Ireth
Myth Weaver
The female lead of my WIP has a group of imaginary friends -- likenesses of Biblical characters that she weaves into tapestries, and believes that they move and communicate with her and each other. One of these characters is an angel, who goes unnamed in the Bible, but I'm starting to feel he should have a name for the purposes of this story, since calling him "the angel" for page after page will inevitably get boring. Naturally, the female lead would be the one to name him.
Looking at various angels' names throughout mythology, the majority seem to be in Hebrew (eg. Gabriel, Michael, Raphael), with the exception being the Latin name Lucifer. I can't say whether the female lead would be more familiar with Latin rather than Hebrew, even if she has lived in the belltower of an Anglican cathedral for the past six years; it seems a bit more likely that she'd go with a name that describes some aspect of him, regardless of what language it's in. He's depicted with a white robe, golden hair and wings and blue eyes. I was thinking perhaps a name that means "gold" or "golden" would suit, like Chrysanthos or Flavius (though I'm not sure about either of those names specifically -- they were just two of the names I found that were male).
Alternately, do you think he needs a name at all? I've seen other authors do that, most notably the late Brian Jacques in his Castaways of the Flying Dutchman books -- the angel who curses the Dutchman's captain and crew as well as giving ongoing aid to the two titular castaways is simply called "the angel" through all three books. Then again, Jacques' angel is not as close to the protagonists as my angel is to the female lead of my story -- after it first appearance, it only pops up every so often to give cryptic advice to the heroes via rhyming prophecies. My angel is on a much more intimate (emotionally, of course, not physically) level with the female lead, being a fabrication of her hands and mind, and someone she sees and converses with on a daily basis in the belltower. He does give advice, but as more of a personal friend than a distant guardian.
Looking at various angels' names throughout mythology, the majority seem to be in Hebrew (eg. Gabriel, Michael, Raphael), with the exception being the Latin name Lucifer. I can't say whether the female lead would be more familiar with Latin rather than Hebrew, even if she has lived in the belltower of an Anglican cathedral for the past six years; it seems a bit more likely that she'd go with a name that describes some aspect of him, regardless of what language it's in. He's depicted with a white robe, golden hair and wings and blue eyes. I was thinking perhaps a name that means "gold" or "golden" would suit, like Chrysanthos or Flavius (though I'm not sure about either of those names specifically -- they were just two of the names I found that were male).
Alternately, do you think he needs a name at all? I've seen other authors do that, most notably the late Brian Jacques in his Castaways of the Flying Dutchman books -- the angel who curses the Dutchman's captain and crew as well as giving ongoing aid to the two titular castaways is simply called "the angel" through all three books. Then again, Jacques' angel is not as close to the protagonists as my angel is to the female lead of my story -- after it first appearance, it only pops up every so often to give cryptic advice to the heroes via rhyming prophecies. My angel is on a much more intimate (emotionally, of course, not physically) level with the female lead, being a fabrication of her hands and mind, and someone she sees and converses with on a daily basis in the belltower. He does give advice, but as more of a personal friend than a distant guardian.