Character Name 'Structure'

[Laerten]

Regarding character names in books, the 'structure' seems to be split into a couple of distinct groups depending on who is the author:

1. Everyone has a first name and surname
2. 'Commoners' have only a first name but nobility have first names and surnames
3. Same as no. 2 above but 'commoners' are sometimes referred to by their first name but with their profession added on (e.g. Farmer Etaana)
4. Same as no. 2 above but 'commoners' are sometimes referred to by their first name but with parents name added on (e.g. Etaana Samson)

Which is the easiest way to write? Personally I have decided to go with no. 2 in my books as it uses up the least amount of names that I have invented and is easier to distinguish between 'commoners' and nobility.

Any other thoughts??

[HareBrain]

Whether someone has a surname depends on whether they need to be distinguished from others with the same forename. In a small village they probably don't. If any of them start travelling to larger communities, they probably do - and even commoners in large towns will probably have some kind of surname, related to parent, place of origin or job - though these surnames might be quite informal and might even vary depending on who's using it.

My own surname probably came about when drovers from the Welsh marches took their flocks to London to sell them - they were named after the villages they came from.

[pyan]

There's a village called HareBrain?...

[HareBrain]

Yes, it's in Herefordshire. But not many know about it, because in 1842 the local council surrounded it with a wide, deep slurry ring and forbade any contact between the inhabitants and the outside world. Sadly that has led to some inbreeding. Why do you think I look like this, for Heaven's sake?

[The Judge]

Surely you shouldn't be analysing what others have done in their books, but what is needed for your own. Think about the family structures for your characters and their society and make decisions accordingly.

If all your action is taking place in more or less the same area with people from the same clan/tribe, then first names will probably be enough for everyone - though in reality cousins usually ended up being given the same or similar names and so would be distinguished by 'Ben's Tom' in conversation. But as HareBrain has pointed out, if the characters are in a large city, or the action moves from place to place, then you will need something more, particularly if there are different races/species interacting - and then you would have to give the different peoples names with a different feel.

As well as occupation and parental names, in the English tradition distinguishing features would also be used such as hair (?hare?) colour eg Brown, Redhead, and nicknames would be common eg John Lackland, Edward Longshanks. But don't restrict yourself to these ideas - different societies have different thoughts on the transmission of names. For instance in Iceland a brother and sister would have different surnames as the boy would be called after his father + son eg Magnus Magnusson, a girl (I think) after her mother + daughter eg Gudrunsdottir (I might be wrong about the mother bit, but definitely its dottir at the end). In Russia they have the three part names where the patronymics are as important as the given names eg Madame Karenin would be called Anna Arkadyevna rather than simply Anna in certain situations, but note her brother is Stepan Arkadyevitch. And in ancient Rome boys had First, Second, Third etc tacked onto their names to show birth order.

J

PS HareBrain - you are named after a Welsh sheep? That's baaad, boyo!

[flynx]

Originally Posted by The Judge

In Russia they have the three part names where the patronymics are as important as the given names eg Madame Karenin would be called Anna Arkadyevna rather than simply Anna in certain situations, but note her brother is Stepan Arkadyevitch. And in ancient Rome boys had First, Second, Third etc tacked onto their names to show birth order.

J

The different ending for names (certainly in Lithuania and probably Russia too) is to identify gender.

Arkadyevitch would most likely be 'son of arkady' but Arkadyevna wouldn't necessarily be daughter of Arkady but merely the feminine form of Arkadyevitch.

Take the surname Krasny the feminine form would be Krasnaya (Like Krasnaya Ploshchad: Red (or pretty) square)

[Laerten]

It just gets more complicated the longer you think about it.