What I'd been up to all this time.

[Bramblethorn]

My choices are either to...
1. Use accurate medieval names that will bore the readers.

This "finding medieval names too boring to read" bit seems like a you thing. Readers on this site aren't shy about mentioning when they don't like something, but I can't recall ever seeing somebody say "stopped reading because the names sucked".

Plenty of people are still calling their kids names like Henry and William and Elizabeth today. I doubt those people consider those names boring.

Honestly, this feels more like you're looking for reasons to talk yourself out of writing.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Your names are mostly Norman, OP. If you set your story before 1066, you can use all the cool Godwins and Alfreds and shit.

Or even after 1066, if you're not writing exclusively about the Norman aristocracy. The Brother Cadfael series is set about 70-80 years after that, and it has a wide variety of names.

One of the nice things about historical fiction being how much a name can signify. If I'm reading Cadfael and I encounter a "Heribert" and a "Robert", it's not hard to tell which of them is more likely to be from an old local family and which is more likely to come from the new overlords.

 

[NoTalentHack]

I started writing a medieval-fantasy smut story. It would be a novel-length one. I didn't know what I'd do with it when I finished it (post it here or self-publish it), but I had panned a wonderful story, and I was progressing with no major problems.

Until someone pointed out that the names I used were not medieval enough and sounded anachronistic. So I searched among medieval names, but they all sounded bland and forgettable (Henry, Edward, Richard, Mary, Elizabeth etc.)

So, unable to find proper names for the characters of my novel, I gave up. Oh well.

Tiffany is a historically acccurate name. It’s short for Theophania. Disregard perceived notions of history; they’re mostly wrong. And, regardless, you’re writing fantasy.

 

[ruddygore]

Boring names please. It upsets me when I have to stop to try to figure out what the character's name is because the author wanted to have cutesy unique names.

 

[TheRedChamber]

I have to say, this troll's obvious trolling resonates with me.

I'm currently writing a story based on true events centered around the court of Henry VIII. Lest we forget, fully 50 percent of his wives were called Catherine and 33 percent were called Anne. And all Henry's top advisors were called Thomas.

I already have at least three Henrys in addition to the King himself, due to people naming their children after the king (and Henry's father was also called Henry so it'd been going on for a generation)

There may well be a threesome in Part Two where both women are called Mary. There's nothing I can do about this.

Despite these hardships, I haven't abandoned the work.

(No, I haven't. I just haven't been inspired for the past three months)

 

[Bramblethorn]

I have to say, this troll's obvious trolling resonates with me.

I'm currently writing a story based on true events centered around the court of Henry VIII. Lest we forget, fully 50 percent of his wives were called Catherine and 33 percent were called Anne. And all Henry's top advisors were called Thomas.

Which reminds me - for a medieval setting, or a fantasy setting adhering to medieval norms, first names aren't as important as they would be to us today.

Yes, Henry had a whole bunch of Thomases. (Also a Richard Rich - now there's a comic-book name!) But much of the time, people would have been calling them "Wolsey", "Cranmer" etc. etc. rather than "Thomas". And those who had titles would often have been referred to by the title; the 2nd Marquess of Dorset was yet another Thomas of that period, but he'd often have been called "Dorset" instead.

Those surnames and titles are often more distinctive and memorable than the first names, and the way people use them can be helpful in establishing how the society runs.

 

[ElectricBlue]

If you post your current chosen names here in the thread, I'm sure that we - as a collective group - can probably make slight changes to them to make them more fitting into a medieval setting, and you can continue your work without having your spirit shattered. Are you trying to find solutions or are you trying to find excuses to throw in the towel?

Ever since the OP turned up, he's been posting threads seeking input on "stories", with this problem or that problem. I suspect his enjoyment comes from this endless planning, rather than any actual story writing.

To give up on a story because you can't decide on character names is a tad ridiculous, but I don't think it matters much. I'm not sure the OP is truly interested in the story, but thrives on the background research and detail (even if he doesn't seem to be very good at it). It's train-spotting in a different era.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Which reminds me - for a medieval setting, or a fantasy setting adhering to medieval norms, first names aren't as important as they would be to us today.

Yes, Henry had a whole bunch of Thomases. (Also a Richard Rich - now there's a comic-book name!) But much of the time, people would have been calling them "Wolsey", "Cranmer" etc. etc. rather than "Thomas". And those who had titles would often have been referred to by the title; the 2nd Marquess of Dorset was yet another Thomas of that period, but he'd often have been called "Dorset" instead.

Those surnames and titles are often more distinctive and memorable than the first names, and the way people use them can be helpful in establishing how the society runs.

Yeah, it's not actually that big of a problem, although it is annoying when you have, say, your Lady in Waiting Catherine serving Queen Catherine, or when your heros sister and wife are both called Anne. Do I tell readers my hero's mother's name when she's just another Mary, or just keep calling her 'mother'.

The problem with titles is that you often have to introduce them on top of the first names anyway and that can lead to a lot of info dumping if you're not careful, and you have to be careful about your readers tolerance for this kind of thing. Plus this is Literotica, so it's supposed to be erotic....

"Oh, fuck me, Thomas, oh, Thomas, oh, fuck me Thomas, second Marquess of Dorset."
"I'm the third Marquess of Dorset. Wait, were you fantasizing about my father?"
Pause. "No, of course, not darling."

 

[Djmac1031]

Did you really abandon your story and writing altogether because you couldn't come up with satisfying names for your characters? That sounds... silly, no offense. It's like starting to build a house and then abandoning it because you can't make up your mind about the color of the fence...

Came here to say essentially the same thing.

It's more than a little odd to me that the biggest obstacle was naming characters.

Edit: apparently many of you echoed this sentiment

 

[gunhilltrain]

Man, you are either a huge troll, or just one really strange guy. On the off chance that it's the latter, I advise you to:

a) Find a new Beta reader.

b) Start writing the damn thing. If you find the problem of the names too distracting, you could even use X, Y, and Z for the names until you come up with something, or the story itself gives birth to suitable names.

c) Stop fretting about historical accuracy. The average reader has no fucking clue if maids wore aprons, latex suits, or body armor. You aren't writing this book with the Oxford history department as the target audience. At least I hope not...

"I said John, John, he's long gone, Gone to Indiana, ain't never coming home." Anyway, that's good advice. Just leave placeholders for the names and add them later. It's a medieval fantasy, not a history of the Middle Ages. Tolkien had a character named Lúthien Tinúviel, wherever that came from. And Tolkien was truly a scholar on the subject, but he just made up stuff as needed. That's your job too; to make up things.

If you can't do The Middle Ages, make it Steampunk or Dieselpunk. Or have the South win the Civil War, as one writer did (in two different scenarios, no less).

 

[JohnSm123]

You can delete comments on your own threads. You can always come back and delete the comment where you posted the names.

But if someone else has quoted that post in the meantime, the names will remain here forever.

 

[StillStunned]

It's been 14 hours since you posted this thread. Have you followed up on any of the suggestions?

Also: self-mockery ("Aaargh, all my quasi-medieval characters are called Bob and Tawnee!") is more likely to get you sympathy here than self-pity ("I can't think of any names so I'm giving up, boohoo!"). We all struggle with creative elements of our writing endeavours. We can sympathise with that. But stubbornly refusing to take the advice offered because you'd rather wallow won't make you many friends.

 

[JohnSm123]

a) Find a new Beta reader.

Wanna be my beta reader?

In fact, I have no problem posting parts of my work here whenever I feel I need opinions, if I can delete all of them when I finally publish the whole thing. Is there a way for the mods to activate some thread-deleting option?

 

[ElectricBlue]

But if someone else has quoted that post in the meantime, the names will remain here forever.

So? What's that got to do with anything? Your paranoia is getting a little silly.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Wanna be my beta reader?

In fact, I have no problem posting parts of my work here whenever I feel I need opinions, if I can delete all of them when I finally publish the whole thing. Is there a way for the mods to activate some thread-deleting option?

You can delete your own posts at any time, and the AHMod can lock a thread or remove it, but that only happens if a site policy gets breached. Your current queries don't breach any policies.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

I started writing a medieval-fantasy smut story. It would be a novel-length one. I didn't know what I'd do with it when I finished it (post it here or self-publish it), but I had panned a wonderful story, and I was progressing with no major problems.

Until someone pointed out that the names I used were not medieval enough and sounded anachronistic. So I searched among medieval names, but they all sounded bland and forgettable (Henry, Edward, Richard, Mary, Elizabeth etc.)

So, unable to find proper names for the characters of my novel, I gave up. Oh well.

I've been working on a fantasy novel. It's kinda like an RPG and like most of those, is medievalish. I didn't give a shit about if the names of anything sounded medieval, elven, or whatever.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

Yeah, it's not actually that big of a problem, although it is annoying when you have, say, your Lady in Waiting Catherine serving Queen Catherine, or when your heros sister and wife are both called Anne. Do I tell readers my hero's mother's name when she's just another Mary, or just keep calling her 'mother'.

The problem with titles is that you often have to introduce them on top of the first names anyway and that can lead to a lot of info dumping if you're not careful, and you have to be careful about your readers tolerance for this kind of thing. Plus this is Literotica, so it's supposed to be erotic....

"Oh, fuck me, Thomas, oh, Thomas, oh, fuck me Thomas, second Marquess of Dorset."
"I'm the third Marquess of Dorset. Wait, were you fantasizing about my father?"
Pause. "No, of course, not darling."

Well, you know... it was simple times back then. There was only like six names a piece to choose from. Whenever a new name was in invented, they all went for it.

 

[JohnSm123]

So? What's that got to do with anything? Your paranoia is getting a little silly.

The quoted post will remain on the thread even if I delete my original post. Am I wrong?

 

[onehitwanda]

pretty much this entire thread.

 

[ElectricBlue]

The quoted post will remain on the thread even if I delete my original post. Am I wrong?

Correct. You can't remove a post that someone has reposted. The moral is, think about what you post, before you post.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I've been working on a fantasy novel. It's kinda like an RPG and like most of those, is medievalish. I didn't give a shit about if the names of anything sounded medieval, elven, or whatever.

Me neither. For my Arthurian myth novel, I took the traditional names, messed with the spelling a bit, added a prefix as an honorific, and invented a character or two.

Maer Maerlyn
Nym Nymue
Vyv Vivyanne

Some peanut tried to ping me for writing dragen, but what would he know?

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Wanna be my beta reader?

Nope.
Alas! You are completely doomed... Doomed!

 

[SimonDoom]

Nope.
Alas! You are completely doomed... Doomed!

Doom? Did someone call my name?

 

[gunhilltrain]

But if someone else has quoted that post in the meantime, the names will remain here forever.

John, there are so many threads and so many posts on Lit forums that no one reads them after the first couple of days.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Doom? Did someone call my name?

Something about John's attitude brings up song lyrics in my mind.

If the sky above you
Grows dark and full of clouds
And that old north wind begins to blow.
Keep your head together
And call my name out loud.
Soon you'll hear me knockin' at your door.