Names?

[Ireth]

I recently received a comment on one of my stories that basically said the names I used were distracting and made the reader in question lose interest. The story is set in medieval Scotland, and for the sake of authenticity I chose Gaelic names such as Uilleam and Tàmhas, rather than the Anglicized forms William and Thomas. Other Gaelic names are used extensively throughout the whole of the novel; some are more pronounceable for someone who doesn't know Gaelic than others are. Compare names like Aileen and Conall to Oighrig and Aodh, and you see what I mean.

My question is, should I sacrifice the authentic Gaelic flavor of my characters' names for something more reader-friendly? I always have trouble changing a character's name once it "sticks"; the characters in question have had their names unchanged for years while I was writing the first draft.

 

[Queshire]

I think it adds a nice bit of flair to your story, I like that they're actual names and not just a random combination of sounds that seems to be the standard for high fantasy. I say keep it.

I personally try to ensure that all my characters, or at least the main ones, have names that start with different letters. That way people can just remember them as A or B.

 

[Ireth]

*nod* I've done that for the most part, with a few exceptions slipping through. But in those cases the names are different enough that they should be easily distinguished -- compare Aodh/Aileen, Conall/Ciaran, Ólan/Oighrig, Lileas/Lùthais.

 

[BWFoster78]

As far as I can tell from reading a lot of books about writing, the number one commandment is:

Try not to distract your reader.

When you have a name, be it a place name or character name, that your reader cannot pronounce, it causes them to skip over it in their mind. That's not a huge issue if it's one name here or there. If it's a ton of them, especially if they're all introduced at once, it's a huge problem.

If your writing skill is good enough, maybe you can compensate by making your story that captivating that you don't lose them. You're making it more difficult on yourself than it has to be, though.

 

[Ireth]

I see your point, BW. But I think going too far in the opposite direction would have a similar effect for a different reason. Giving my medieval Scottish characters easy names like Bob, Tim and Jane would be arguably just as distracting and unrealistic as naming them unpronounceable gibberish like Qerxl, Nrntb and Aeouwiy. It destroys any sense of credibility.

 

[Queshire]

Maybe an Aerith and Bob style approach?
Aerith and Bob - Television Tropes & Idioms

 

[Ireth]

Maybe... I do use some Anglicized names, such as Hamish instead of Seamus, but those don't pop up very often. I think that's about the extent of the "Aerith and Bob" approach in this case. Many of the characters are older vampires who wouldn't have Anglicized their names at all, so it's kind of justified, I guess.

 

[BeigePalladin]

My question is, should I sacrifice the authentic Gaelic flavor of my characters' names for something more reader-friendly? I always have trouble changing a character's name once it "sticks"; the characters in question have had their names unchanged for years while I was writing the first draft.

I'd keep the names, personally. They may be a bit unusual, but they're not that hard to pronounce - if someone actually tries - and it's not hard to put a preface at the start explaining the names are galic, and possibled (much like what is used in the Wheel of Time Series) a pronunciation guide/gloasory at the end if you do feel it will be a problem.

Th last thing I'd recomend is dropping names that actuallly enforce the versimmilitude (sp?) of the setting because some people aren't willing to try and pronounce it. Now, if it was Th'ám'has, I'd say change it, as that is a stupidly unpronoucable (and so typically fantasy) version of the name. Until it gets that bad, keep the names

 

[Ireth]

I'd keep the names, personally. They may be a bit unusual, but they're not that hard to pronounce - if someone actually tries - and it's not hard to put a preface at the start explaining the names are galic, and possibled (much like what is used in the Wheel of Time Series) a pronunciation guide/gloasory at the end if you do feel it will be a problem.

Th last thing I'd recomend is dropping names that actuallly enforce the versimmilitude (sp?) of the setting because some people aren't willing to try and pronounce it. Now, if it was Th'ám'has, I'd say change it, as that is a stupidly unpronoucable (and so typically fantasy) version of the name. Until it gets that bad, keep the names

I think I will write up a glossary for this novel and any sequels that it spawns. I've done so for another novel, Winter's Queen, which drops a lot of older Irish and Welsh names in on top of typical modern English names like Vincent, Dom and Ariel. That is at least justified because Vincent, Dom and Ariel are from 21st-century England, and the characters with Irish or Welsh names are all ancient Fae. (Okay, so Ariel is a Hebrew name technically, but my point still stands.)

 

[Xanados]

I'm sorry but I have to say that as a Scotsman who thinks of himself as Germanic, "authentic Gaelic" is a wee bit off.

 

[Ireth]

I meant "authentic" in the sense that the names are actual Scottish names as opposed to made-up Gaelic-sounding names that have no meaning.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

I often find myself trying to name characters in a certain "style" and then when I look at it, I am not pleased with the way it looks. So try taking out unnecisary letters, perhaps silent ones. Or try using different letters in substitution that will make the same sound.

 

[Ireth]

I often find myself trying to name characters in a certain "style" and then when I look at it, I am not pleased with the way it looks. So try taking out unnecisary letters, perhaps silent ones. Or try using different letters in substitution that will make the same sound.

I'm afraid that would completely ruin the authenticity I was aiming for. My story is set in the real world (with added supernatural elements of course), and so I want to use real names rather than fake ones or real ones with strange spellings.

 

[Penpilot]

Could you shorten the names to Uill and Tam? Those are one syllable names that are easier to pronounce. For myself if I can't pronounce a name, it becomes a shape when I read, so if you can choose names with shapes that are different from one another that might help.

To play a little devil's advocate, if you think about it, your characters are speaking Gaelic but on the page their words are english so you could reason that because it's kind of a translation anyway the names being William and Thomas would make sense.

 

[Ireth]

I could shorten Uilleam to Uill, but I like Tamhas the way it is. Tam is meant as a nickname that only his wife uses, so everyone else would call him by his full name (except his children of course). I use his full name in the narration even though it's from his son's POV, because using "his father" in every instance would get really really tiresome after awhile.

About Anglicizing names, that would prove difficult with names like Deoiridh, which I have NO clue how to Anglicize at all. It'd look out of place to have one blatantly Gaelic-looking name in a sea of Anglicized ones. On that note, I'm considering doing the opposite the one Anglicized name I do use, and turning it from Hamish to Seamus.

 

[Sheilawisz]

Ireth, choose the names of your characters wisely: You must really feel that you have given each of them their real names!! The Gaelic sounding names that you are using are great and can give style to your story, but please try to avoid words that could be very difficult to pronounce for many readers.

 

[Ireth]

That's already tricky business when I'm dealing with a language that's so different from English. Not all Gaelic names are as simple to read and pronounce as Aileen and Conall. If I were to choose only the easiest names, there wouldn't be many to choose from -- a lot of them have accents or strange diphthongs and vowel clusters. I tend to pick names based on how they look or what they mean, not always on how they're pronounced.