Haha!
So I just came back from my neighbor’s house – he’s a professional photographer, and I asked him to vet my manuscript before I send it off again, since I’ve been playing up the photo angle (er, sorry about the mangled metaphors).
He was so sweet – he read the whole thing and gave me very thoughtful comments, as well as some interesting technical insights. But one thing was really bothering him:
“The name Brice is the name of a spoiled rich kid with a yacht. And it’s effeminate!”
I cracked up. The character in question is the brother of the MC, whose name is Blake. He’s a tough guy football player. (I obsessed over every other character name but his!)
“Really?”
“Yeah, yeah. Back in Jersey, kids who were named Brice spelled it with a ‘y’ and were total posers.”
Clearly, it must be changed! And while we’re at it, let’s make it a name that doesn’t start with B, to minimize confusion. Although my neighbor likes the name Brett … apparently that’s a sufficiently masculine name.
So I just came back from my neighbor’s house – he’s a professional photographer, and I asked him to vet my manuscript before I send it off again, since I’ve been playing up the photo angle (er, sorry about the mangled metaphors).
He was so sweet – he read the whole thing and gave me very thoughtful comments, as well as some interesting technical insights. But one thing was really bothering him:
“The name Brice is the name of a spoiled rich kid with a yacht. And it’s effeminate!”
I cracked up. The character in question is the brother of the MC, whose name is Blake. He’s a tough guy football player. (I obsessed over every other character name but his!)
“Really?”
“Yeah, yeah. Back in Jersey, kids who were named Brice spelled it with a ‘y’ and were total posers.”
Clearly, it must be changed! And while we’re at it, let’s make it a name that doesn’t start with B, to minimize confusion. Although my neighbor likes the name Brett … apparently that’s a sufficiently masculine name.
What do you think?
Gus
1(5.9%)
Garrett
8(47.1%)
Ike
0(0.0%)
Erik
5(29.4%)
Kris
0(0.0%)
Other (specify)
3(17.6%)
- Current Mood:
amused
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Comments
Blake means attractive, dark.
some English suggestions...
Brent is English
Grant means great plains...
Edward means prosperous guardian...
Irwin means handsome...
Wayne means wagonmaker..
Trey means three...
Quentin means queen's town....
is this helpful? I have no idea. Would Blake's parents consider the heritage of his name and his brothers? I have no idea.
Maybe the brothers would be named taking syllables into account.
I have another baby name book (but its at my studio) I could get it tomorrow. THAT book has the names listed as "groups" like most masculine....
I notice I was veering toward the hard "K" sounds.
And "Ike and Blake" sounds terrible!
If you're keeping "Blake", you have to have another rich-kid name, one that meets the following criteria:
1) sounds good with Blake, ie, doesn't have a hard K
2) sounds good with their last name (which I forget)
3) has rhyming possibilities AND a long version for when a parent / teacher gets mad.
I like "Tad", short for Thaddeus.
I can't think of any other Tads out there lately, either.
I think that's a large part of why I voted for "Garrett." "Blake and Garrett" seem believable as brothers. I coudn't parse whether Blake was the football player or the brother was, but Garrett seemed a believeable (high school) football player name, too.
I love naming characters. I often consider the meaning too. Like, I had a lot of trouble naming Tom (the MC's best friend) in BREATHING UNDERWATER and finally settled on Tom because Thomas means "twin" which is how the MC thinks of him. In BEASTLY, I have a character who changes his name from Kyle (meaning "handsome") to Adrian (meaning "dark one") after being transformed into a beast. So maybe for a tiebreaker, look at the meaning.
I like it when old names come into new usage. If I'd had a daughter, I wanted to name her Ruby.
I like Tad.
I don't want confused readers.
My MC does speak in the first person, which I think is why no one else has seemed confused by the brother having a B name, as well.
But I'm in a Garrett-ish mood now!
In real life, yes. Even TV or movies, yes. But as a reader, I get too easily confused by names that start with the same letter, I prefer the author to make it a little easier for me. :)
I also have trouble with real-life city names that start with the same letter. I used to live in the suburbs of Chicago and was forever confusing Barrington, Bensenville, and Bloomingdale.