A couple of months ago, I posted that I was having trouble coming up with a suitable name for some animals that will appear in Fifth Season, Book Four of the Season Avatars series. These animals are based on dinosaurs; they're smart as velociraptors and physically resemble Deinonychus. My heroine, Ysabel, initially called them "mixups" since they resemble lizards mixed with birds. Since "mixup" isn't exactly a fear-inspiring name, I struggled for a long time to come up with something better. Finally, as I was editing Fifth Season last week, I went back to the description of the beasts and came up with "clawfoot" for the long sickle-shaped claw Deinonychus had on its feet. However, that leaves me with a dilemma: do I use "clawfoots" or "clawfeet" for the plural? While "clawfeet" might be technically correct, to me, the "feet" in this term seem to refer to actual feet, not the entire animal. I prefer "clawfoots" myself, but I'll have to do some research to see if there's a preferred way to handle this plural.
Would you use "clawfoots" or "clawfeet" as the plural? Or should I come up with a new name that avoids these issues?
Showing posts with label names. Show all posts
Showing posts with label names. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Monday, December 07, 2015
Deathbushes and Mixups
Books Three and Four of the Season Avatars series each feature a different Avatar as the main character. Book Three, Chaos Season, stars Jenna, the Avatar of Summer, as the viewpoint character, while in Book Four, Fifth Season,the viewpoint shifts to Ysabel, Avatar of Fall. Jenna's magic centers on plants, while Ysabel's magic revolves around animals. Perhaps it's not surprising both of them will face a unique plant or animal unlike anything they've encountered before. The difficult part is choosing what names to give these new species.
My current name for the plant Jenna must deal with is "deathbush." It grows very quickly, thrives in conditions that would kill other plants, and has poisonous thorns. It's not based on a single real plant (though they smell like thyme) but was inspired by a combination of undesirable traits.
Ysabel names the creatures she finds "mixups," since they're a mixture of reptile and bird. I based it on troodons, the dinosaur with the greatest brain-body ratio and therefore supposedly the most intelligent. Since this is a fantasy world, I may modify them a little to make them bigger and more intimidating, or possibly give them other features too.
As readers, what do you think of these names? I like the idea of using compound words, since they are descriptive. While "deathbush" doesn't sound too bad to me, I wonder if "mixup" downplays the threat factor of the animals. Since both of these book are still in the first draft/revision phase, I can alter the names without affecting the other books in the series. Please let me know if you think I should keep or change these names. If you have ideas for new names, feel free to suggest them. If I pick a name you suggested, you'll be mentioned in the Acknowledgements section of the appropriate book.
My current name for the plant Jenna must deal with is "deathbush." It grows very quickly, thrives in conditions that would kill other plants, and has poisonous thorns. It's not based on a single real plant (though they smell like thyme) but was inspired by a combination of undesirable traits.
Ysabel names the creatures she finds "mixups," since they're a mixture of reptile and bird. I based it on troodons, the dinosaur with the greatest brain-body ratio and therefore supposedly the most intelligent. Since this is a fantasy world, I may modify them a little to make them bigger and more intimidating, or possibly give them other features too.
As readers, what do you think of these names? I like the idea of using compound words, since they are descriptive. While "deathbush" doesn't sound too bad to me, I wonder if "mixup" downplays the threat factor of the animals. Since both of these book are still in the first draft/revision phase, I can alter the names without affecting the other books in the series. Please let me know if you think I should keep or change these names. If you have ideas for new names, feel free to suggest them. If I pick a name you suggested, you'll be mentioned in the Acknowledgements section of the appropriate book.
Monday, April 25, 2011
A-Z: Ulbrich
At last, the final week of the A-Z Challenge! How's everyone holding up?
My original post for the letter "U" was going to be about unicorns, but I figure my maiden name would be a unique topic.
In the 1990 U.S. Census, there were nearly 30,000 people in the country with the surname "Ulbrich." I haven't been able to find any statistics about how common the name is in Germany, even though it's a German name. I've seen variations such as "Ulrich" or "Ullrich." It can be used as both a first and last name, although I suspect that's more common in Germany than here.
I've heard different meanings for this name. When I was a teenager, I was told "Ulbrich" came from the words "Adel," meaning noble, and "Brecht," meaning brilliant. This baby name site lists different words for the origin, but the meaning is pretty close. There's more information about this history of the name at this coat-of-arms website, along with a picture of the crest. I'm told that a few generations back (perhaps in my great-grandfather's time, though I'm not certain), we used to have a "von" prefix, which indicates nobility. My uncle is older than my dad, so he would be the titled one if we were still considered noble. (I think he has the family crest on display at his house.) Since I'm adopted, I probably wouldn't be considered "noble," but I find the history of my name interesting anyway.
As I grew up, I encountered many mispellings of my name. Most often, people will try to spell it with an "O" instead of a "U." It's also hard to pronounce. I normally pronounce it something like "Ol-brich" with a long "o." The German way to say it is more like "ool-brich," where the "u" sounds like the double o in "pool." Even though my maiden name is hard to spell, hard to pronounce, and comes near the end of the alphabet, I'm still fond of it. That's why I kept it when I got married. (I just added my husband's surname to my name, so I have four names.) My short story was published under my maiden name, so I wonder sometimes if I should keep using that name for my writing or use something like "Sandra U. Almazan" instead. I think it would confuse readers if I used both surnames, but I could use a different variation of my name if I ever wanted to switch genres. Those of you who use both your maiden and married names, how do you handle it?
My original post for the letter "U" was going to be about unicorns, but I figure my maiden name would be a unique topic.
In the 1990 U.S. Census, there were nearly 30,000 people in the country with the surname "Ulbrich." I haven't been able to find any statistics about how common the name is in Germany, even though it's a German name. I've seen variations such as "Ulrich" or "Ullrich." It can be used as both a first and last name, although I suspect that's more common in Germany than here.
I've heard different meanings for this name. When I was a teenager, I was told "Ulbrich" came from the words "Adel," meaning noble, and "Brecht," meaning brilliant. This baby name site lists different words for the origin, but the meaning is pretty close. There's more information about this history of the name at this coat-of-arms website, along with a picture of the crest. I'm told that a few generations back (perhaps in my great-grandfather's time, though I'm not certain), we used to have a "von" prefix, which indicates nobility. My uncle is older than my dad, so he would be the titled one if we were still considered noble. (I think he has the family crest on display at his house.) Since I'm adopted, I probably wouldn't be considered "noble," but I find the history of my name interesting anyway.
As I grew up, I encountered many mispellings of my name. Most often, people will try to spell it with an "O" instead of a "U." It's also hard to pronounce. I normally pronounce it something like "Ol-brich" with a long "o." The German way to say it is more like "ool-brich," where the "u" sounds like the double o in "pool." Even though my maiden name is hard to spell, hard to pronounce, and comes near the end of the alphabet, I'm still fond of it. That's why I kept it when I got married. (I just added my husband's surname to my name, so I have four names.) My short story was published under my maiden name, so I wonder sometimes if I should keep using that name for my writing or use something like "Sandra U. Almazan" instead. I think it would confuse readers if I used both surnames, but I could use a different variation of my name if I ever wanted to switch genres. Those of you who use both your maiden and married names, how do you handle it?
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