Generational Names

Jennifer, Stephanie, Brooke, Lindsey and Brittany, and Megan. Like, omigod, these are, like, totally teenagers, right? Like, for sure.

Charlotte, Cora, Abigail and Agatha, and Ida. These are, in all likelihood, dowager dames of Downton Abbey, or, perhaps, sophisticated suffragettes of the previous century.

They're not?

There's a thing about names - how a name holds a connotation of generation and personality. I made a post several years ago about how, given the popularity of old Welsh names in the 80's and 90's I had to be careful choosing Welsh-based names for one of my stories - no one's going to accept The Dread Dark Lord Dylan.

Of course, these connotations change with time. When your grandmothers and great grandmothers were named Elizabeth, Margaret, Carol, Martha, Esther, and Lillie, those names seem old fashioned or traditional. But when Elianna's grandchildren are old enough to think about these things, names like Zoe, Riley, Everly, Avery, and Luna, will seem "old" and "stodgy," and who knows what will be hip and trendy at the dawn of the 22nd century?

But back to my lists at the beginning, the list of names that feels teenagery to me, because these were the names of the popular girls when I was a teenager - these are professionals. The Jennifers are the head of the foreign language department, and the head of graduate studies at a university. The Stephanies are an academic advisor and a doula. Brooke is a pediatrician. Lindsey and Brittany are teachers. Megan is a doctor of physical therapy.

And the "dowager dames?" They're babies. Charlotte is 2 1/2. Cora is turning 2. Abigail and Agatha are a little over 1 1/2. Ida is 6 months old. But maybe there's something to these "suffragette" names - these little girls will be the movers and shakers, the leading ladies of the next generation. Move over, Megan. Step aside, Stephanie - Ida and Cora have some changes to make.

What's in a Name: Act III

I was once at a workshop where the speaker talked about how it can be difficult to pick out names for your characters. "I know people who have taken longer to name their characters than their kids!" he proclaimed. There was a lot of laughter and understanding nods.

I have done a lot of name research in my life. I own two name etymology books. Each longer story that I'm working on has lists and index cards full of name research - meanings, root words, etc. So now that it has come time for Jason and me to choose a name for our baby girl, I already have a lot in my mind as to what I like, what I don't like, meanings, and connotations.

When you're writing fiction, the sound and symbolism of a name can be important, but you can also get away with more in fiction that you can in real life:

https://www.iveyink.com/blog/2018/4/15/whats-in-a-name

https://www.iveyink.com/blog/2017/7/16/whats-in-the-spelling-of-a-name

Like an old Celtic name that no one can spell? Books often come with a pronunciation guide; your child's kindergarten class doesn't. Authors take care not to name to many of their characters Jon or Rob (unless they're George R R Martin); Jason and I both have been in many classes or work settings where we have been one of two or more people with the same name. Think a name sounds really bad-ass? Well that's all well and good, but if you name your kid Leonidas, he's gonna end up dying in a battle. (One of my university's founders, General Leonidas Polk, died at the Battle of Kennesaw.)

It's a lot to think about. Unlike naming a character, where if you decide later that it's not working, you just change it before publication, there comes a point where you're out of time on deciding on a name. (It may come as a surprise, but unless you're Nora Roberts or James Patterson, the amount of time between sitting down to begin a story and having said book published in much longer than pregnancy.) Plus, usually, you're the only one naming the character in your book. Most people naming a child are working with another person to choose a name (it's fortunate the Jason and I have similar tastes).

Oh Say Can You See My Plans for July?

Can you?  'Cause I'm not sure what they are either.

I have spent the last month continuing to work on name research and replacement.  It's taking me longer than it should.  Partly, this is due to the depth of research that I'm doing due to some irrational fear that I will miss the "perfect" name for what are, at this point, important, but not the most major characters (having named all of the major characters already).  I actually am close to being done with this; I think I only have one left that requires the more in depth process I'm doing.  For the other minor characters that have yet to be named I can probably just pull something from the lists I've already created.  Until I write more and need more names, ha!

And that last part brings me to why, even though what I have been doing is important, it feels like I haven't done much.  The Wolf and the Sheath still stands at the 51,729 word mark, where it was in late April.  I have not written any new material since then.  (This doesn't mean I have writers block; I have plenty of scenes I need to write and know pretty much what I am going to do for them.  I just got to the point where I said, "I'm past 50,000 words; I need to finalize these names.")

It also occurred to me within the past couple days that I'm going to have a lot going on in September, and to a lesser extent, August.  I may very well not get much, if anything done, on W & S these months.  (I'm not saying I'm going to intentionally not work on it, just that I know my realistic limitations and I'm not going to set myself up to be disappointed at not meeting an unrealistic goal.)  

I keep thinking that these months are SO far away, SO down the road that I hadn't thought much about them.  But tomorrow, is July 1, meaning that August and September really are just around the corner.  Looking now at what I will have occupying my time during that period, I think I may take a break from W & S completely (aside from writing brilliant scenes that come to me in the shower, 'cause that's what I do) and work on some smaller projects.  

I actually have a couple projects in mind for September.  One of them is that I will return to something I did a few years ago and post a bog entry for each day of Banned Books Week (at the end of September); actual posts, not reposting the same thing I posted two years ago.  I will probably write them ahead of time; the whole reason why I was reposting BBW blog posts last year is that it actually takes a lot of work to write a blog post every day.  I have another project in mind, too, but y'all will have to wait a little while to hear more about that one.

I think for August I will work on small projects; polishing or finishing existing short stories, or creating new ones.  I've been thinking a lot recently about how I need to start working, really working, using my writing.  I need to start submitting my pieces to places where I will get paid more than a contributor's copy.  I do want to eventually be able to work "full time" as a writer (by "full time," I mean that that would be my primary source of income).  At the rate I'm going, that's some time in the far-flung future.  And, yes, I need to finish writing my books.  But with all but one of my complete short stories published, I also don't have anything to submit to paid publications right now.  I need to find a better balance on that front.

So, what does this have to do with July?  For July, I will finish my name research and replacing (that might even happen this week).  I will then do a full reread, making sure that all the names have switched out properly.  (I only trust find/replace so much.)  I will slot in names off my list I've been compiling as I research for those minor characters who need it, so Lady X and the cook can actually have a name.  We'll see where that gets me in July.  If I have time, I will commit all those brilliant shower scenes to the page.  But I will also prepare to put the story away for a while.  I've been "working" on Wolf and Sheath (some months more steadfastly than others) since November, and it may be that I just need to step away and refresh my creativity a bit.  I also have one more writing contest I definitely want to enter that opens tommorow.

So this July 4th I will be celebrating my independence from an indefinite timeline and "to do" list and see if maybe that helps jump start myself some.

May Project Update

How is it that tomorrow is June 1st?  It seems like yesterday was May 1st...

I've spent this month wrapped up in name research.  As some of you may recall, my current project, The Wolf and the Sheath, is a novel I started writing during NaNoWriMo, lo, these many years ago.  When you're trying to squeeze 50,000 words into 30 days, you don't take time to do name research - you throw down a place holder and move on.  

But now here we are, coming up on 9 years in, and I still have place holder names for most of my characters.  And some of these are acceptable names; probably no one but me cares that Finn, Konstantin, and Markus aren't from the right linguistic background for these characters.  But I can't keep calling the antagonist "Whatshisname."

So after how satisfying it felt to pin down names for the major locations, I decided to completely change gears and focus solely on name research and replacement.  Now because this is a quasi-fantasy/quasi-historical piece, you would think I could just make stuff up.  But for me, I like to ground characters' names in real-world languages.  And because I'm... well... me, these names have to mean something or have some significance.  And as I've said it previous posts, they also have to be something that the audience will find relatively easy to remember, pronounce, and spell.  (Though I have actually given one character a name that is somewhat awkward intentionally, to put the reader slightly off balance with him.  But he's had his name for a while...)

Could I not do that?  Could I just slap Bob, Jim, and Steve on these characters and move on? Well, no, actually, I couldn't.  They don't suit the characters or the world.  Could I do this if I were writing a modern piece?  Well, actually, no on that one, too : )  Even the modern pieces (what few I have written) have some symbolism in the names.  Not as much research goes into it, but I do think about the meanings of names even in modern settings.  

So what did I do in June?  I sorted through a mind-numbing amount of research for names.  But I also named the main character's brothers and father, the most important secondary character, decided on how all these people say "mom" and "dad," and am very close to choosing the name of another major place.

And I'm not saying that every character is getting this level or research; the cook who gets referenced once is not going to be given the name of an obscure Serbian goddess of baking that it takes me hours to sort out.  The cook could be Hilda.  Except that I already have a Hilda.

What's in a Name?

"What's in a name?" Juliet muses.  "That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet."

Anne of Green Gables begs to differ.  She can't imagine that a beautiful flower called Skunk Weed would smell good.  (Apologies that I can't find the exact quote.)  But then, Anne is also quick to point out that she is "Anne with an 'E.'"  As someone whose last name (now maiden name) also has an 'E' where some people don't expect it, I relate

Names are important.  This is something that I've known for many years as first an actor and then a writer.  In fiction and theatre, a character's name gives you an impression.  The name Severus Snape, for example, gives you a drastically different image in your head than Luna Lovegood, even if you know nothing about the characters or the world they come from.

In real life you usually have less choice on the impression your name gives.  Your parents choose a name for you, based on family members, names they like, compromises, and other things.  My parents named me Jennifer Elizabeth.  It was a compromise.  My dad wanted something very "normal," like Mary Jane (that wasn't an actual combination suggested, but you get the idea).  My mom wanted something more poetic, like Anya Guinevere.  

As many of you reading this know, I haven't gone by Jennifer since I was 8 years old.  One day, actually right around this time of year, I decided that I wasn't Jennifer anymore - that I was Elizabeth.  The timing was good - it was almost the end of the school year and I would be going to another school the next year.  My parents agreed that they would call me Elizabeth at home; I would stay Jennifer at school and if I still wanted to be Elizabeth at the end of the summer, we would tell people at my new school that that's what I went by.

Fast forward many years.  I was called by Elizabeth (though often having to correct people) in high school, college, and my professional life. I was fortunate enough to be allowed to have simply "Elizabeth Ivey" printed on my diploma. I had to always remind doctors (except my dentist, who I've been with since I was in middle school), employers, and others that I go by Elizabeth.  I've received more emails, cards from people who don't know me well (and in once case, one who should have known better), and "thanks for shopping with us, Jennifer" from well-meaning cashiers than I care to think about. 

I considered legally changing my name on multiple occasions.  Everyone told me, "oh, no, that's expensive - wait and do it when you get married."  I didn't think to question that logic - my mom has also gone by her middle name all her life and successfully dropped her first name when she got married.  In 1977.

But 1977 was prior to identity theft, terrorism, and all those lovely things that create more rules and regulations in our digital age.  So after I got married in September and attempted to change my name with the Social Security office, I was told I still had to have a court order to drop my first name.

A lot of people suggested just tacking my married name onto the end of my name, or dropping my maiden name and doing as I've always done; go by my middle name.  But after 28 years of correcting people, explaining, and sometimes just deciding it wasn't worth the effort to tell people my preferred name, I really wanted to be who I am.  I didn't want to drop Ivey.  I've always been Elizabeth Ivey.  I've had a few people address me as Ivey either as a nickname, or because there were multiple Elizabeths in a group.  I've published stories as Elizabeth Ivey, and will continue to use that as my pen name.  No, it was time to finally drop Jennifer.  (Nothing against Jennifer; I've known a lot of nice people named Jennifer.  But it's not me.)

So after the end of a 6-month journey of paperwork, bureaucracy, and a lot of waiting, on Friday the 13th I officially and legally became Elizabeth.

Interestingly, one of our friends who we had over last night commented to me something along the lines of, "You just don't seem like a Jennifer to me."  You're absolutely right, Erin.  I don't seem like a Jennifer to me, either.