Character Name+Writng Question

Writers' Corner
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I have just began to work on the first chapter of a novel. It’s about a princess named [name_f]Elke[/name_f] solving the murder mystery of her best friend and discovering magic along the way. This book takes place in the past (I am not sure what year, but it is not our current 21st century of the 20th century, it is before than). Also, the book takes place in [name_u]Germany[/name_u], but I made two kingdoms; Süddeutschland, south [name_u]Germany[/name_u] and Norddeutschland, north [name_u]Germany[/name_u] where [name_f]Princess[/name_f] [name_f]Elke[/name_f] lives. There are two children in south [name_u]Germany[/name_u], and they are now named [name_f]Arabella[/name_f] and [name_m]Frederick[/name_m]. [name_f]Elke[/name_f] is supposed to marry [name_m]Frederick[/name_m] to create peace between the two nations and [name_f]Arabella[/name_f] is the murderer of Elke’s best friend. I understand that this is confusing, but to keep this short and the story protected I think it would not be wise to explain more in detaill. Here are my questions:

  1. Is ok to use creativity and make there be a north and south [name_u]Germany[/name_u]? I would like this story to be published traditionally someday and I am new to the writing world and unsure if this is appropriate.
  2. I would like a new name for [name_f]Arabella[/name_f]. I associate the name with someone I used to know that is not negative, but I want to seperate the character from a real person. [name_u]Story[/name_u] is in the past, [name_u]Germany[/name_u], and the charcater is royalty.
  3. I don’t like how similar the family structures of [name_f]Elke[/name_f] and her older brother Emerik are with [name_f]Arabella[/name_f] and her older brother [name_m]Frederick[/name_m]. If anyone had sibling name ideas for either of them, that would be appreciated.
  4. Elke’s brother is named Emerik with a k to match her name, but I wonder if it should be Emmerik with two m’s?

If anyone can help with even one question, thank you so much! I appreciate the resppnses!

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  1. I wouldn’t take offence to dividing [name_u]Germany[/name_u] like that in a novel, but then I’m not [name_m]German[/name_m] either. I don’t really know how much [name_m]German[/name_m] history you know, but please look up Unification of [name_u]Germany[/name_u] (the one in the 1800s), and also what happened to [name_u]Germany[/name_u] after WW2, when it split into two parts again. People might think you’re doing commentary on either of these. It might also good to consider religion. Does your story take place before or after the Reformation? Northern [name_u]Germany[/name_u] is mostly protestant, and southern [name_u]Germany[/name_u] is mostly Catholic.

  2. Various [name_m]German[/name_m] princess names:
    [name_f]Adelheid[/name_f]
    [name_f]Amalia[/name_f]
    [name_u]Marie[/name_u] or [name_u]Maria[/name_u]
    [name_f]Gisela[/name_f]
    [name_f]Alexandra[/name_f] or [name_f]Alexandrine[/name_f]
    [name_f]Irene[/name_f]
    [name_u]Louise[/name_u] (and other spellings)
    [name_f]Philippa[/name_f]
    [name_f]Augusta[/name_f]
    [name_f]Wilhelmina[/name_f] or [name_f]Wilhelmine[/name_f]
    [name_f]Sophie[/name_f] or [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] (and other spellings)
    Double-barelled names, often with [name_f]Anna[/name_f] or [name_u]Maria[/name_u]

  3. Most of the names above could be a sibling for either. I’m gonna throw in a few boys names as well: [name_m]Leopold[/name_m], [name_m]Roland[/name_m], [name_m]Albert[/name_m], [name_m]Conrad[/name_m]. Royals didn’t seem to be very careful in creating sibsets.

  4. Either is fine. I would actually like it better if the names for the male leads weren’t so similar. They re both 3 syllables long with the first two containing an E and the last syllable being [rik]. Maybe you have a good reason for this? It could be a plot point. However I did confuse them while reading your summary.

Good luck!

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  1. In the past [name_u]Germany[/name_u] looked different than nowadays anyway, like @Foulbaubleofmansvani also pointed out. It’s up to you as the writer to decide whether you want to thoroughly research your intended time period, to follow that as closely as possible, so your work would fit into the historical fiction genre. [name_u]Or[/name_u] whether you prefer to use your own fantasy and only losely let your setting be inspired by a certain time and place. Both are fine but I’m not really up to date with what’s more publicable nowadays. And of course you could use also use a mix of both, for example changing the borders and governmental instituations but keeping things like cultural events more realistic.

  2. [name_f]Adelheid[/name_f], [name_f]Gertrude[/name_f], [name_f]Franziska[/name_f], [name_f]Isabelle[/name_f], [name_f]Wilhelmine[/name_f]. More inspiration:
    Vornamen in den 1890er Jahren * Hitlisten
    List of German queens - Wikipedia

  3. [name_f]Elke[/name_f], Emerik, [name_f]Dora[/name_f], [name_f]Irene[/name_f], [name_m]Klaus[/name_m] & [name_m]Wilhelm[/name_m].
    [name_f]Arabella[/name_f], [name_m]Frederick[/name_m], [name_f]Anna[/name_f], [name_f]Henriette[/name_f], [name_m]Conrad[/name_m] & [name_m]Ludwig[/name_m].

  4. I think either spelling is fine!

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  • i’ll leave the question of a divided germany up to the germans. it could definitely struck a nerve, though. is it necessary for it to be germany, and not a fictional country? a divided germany would only make sense in the necessary sense if it were an alternate reality of sorts.

  • i vote emerik over emmerik. however, none of these are the actual german version of names? i think using multiple more international version of names that have a more common german version on top of a fictional divided germany is pulling it in a not great direction. germans correct me, of course!

  • elke is a cool name, and sounds more magic-like than the others. perhaps try to find more whimsical names like elke?

  • of course just because you asked, i’ve forgotten every german name and person i’ve ever seen. scratching my brain, perhaps it could give you new ideas: ulrich, yannick, thamos, heinrich / henrik || ara, anwen, ama

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Thank you so much for the history! I definitely should do some more reasearch. I also really like the names you suggested and yes the male leads are similar, I noticed too and maybe I should change to make it less confusing. Once again, thanks and I wish you luck as well if you are writing a book!

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Thank you! I really like the names, and the sibling names go together well! I will check out the links. I wish you luck if you are also working on a story!

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I wanted to have a world where it is based on our countries but not exactly our world and there are differences so yes, I suppose a sort of alternate reality. Yes, [name_m]Emmerich[/name_m] is the accurate version of the name,but I did not like how the ‘ch’ looked next to the [name_f]Elke[/name_f], so I changed it to be a ‘k’. Maybe I should change it back. Thank you for the help!

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alternate reality sounds very cool! in that case, and especially if germany isn’t the only one, a differently divided germany makes sense, sounds like it shouldn’t be a big issue.

emerik and elke look nicer together, i agree. if emerik should be the only one, or if all names followed a differently spelled rule of your alternate reality (and not just clearly english versions), it could also work. it could also be used to show differences between the north and south.