I suppose I should first start off that I begin to get nervous when 'unique' starts getting paired with 'name' because I have nightmares of of weird letter substitutions or multiple consonants for aesthetic purposes rather than any grammatical or pronunciation reasons. There are other weird instances where characters have quite a mouthful of 'unique names' as a given name and suddenly it's Starrlytte Kheeara Eve and I don't know what to think.
Names that are appropriate to the setting and story of the book are best, for me personally, without sounding too grandiose. That's why the characters in Harry Potter work - nothing in those books is decided upon without a reason, and JKR did her homework to the last letter - for me but the name Bella Swan gave her kid doesn't. The names Neal Shusterman gave the characters in Bruiser are unusual, but for what's happening in the book they make complete sense and actually help to convey a part of the personality. Same with Alaska Young in Looking For Alaska - she is such an outgoing, vibrant, and slightly untouchable spirit that for her to have a name like Jane Smith would never have worked in the same way.
I guess my point is that I don't look for unique names at all. I just hope the name choice suits the overall environment of the book. :)
12 comments on "follow friday (29)"
New follower! Great answer. I dislike those "unique" names, too. It just makes the name look foolish. Looking forward to your reviews!
http://www.ohpaperpages.blogspot.com/
I think our answer to the question this week is very similar, I mentioned the very same things you did!
I'm a new follower. :)
(oh, you're reading "Far from the war"! It's on my TBR list, I hope to see a review!)
My FF <3.
I've been seeing a lot of those Starllyte types. LOL. They just crack me up.
I'm a follower. :)
http://notjustnonsense.blogspot.com/2012/02/ff-feature-follow-11.html
What a wonderful answer!
New Follower!
My FF post is here; http://samjaymc.blogspot.com/2012/02/follow-friday-10.html
I'm a total name nerd!
YeS! I totally forgot about Alaska, but I'd read it just recently and loved the name. :)
Old follower.
Here's our #FF post
Maja @ The Nocturnal Library
I completely agree about the Harry Potter characters and JK Rowling!! Her names were SPECTACULAR and weird! But they worked :)
New follower!
Kristin @ GrowingupYA: http://growingupya.blogspot.com/2012/02/follow-fridays-7.html
"I guess my point is that I don't look for unique names at all. I just hope the name choice suits the overall environment of the book. :)"
Yes! Ditto! "Unique" names just for the sake of being unique are... not good.
PS: Our comment is true for both characters and people in real life. Maybe MORE true for people in real life. Baby name forums are scary, scary places... (But also kind of hilarious.)
I completely agree! I can't stand "unique" names in real life (with unique usually meaning misspelled, made-up or more appropriately suited for a pet), so I agree a name should fit the character. Alaska in Looking for Alaska is a bit pretentious. But John Green's characters are frequently pretentious, and the name thing is explained and part of the story. Maureen Johnson did a similar thing in Let it Snow! with Jubliee. Her parents fanatically collected a Christmas village, so she was named after one of the village pieces. And she went by any other name than Jubilee.
I also loved Karou in Daught of Smoke and Bone. It evoked a different time and place and worked to represent a naturally blue-haired tattooed girl.
You are the second person I've seen today to mention the Looking for Alaska book. I think I'm adding that to my To Be Read list.
My FF Post
And don't forget to enter to win a Kindle Fire. My Hottest Boys in Books giveaway ends tonight at midnight!
Thank you for mentioning Harry Potter and the awesomeness that is J.K. Rowling's genuis. She did give every character a name for a reason and their names all fit. I personally think that Renesmee was just a lame way for Stephenie Meyer to come up with a name. Also, I love that you didn't talk about unique names but instead talked about what makes the characters unique outside of just their name.
Hmm, I've been following you on Twitter forever but I just realized I'm not following your blog. Consider me a new but old follower :)
Danielle @ Novelly Antithetical
Hey, I'm a new follower! :)
Those are some awesome names! I LOVE unique character names!
Have a FABULOUS Friday!!!! :D
J.B.
http://jbkantt.blogspot.com/
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