Name Meanings
So I was curious, with all the talk of the importance of names, and decided to look up what some of the main character's names mean:
Jonathan - gift of God
Gilbert - trusted oath
Stephen - crowned in victory
Arabella - answered prayer
Walter - powerful warrior, ruler of an army
Emma (Lady Pole) - complete, whole
I don't know how many of these name meanings were intentional on Clarke's part, but I think it's pretty amazing how well some of them fit, especially Stephen's & Emma's.
Jonathan - gift of God
Gilbert - trusted oath
Stephen - crowned in victory
Arabella - answered prayer
Walter - powerful warrior, ruler of an army
Emma (Lady Pole) - complete, whole
I don't know how many of these name meanings were intentional on Clarke's part, but I think it's pretty amazing how well some of them fit, especially Stephen's & Emma's.
posted by Anonymous at 10:41 PM
11 Comments:
I would think that Stephen and Lady Pole's names had to be intentional...I especially like Lady Pole's because she is anything but complete and whole...very nice
In class, did we talk about how Strange only calls Arabella "Bell" the one time at the very end? I can't remember if anyone brought it up, or I just remember thinking about it. Either way that seemed significant to me, especially since it wasn't "Belle" or "Bella".
i think arabella's name is very fitting because in the end upon her and jonathan reuniting, she is like an answered prayer to him...thanks for posting these i thought they were a cool thing to think about
the names must have been intentional. writing a novel this size, i'd hate to think all her names were just random and had no alterior (sp) motive!
Lauren, where did you look up these names?
I got the following meanings at behindthename.com:
Jonathan: Yahweh has given
Gilbert: bright pledge
Stephen: crown
Arabella: yielding to pray
Walter: ruler of the army
Emma: Universal
Pretty close, I guess. Though, I did just realize that Arabella was a real name. I hadn't even noticed before, even when I read the OP.
Also, do we know if Stephen's name is pronounced STEE-ven or STEF-en? That's always been one of those names that's annoyed me because I never know which way it's pronounced.
Okay, I can't figure out how to fix that link, so here it is again...hopefully:
I started writing a fantasy short story a few weeks ago, and I did just that when naming my characters. I actually wasted much more time than I would like browsing those baby name sites for cool names with "meaningful meanings"
I know what you mean, Joel. Naming characters is one of my least favorite things, so I spend all sorts of otherwise-useful time playing on baby name sites. And just as soon as I make up one I like, my roommate finds a way to ruin it for me, by finding a weird meaning in a different pronunciation, or reminding me of someone I don't like that has that name.
You could always try to strike a balance between meaningful and human with the names.
Makes things a little less telegraphed, though sometimes that works, too.
I found these names at babyzone.com/babynames - sorry that took so long Andy!
Post a Comment
<< Home