forum What do your character's names mean

Started September 29, 2020 by @LilMeme group

tune

Asumi Himawari- Ok so his first name's kanji read along the lines of pure love (it can also mean innocent peace) which kind of ties in the love and corruption and theme of the story and his last name just means sunflower, which his main motif and symbolisms hope, unconditional love and adoration, which all of them tie in his character. He represents hope, tends to love people unconditionally, and tends to give people the benefit of the doubt and second chances. Plus due to his blood, you can say he inspires some type of "adoration"

Kage Shiore- Well his first name Kage means shadow with first relates to his shadow powers, next it relates to how he was always in the shadow, especially of his younger sister, Hikari, also there's the contrast in with their names and it's also just because he's a gloomy guy. His surname means wilt, which refers him being in the shadow causing him to wilt and everything around him seem to wilt

Minato Ouka- Minato means harbor, which refers to the fact that she is Asumi's one harbor from everyone else's craziness since she compared to everyone is the most normal person and she secretly plans to save him from the Kami Game. Ouka refers to cherry blossoms which are her main motif, The ka part also can mean fulfill or come true which she'll do anything to make her dream of breaking the Kami Game become true. Also sakura blossoms refer to her mindset of life's short live it to max

Eri Sayuri- Eri means blessed prize which refers to the greed side of her character as well as her relationship with Asumi, with Kami, and all. Her surname means small lily, which her motifs are pink lilies that symbolize prosperity and abundance, which she likes to achieve

Collin Koi- Collin means young dog or pup which refers to his attachment to his youth and "purity", also it's a western name refering to his British heritance. Koi refers to love so putting that together can refer to young love or puppy love, which are his feeling towards Asumi

Mikoto Naruhito- With the kanji of her name, it means is charge and precious, Charge refers to her wrath and vengeful side, while precious refers to how she view Asumi, also Mikoto means Lord, Highness, which would be ironic seeing her timid and humble nature, It also was an archaic derogatory form of "you.", which actually fits better, It also rhyme with her twin sister, Mikoto. Naruhito means virtue and compassionate

Hanaki Akogare- Hanaki means flower tree or flowering tree which relates to the flower motifs in the series, ironically his flower motif is a Marigold that grow on the ground, his surname means longing or admire which implies his somewhat envious nature (eg. longing for things he can't have)

Emiko Junjo- Emiko means beautiful child or prized child, which prized child refer to her pride and drive to become one by the Kami Game. Junjo means pure and sincere which she isn't so that kind of ironic, also it the first name of a yaoi series named Junjou Romantic, that's kind of funny since she's one the "straight options"

Unzari Hachirou- Well Unzari isn't an actual japanese name but the word means tedious and dull, which describes his early life and is ironic to his actual personality. Hachirou means eight son, which could refers to ranking 　

Hikari Shiore- Hikari means light, which refer to her situtation with Kage since she's always respected and in the spotlight, though all this time having her talents cultivated caused other parts of her to wilt

Ran Ouka- means either orchid or lily, one meaning is also disturbed, which fit Ran well, Ouka refers to cherry blossoms, which just take Minato's idealogy of life is short, live it to the max and replace live to max with make such your goals are completed

Ai Kokoro- Her full name literally means love heart, which is ironic since she doesn't feel things like love

Nono Kokoro- His full name translate to hope/beg heart, which I guess can refer him hoping this game will end and the heart part is somewhat true despite his stoic disposition

Asagao Fuji- Asagao means morning glory which symbolises unrequited love and mortality, which refers to her Makoto Itouing Hanaki and her boyfriend, and her mortality come as her boyfriend pulled a Sekai Saionji on her. Fuji refers to wisteria that symbolism long life

Kosuke Fuyoko- With the kanji in his name it means amber and to help someone, amber was used to assure promises, which he doesn't and while does help people it's for his own selfish reasons. Fuyoko means winter child I actually know if that means some to him, maybe because he's cold-hearted

Makoto Naruhito- Makoto means sincere, true which is ironic because she hides behind her Yamato Nadeshiko mask, and Naruhito means compassion and virtue

Yuda Wanaka- Yuda means manly and hero which is kind of ironic because he's usually teased for being wimpy and a doormat, though he become one to save his niece and nephew. Wanaka means place of knowledge.

Chie Wanaka- Chie means wisdom with the addition of Wanaka meaning of place of knowlegde, ironically she is very naive and jaded of the world

Kotone Shiore- Kotone is usually a girl's name with the meaning harp sound or harp mausoleum of father, I guess the harp sound meaning refers worship, like almost worship like love of his wife Chie and mausoleum of father refers to him digging his own grave by his murderous ways catching up to him. Shiore refers to him making other wilt by using them for what he need and leaving afterwards

Dahilia Himawari- Dahilia refer the flower of the same name that symbolises elegance, inner strength, change, creativity, dignity, betrayal, dishonesty, and instability. While she isn't traitous though she got betrayed a lot and she's far from elegant or creative. But I guess she relates to change, dignity and instability. Change since her son and herself were the first to oppose and change the game. Dignity since she isn't ready to throw in the towel and Instablity since due to everyone hunting or betraying her, she can get a bit paranoid. Himawari carries the same meaning as her sons surname

Kiiro Suzuki- Kiiro mean yellows which symbolises optimistic, enthusiasm, hope, fun, and cheerfulness which match most of his personality, but some other factets I found were "when overused, yellow may have a disturbing effect and it is known that babies cry more in yellow rooms.", well that does fit his overprotective side (seeing he practically locked his son in their home and refused to let him out in fear Asumi might get killed or kidnapped) Suzuki mean bell tree, I guess the tree part refer to the similaties of another certain guy with a tree meaning in his name

Mamarou Eno- Mamarou means protect and defend, which is his main personality is being protective, He also share the same with the stalker from Perfect Blue. Eno means plains and civilian life, Which refers to their past life

Nanami Himawari- Nanami means seven seas, which refers to the number of normal participants and Himawari means Sunflower

Only a couple of my names have a specific meaning so I'll just explain why I chose each name

Archibald Ajax "Archie" Ainsley- I wanted a name with three a's to emphasize how he is the first in the party and another a with his nickname Archie.
Douglas "Yuzu" Solano- Douglas means something along the lines of "Dark Stream" referencing his ability to use ink jets. Solano comes from him being the "sun" in the group and Yuzu is a nickname from a citrus of the same name also referencing his bright personality.
Katana Horikita- Katana is because she sometimes wields a katana in battle and Horikita has the Kanji for Protect, Gain and North mainly chosen for the Protect Kanji.
Reef Aoi Ainsley- Reef was chosen because a reef is an ocean related rock like substance, Aoi meaning blue transferred from Katana's original name referencing her blue plasma, and Ainsley as she was adopted into the Ainsley family.
Rolan Zane Long- Rolan and Zane were chosen in opposition to his character, Rolan means "famous throughout the land" while he would rather be alone and would not like fame. Zane means "god is gracious" to oppose his Atheistic stance. His last name Long is the Chinese word for Dragon more closely representing his fire based powers.
Drew Io Eyler- Drew was chosen as it is a gender neutral name for their genderfluidity, Io is one of Zeus's mortal lovers so they can tap into their more feminine side as they were AMAB and Eyler means strong to reinforce the idea that they are strong.

I kinda just make up names, they are often inspired by words in actual languages. And some of them have meanings that are kinda interesting and unintentional.
Alga means algae in various languages including English but its one of the few names that has a meaning in her world. Alga is a flower similar to a poppy.
Tavi means lacustine in Hungarian according to Google Translate. Lacustine means having to do with lakes which I had to look up. It's interesting because Tavi is a very strong swimmer.
Drest means strong in hindi but also is an actual name in Celtic counties which is what his culture is loosley based on. According to behindthename.com it is a variant of Drust which means riot. He's not violent but I think it works.
Google says Wilah means blade in Javanese which I just found out and it's so badass
I stole the name Morag which is an actual Gaelic name meaning great but I pronounce it Morah because why not

Vozreal: Real Voice (Spanish)
Allison: Noble (German), Truth (Greek), or Of Noble Birth (Irish)
Azrael: Benevolent Angel of Death. (Apparently, Azrael is the Islamic equivalent to the angel of death from Judeo-Christian culture. Samael is like Azrael, but Fallen and Malevolent. I didn't know this at all before I did research, so yeah…)

So most of my characters names are chosen randomly so these meanings don't really have anything to do with the characters but anyways.

Crispin: Curly haired
Kit: Christ bearer (his full name is Christopher, but no one ever calls him this ever).
Caleb: Whole hearted
Eva: Giver of life
Gerard: Brave spearman
Adelia: Noble
Matthew: Gift of God
Frank: Free
Dallas: From the meadow dwelling
Andor: Thor's eagle (that's so badass, I feel like he'd love that)
Ara: To send (His full name is Arakel, but most people don't call him that. The name Ara on its own comes from Armenian mythology and was the name of a king who was so handsome that a war was waged over him)
Holly: You'll be shocked to know that Holly means "plant with red berries."
Brian: High, noble
Jackie: Supplanter
Milo: Soldier (This is actually weirdly fitting).

I think thats most of my main characters. The rest are just names I made up.

Sheaenna Aloe Garner.
In the language of the First (language in my universe) Sheaen means "power" and the ending "na" means "full", so her name translates to English as Powerful. Her middle name, Aloe, was her great-grandmother's name and she was a master of the Wind Element. Shea didn't inherit her wind abilities, but her brother, Morrison Aero Garner, did.

Morrison Aero Garner
Mor is the language of the First means "soul" and rison means "dauntless" so his name is Dauntless Soul. Aero, was his grandfather who was also a Master of Winds.

Usually I just pick names that sound right, whether I see the meaning or not. I also use BehindTheName for English names to generate from their random name generator, still finding a fitting one to keep. Sometimes I even make up a name altogether. Tried that with my OC Porte (it was supposed to be the word port, like for a computer with an e at the end, attempted clever wordplay), but turns out it just means door in French (and I am constantly reminded of that lol).

Aurelius: gold/gilded
Septima: seven
Taurin: having to do with Taurus the bull, born under Taurus
Ignis: literally just the Latin word for fire
Valkyrie: yknow like from Norse mythology
Moreau: just looked it up and it means "dark-skinned" but I think I picked it because it was the surname of a french general and it sounded cool
Fiera: proud
Rosalia: rose. Idk what else to tell you
Naran: I can only find the Tamil/Mongolian version of the name at the moment. That would be "strong but silent," but I KNOW I pulled it as a name with a different meaning from another culture entirely. Wanna say it was like Aztec or Mayan.
Felix: happy/lucky
Pollux: "very sweet," also the name of one of the Gemini twins
Cyrus: "sun," "lord," "heir to the throne"

Christian Jean - Christian "follower of Christ" , Jean "God is gracious". Jean's family was supposedly a Christian family so they gave him Christian names,,,,literally lol.

Celia Foxx - Celia "heaven" Foxx bc her family is like a fox hybrid lol

Edward - "wealth, fortune; prosperous guardian, protector"

Exila - Derived from the word "exile" which means to banish one from their native country. In her instance, her spirit is banished from her own body.

Harmony - This one's self explanatory. Harmony is a harpy so she uses her voice to attract victims

Kaiholo - Hawaiian meaning "moving waters" Kai meaning "sea" and holo meaning "running"

MacKenzie - Daughter of the handsome

Myst - The memorable hell yeah (this was unintentional but totally fits her character)

Roger - Renown, spear, fame

Yuki - the phonetic spelling of the Japanese word 雪 meaning snow.

Lux Tenebris: Lux is the Latin translation for light. Tenebris is the Latin translation for dark. Lux brought joy into his parents' lives during a particularly dark period. I chose Tenebris because it represents the fact that Lux had been cursed to become a dark, malevolent viciously twisted version of himself during full and new moons.

Lumen Custos: Lumen is another translation for light in Latin. Custos translates to watchman from Latin. It is Lumen's job to watch over Lux while he is being influenced by the curse.

Negative: I decided to make Negative after I went thtough ALOT. Shes sassy, IDC, and get the ** away from me. I barfed her out after that terribleness was over so yeah pretty much.

Naomi: Sweet or honest, hazelnut tree, valley.
CJ: Prosperity, healer, woods dweller.
Brandee: White raven, fury born of grief, lock.
Kieron: Dark, vindicated, valley.
Talula: Fountain.

(I swear having two characters whose surnames mean "valley" was not deliberate and has nothing to do with the fact that I 'ship them. Their surnames are quite different phonetically, are from different language families, and were chosen independently of each other for disparate reasons; and neither of them are the only character with whom I 'ship the other.)

Beleth: In demonology Beleth is a king of Hell, who commands 85 legions of demons. He rides a pale horse and all types of music are heard before his arrival.
Mastema: In the Book of Jubilees (Jewish) Mastema is an angel who persecutes evil and carries out the will of God. However in the Zadokite Fragments (Jewish) Mastema is the angel of disaster and father of all evil.
Leyak: In Balinese mythology the Leyak is a mythical figure in the form of a floating head with the entrails still attached. Leyak is said to seek out a pregnant woman so it can suck out the newborn baby's blood.
Ziminiar: In demonology Ziminiar is one of the four principal kings that have power over the 72 demons supposedly contained by King Solomon.
Iza Abrams: The first name means either God is my oath or God is perfection. The closest definition I found to the surname was just a reduced version of the Jewish name Abraham.

Discord: Chaos, disorganization, lack of harmony
Myles: It means merciful in English and destroyer in Greek. The contrast amused me so I chose this name and I really like it.

My characters are usually named using words in my language but some of them are actual names so I’ll post both meanings.

• Ladios: means: “born again,” in my language and was named after the god of rebirth.

• Arwood: In my language the direct translation means: “Wanderer of the wood.” Originally, the English name means “From the fir forest.”

• Jedrek means: “song of peace,” in my language, I named him thus because he’s the peacemaker of the group. The original Polish name means “strong or manly.”

• Tournour: Is a character based on my brother, he wanted to be in the book so his name doesn't have a meaning in my language. His name originated from France/England and means "one who works a lathe.”

• Thea: Means “lucky one,” in my language. Originally, the name is an alternate spelling of the Greek goddess Theia, which literally means "goddess.”

• Berthold: means “young prince:” in my language. Originally, the name is Germanic meaning “bright ruler.”

• Felman: means “guider of pilgrims,” in my language. Originally, the name is from English-speaking countries meaning “Man who lives by a crag.”

I might list more, but these are the main characters.

Alice: An incorrect reading of her birth-name; Alene. She got the name Alice after her adoptive parents accidentally misread a smudged nametag.

Wilkes: In Hayatchin culture, the name Wilkes can mean "to be sturdy" or "protection."

Ăryu: The name Ăryu comes from High-Elven culture. However, it's a pretty uncommon name and it's rumored to have Asgardian origins. The exact meaning is unknown.

Nikita: Derives from the Greek name "Νικήτας," which means victor.

Well I made up the names for my characters, but they have a meaning in their language and the meanings are important to the story so here:

Prince Destrian: In their language, Destrian means "the war sword" or "the sword of the war", which is the first line of the prophecy

Prince Sadon: Sadon, in their language, means "the one who brings peace" which is quite literally the second line of the prophecy. Supa important.

Arynnalli Anuusi: Their name means "lost child of man". They grew up in a different kingdom from where they were born and their caretaker named them this.

Those are the main ones, so yeah :)

I really only have one person with a deep name. All the others I used name generators or made it all up.
Redeemer: a person who redeems someone or something. Redeemer's mother believed her second son would be the next messiah, so when he was born she named him Redeemer in honor of Jesus Christ. Turns out he wasn't the next messiah, that was the main protagonist.

• Thilah: Her name means “conscientious.” Yeah, yeah, weird name, but I took it from the definitions of wishing to do what is right, especially to do one's duty well and thoroughly.
  The word sums up her personality to a T.
• Flillana: Her name means “beautiful gem.” She was named thus because her eyes are a deep emerald green.
• Terrowin: His name means “running stream.” Originally, the name is of English origin and means “Strategically genius and manipulative,”
• Andelith: means “clear water.”
• Amhíta: Agro's name for the “tide of the sea.”

I love names, the biggest part of research for me lol. For humans I try to keep the names more reasonable/realistic.
Aurora (Rori) Enaid: Aurora is a name meaning "dawn", cause she and her mother use light magic. Rori (girl version of Rory) means "red king" and her hair is bright red. Enaid, her last name, means soul and has some deeper meaning somewhere in the story.
Rei Morgana Lindwood: Rei means either "bell/clear sound" or "law" depending on the gender/kanji (mother is japanese) which both fit her personality. Morgana is a witch from arthurian legend (father is european), and Lindwood means "forest stream" which relates to her water magic.
Brin Hyland: Brin means Juniper, which is a tree and he's a plant mage. Hyland is a literal name meaning "high land" and because his original design is based on Link from the game series Legend of Zelda where the main kingdom is "Hyrule."
Damian Amparo: Damian means "to tame" cause his partner is a dragon, and originally he was the fourth sibling so his name needed to start with D. Amparo means "protection/shelter" because he takes a defender role in the main party.
(Isabel) Isra Aisling: isabelle is a religious name meaning "god is my oath" because she came from a strict religions (very non-magic) upbringing. Isra is very different origins, but I figured it would work as a dimunitive/nickname from Isabel, and it means "night traveler" because she is a dream mage and can literally "travel" through dreams. Aisling is much more literal and just means "dream," and is also a nod to a beautiful anime based on european fae folklore.

For my fae names they're much more out there and direct, but they're not human and choose names so I can have some fun.
Ki: Can mean "hope" or "joyful", but pronounced as "key" which has some special meaning in the story.
Petal: Petal, like a flower, cause she's a flower pixie. I got creative with this one lol.
Raiz: He's a fire dragon, and to raze something is to destory it. Also sounds aggressive, just like him.
Eteri: Means "air" or "ether" and Eteri is an air fairy.

Jesse: means "Jehovah exists," "wealthy," or "God exists."
Delphinia: means "dolphin" or "little flower."
Hex: means "spell" or "curse."
Gracelyn: means "graceful," "gracious," or "graceful as a waterfall."
Sybella: means "prophetess" or "oracle."
Davina: means "beloved," "cherished," or "friend."
Clemence: means "clemency" or "forgiveness"
Martell: means "warrior"

Most of these were picked just because I liked the sound of them, but a surprising amount actually fit really well. Sorry it's so long.

Leo: The Lion. A name I picked because of my great grandfather.
Orion: The hunter (and rising star). I picked this one because 1) I liked the sound of it, and 2) Orion and Leo are a couple, so I kinda likes that they could be called The Lion and The Hunter.

Scott: Wanderer. Didn't know that. Picked it cause I liked how it fit the character, but the meaning works because he doesn't really know his place in the world yet.
Ellis: Benevolent. Fits well for his character, as he's only ever trying to do the right thing (it doesn't always go well).

Iris: Rainbow (or the color of your eye). That second bit is the reference, since Iris has heterochromia.
Aris: Meaning best. Also a modern transliterations of Ares (greek war god). Both end up fitting his character, but I won't say why because that would be spoilers.

Griffin: Strong lord. Can also mean a fierce or dangerous person. He's definitely fierce and dangerous if you hurt his loved ones.
Briar: He's a nature fay, so… Means small shrub. He's kinda short.

James: Biblical. Supplanter. Huh. Kinda fits since he overthrows a government.
Tom: Meaning twin. Well, that's cool. He's a twin. Also "innocence, naivety, simplicity" or "the end.” Foreshadowing perhaps?
Cedric: Bounty. Haven't plotted enough to know this character very well, but I feel like it'll fit. Also "kindly and loved".
Lucas: Bright or shining. He definitely gets attention. My main character has a crush on him too.

Riley: Valiant. He's very brave, so it fits.
Wyvern: a dragon with only two legs and wings instead of front legs. He's dragonkin/human, so he has wings, a tail, and scales on his shins, forearms, and face.

Soren: Severe, stern. Um, yeah? He's very serious because of what he's been through (a war, as a medic).

(I actually looked into the meanings for these)
Valkyrie: Chooser of the slain. Mostly picked this because she has giant wings (human/harpy eagle).
Chiro: From chiroptera, the latin name for bats. He's a hybrid (human/bat/rat).
Pisces: The fish. She's a 'mermaid' (human/shark/cuttlefish).
Boreal: Northern. He's also a hybrid (human/snowy owl).

Nikolai: Victory of the people. Fits pretty well. He has to save an alien race from humans who want to take their planet.
Alec: Defender Of The People.
Ben: Means “blessed”, “good speaker”, and “son of the right hand”. He's second in command, and the delegate of the group.
Emily: Rival or industrious and hardworking.
Graham: "Grey home", or "gravel homestead". He's the most grounded of the group.

And that's all of my book characters! I have, like over 30 more OCs, but that's just too many to list.

Azami: Thistle child, I picked it because I like the sound of it
Estella: Star, it kinda fits because she's a singer
Peregrine: Traveler, I actually named her after the bird
Vermilion: Well, it's the color
Peppermint: The candy, of course
Tori: Bird, I picked it because freedom is a big part of her past
Teigi: Poet, I chose it because… well, he's a poet

Calder: His name means 'from the wild water'. I was a bit obsessed with Macbeth at the time and the name reminded me of the Thane of Cawdor.
Jackson: He was initially named Jack after Captain Jack Sparrow, but that didn't sit well with me. So, I tried Jackson and that worked so much better.
Kai: His name is associated with the ocean in many cultures. I feel that his name is a bit stereotypical for a siren, but I can't think of anything else.
Brooke: Her name is referring to the body of water since I find the sound of water flowing relaxing and she is the mom friend.