Naming characters

Naming characters is always a bit of a challenge. I try to derive from real nationalities that fit the culture of the characters. However, I do make some changes and set up rules.

In the Starfire Angels universe, there are some rules I established when it came to cultures. For instance, Inari names do kind of have a mash between Japanese and biblical names. There's also a general ending of male names of -is, although that's not a rule, just a general style. Their names are also backwards ordered from western names, which the Ethalians copy--familial name then individual name, or what we would consider last-name first-name order. They also are a matriarchal culture, so the mother's familial name is assigned to children.

For other fictional cultures, I used different styles. Since Feri don't use hard consonants (c/k, q, t) their language is softer in some ways, but I wanted it to be a language of beauty, an irony for their warrior and cultish religious discipline. Their name order is another that's unique, a first-name middle-name [of] father-name [and from] mother-name at their fullest. You'll see this in Book 13, SOUL SHADOW, when L'Ni is identified by his full name in his memories.

And sometimes, I name things after real life. The name Zaer was inspired by a real last name I saw and I thought that had just the right sound for the character. 

And in an upcoming book - ALL THE KING'S MEN - I have a horse named after a real horse I knew.

Red (aka Blood) bay horse - red body
with black mane & tail, ear tips, &
lower legs, often the muzzle too. 
(ID 28896658 © Virgonira
- Dreamstime.com)

In this case, the character is an animal and I didn't hesitate to make him identical to the real life namesake. In the case of the horse in the story, Quint was the real name of a Quarter Horse ridden by the men in my stepfamily when I was a kid. Quint was the meanest gelding I ever knew and I kept my distance from him. He would only respect men, until he was a senior and slowed down. He was cowy through and through, though, which means he could turn any cow and went after them like the devil he was.

In the story, the fictional Quint has very little page time but has a big presence like his namesake. I made him a red (blood) bay like his namesake too and just as mean, but a stallion instead of a gelding (the real Quint was a gelding and still as mean as any stallion might be). The fictional horse, however, has a touch of intelligence such as I've seen on some horses who can seem nuts but turn docile when a particular situation requires it. I once had a half-Arabian that did this--completely forward and ready to go for me but absolutely deadhead on a loose rein when a child rode him.

As a horseperson, it was fun for me to feature an equine minor character, and it kind of made up for being chased by that mean gelding I grew up fearing.

The horse in the story has a small part, but he became a big personality within the story and gets to kick some Issan in armor. And the reason there are horses on a planet in another galaxy is explained in the series--transplanted from Earth like the humans, same as the Ethalians.

Now, I just need to write the description for ALL THE KING'S MEN. In the meantime, I thought it might be fun to share some of the background on it.

Thanks for reading!