various words/names that I made up in my head through inspiration of the words that I read. It was amazing. I came up with hundreds of unique, beautiful words/names! As I wrote my novel, whenever I needed a name for a character or place, I'd simply glance over the words until I found one that fit, and if I couldn't, I'd mutate one or put two together and mutate that. It was very easy and has turned out to great success.


That doesn't mean that I'll ALWAYS do it that way. It's fun to try different things. However, like they say: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Posted By: Sindatur Oct 20, 2004 - 10:52 am

As long as the names and the character itself are not used together in another story, it's ok to use names from other books.

For instance, I believe you could use the name Harry Potter, as long as the character you named that was unlike JK Rowling's character.

Once again going with JK Rowling, Queen Ehlana, JK Rowling uses names that are descriptive. Molly Weasley is a Molly-coddler, Minister Fudge isn't the most honest or forthcoming character (and other names, which I won't go into, as there are a few people who haven't read HP, and they might spoil some surprises). So it is very possible to take words and use them for names, as long as it's done properly. Heck the name Smith, comes from a career of Blacksmith, Silversmith, etc.

Posted By: Magus Oct 20, 2004 - 05:38 pm

Congradulations on completing your novel Neurolanis! What's it about?

But I agree Sindatur. It's O.K. as long as they don't resemble the characters too closely. I believe I mentioned this example somewher on this site about Took. Obviously Pippin is named took. But in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, specifically in The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla, there is also a person named took, although obviously nothing like dear Pippin.

On that note I thought I would like to point out something interesting about Pippin's name. His full name, as I'm sure many of you are aware, is Peregrin Took. And Peregrin is derived from the word Peregrination. And a peregrination is a comical jounrey. An example of this could be "the epic up the stairs" or "the arduous trek across the sandbox".

Posted By: Neurolanis Oct 21, 2004 - 06:38 am

Thanks for your interest, Magus! I've been working on it for six months or so now. Must be. The basic premise isn't anything that original -- a young man is the "chosen one" and must set out to stop an evil Dark Lord. But what makes it work, I hope, are a cast of loveable and yet realistic characters, loads of imagination, my highly visual sense of writing, and enough gritty realism to balance off the surrealistic tall tale side of it. I actually had a psychic feeling about it that it would be "the one" before I even knew I was going to write it! Strange, huh? I'm really hoping that this will be the one. I'm buying a second hand computer or laptop and getting to work on typing it off soon (a long and difficult project..!!), and then re-writing and re-writing until I am satisfied with it.

Sigh ... I really hope this is "the one"!

Posted By: Magus Oct 21, 2004 - 11:52 am

Good luck with that. I hope it is "the one" for you.

Posted By: Neurolanis Oct 21, 2004 - 01:06 pm

Thanks.