By any other name...

It's no surprise by now that I am a lover of words. I am also a lover of names. I find the story behind other people's names pretty fascinating. In fact, the story of a name can be a pretty interesting tale.

When I worked at a fast food restaurant, there was a regular customer who came by every week. He always ordered a small hot chocolate, and despite several years in the United States, had a beautifully thick German accent. He always delighted in telling me that my name would have been Heidi, and he often would call me by that name. I don't know if this is entirely accurate, but to him, I was Heidi.

Over the phone, it's easy to misunderstand names. For some reason, people often think I say my name is Hunter, which at least has several correct letters in the right places.

I remember in middle school when we started exploring names and what they meant. There were people with names like Emily (to strive or excel), Elizabeth (God is my oath), David (beloved) and Christine (follower of Christ) which had actual meanings. Some classmates were receiving those pictures with their name and meaning in a picture frame. Somehow, I didn't think my name print would be too inspiring: low growing shrub with purple flowers.

My name also doesn't lend itself well to cool nicknames, unlike Em, Liz, Dave and Chrissy. Even now, I don't have any nicknames that have survived, attaining longevity or mass usage. I have however, been called regularly by small groups or individuals an odd collection of names: Turkey, Hez, Pepper, Princess.

The story of my middle name is much more interesting. My mother did consider giving me her middle name (Louise) as it was also my grandmother's name. However, my father's side of the family would have created World War III over this, and mom instead liked the sound of another "L" name. Technically, my middle name is in honor of a male cousin of whom my mother was very fond, hence the "boy spelling" of Lee.

And if we're putting the name together, we now have low growing shrub with purple flowers field.

My name is my two favorite colors!

I've also learned that the plant has been used to make beer and it produces a unique honey. There are two main types of the plant, often distinguished as winter/spring or summer/autumn, and the winter/spring variety is often called Erica. This is a Latin word that means heath or broom.

Pretty neat, huh?

Naming characters or places (even ancillary or casual references) is always difficult for me. I have stopped writing because I was blocked by a name and needing to find just the right name. Not every name has to have significance, but names are part of who we are. At first, they are the symbol that identifies us. As we grow into them - and our actions and words become known - we define them.

Occasionally names of people I know make it into stories, but that is rare, and it's not happened in the current work so far. Names in The Novel fall into two distinct categories: names that convey another time or utilitarian names. For example, one of the secondary characters is named Torch. He's from the outlying area of the story, where people tend to have simple names, derived from tools, plants, directions or jobs. To help save some time, I've jotted down several useful tools that could serve as names, should I need to name a random crowd member.

I'm always collecting names, jotting them down on scraps of paper or typing up lists in a text document, hoping to keep myself from stalling.

For this Novel, I couldn't think of a good name for the capitol city but I didn't want that to keep me from writing. So I just called it the Capitol. I still haven't come up with the right name, 15,500 words and 32 pages into the draft.

I'm just glad I have the option to Find and Replace when the inspiration comes.


“Must a name mean something?" Alice asked doubtfully.

Of course it must," Humpty Dumpty said with a short laugh; "my name means the shape I am - and a good handsome shape it is, too. With a name like yours, you might be any shape, almost.”

Lewis Carroll