Character Names

I like names.

I enjoy looking through name dictionaries and learning the origins of a name, the meanings assigned to it by different cultures, and the changes wrought in it by different languages.

Being a long time gamer, I do this quite a lot. Usually, I have a vague concept that is often based on an image I have found. Then I look for a name that embodies something about the character that I have in my mental file cabinet.

Other times, I admit, I just go for a name that I happen to like the sound of. When I like a name, I really like it, and it finds its way into more places then I originally intended.

Let’s take the name “Portia” for instances. I like the name so much that it has gone from the name of a game character, to the name of my protagonist for The Silver Labyrinth.

Portia: English. From the Roman family name Porcius, which means “pig”. This is the name of a character in Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’ who disguises herself as a man in order to defend Antonio in court. This is also a moon of Uranus, named after the Shakespearian character.

When I chose the name, I knew it was from MoV, and I liked the sound of it. I enjoyed saying it. Portia. It just rolled off the tongue. The character in my head looked like a Portia. When I looked in the baby name book on my bookshelf, it claimed the name meant “by the sea. From the term Port.” It was not until I was looking the name meaning up for this post that the root word of porcius ever came up.

If I had known the roots of the name at the time, would I have still used it? Possibly. The character’s mother would probably have known the name from the play, and not cared about the origins. The player, as in me, may well have discarded the name, though reluctantly, because of its origins in the murky mists of time.

And this would have been a mistake. Portia the character evolved into just exactly the type of woman would have disguised herself as a man, with no regard to the personal risk involved, in order to go into court and defend a friend. Portia the game character is intelligent, headstrong, stubborn, loyal, and temperamental. To me, the meaning of the name had moved beyond its origins.

When it came time start laying the foundations for The Silver Labyrinth, there was no other name that would do. My protagonist was going to have to be intelligent, headstrong, stubborn, loyal, and temperamental in order to get through the tasks that lay ahead of her.

To me, the name of a character says a lot about the character, whether it be a game character or a literary character. It defines the character in my mind. Perhaps I assign more importance to a name then most. But then, I assign quite a bit of importance to the naming.