What do you guys think about making up names? I personally think they can be fun to come up with, but I wouldn’t use them. [name]One[/name] thing I’ve noticed is that some names I’ve thought I “came up with” already were familiar names in different cultures. Like [name]Leila[/name]/[name]Layla[/name]…I thought of the name in my head years ago before I ever read or heard it in real life. Actually I haven’t met a [name]Leila[/name] yet.
So what do you guys think about made-up names? Would you use them on a kid? Also, what do you think of my username (cassyanna, but in real life I’d spell it Cassiana and pronounce it cass-ee-ah-na)? It’s not my real name, but both names in it hold special meaning to me.
There are so many traditional names out there already, I don’t see the point in making up something new. To me it smacks of laziness - like you can’t be bothered to do some simple Googling or search through a name book.
The names I use in novels, however, are generally made up or almalgamations of pre-existing names but that’s because I want the world I’ve created to feel skewed from ours.
For example, last night I named a new character Idabecca.
Cassyana- I know a student where I teach named Cassiana. She wears it well. I think made up names are not as bad as kr8tiv spellings. The name is made up; you make the rules. But when you respell an established name it drives me up the wall. Cassiana is very pretty.
I don’t think made up names are bad, I figure all names were made up at some point in time. But I don’t like it when names look creative or don’t follow the usual rules of spelling and pronunciation (like adding random extra letters or having vowels mispronounced etc)
I agree with the others. I don’t find made-up names as irritating as weird spellings that don’t make sense. They have to be approached properly though. I think they need to sound similar to other names, but be original. You know, there’s a difference between Elenwen (which sounds like a legit Welsh name) and Isabethly ([name]Isabelle[/name]/[name]Elizabeth[/name]/with a trendy -y ending).
I tend to make up names in my novels if I can’t find something else I love. The other day, I was writing a scene and the name Elenwen just popped into my head and I said “Hmm, I don’t know if that’s a real name or not but I’m using it.” So far, I haven’t found it anywhere.
I thought I made up [name]Elysia[/name] for a few days before I searched and saw that it was already being used. I thought “Elysian, oo maybe [name]Elysia[/name] to convey that she’s blessed enough by the gods to go to the Elysian Fields!” Then I googled >.<
As for your screen name – I think Cassiana is lovely but not made-up. Cassiana is a type of moth. Here’s the wikipedia "Cassiana is a genus of snout moths. It was described by Heinrich in 1956, and contains the species C. malacella.[1] It is found in Mexico, the southern United States,[2] the British Virgin Islands[3] Puerto Rico and Bermuda.
The wingspan is 15–17 mm. The forewings are pale greyish fuscous, although the area between the cell and the costa is white with a faint, scattered dusting of reddish scales. The hindwings are whitish, the veins outlined by dark scales, and a narrow smoky border along the termen and costa.[4]"
I think it really depends on how you make it up.
There is a certain logic and beautiful order to language. If you make-up a name that follows those rules I think you can come up with a beautiful and gorgeous name. Once you start making up names where it looks like you threw letters against the wall and just used what stuck it’s problematic.