In the series I’m working on, my MC is loosely based on [name_m]Peter[/name_m] [name_m]Pan[/name_m]. There are several references to this inspiration (including her name, [name_f]Petra[/name_f]), but the one I’m most proud of is the name of her ship (she’s a pirate). It’s called [name_f]Perdita[/name_f], which means “lost”—in reference, of course, to [name_m]Peter[/name_m] [name_m]Pan[/name_m]’s Lost Boys.
Well, long story short, she’s not on the [name_f]Perdita[/name_f] at the moment, and she has decided to name this new ship because she wants to be difficult and create more work for me. Okay, maybe I’m granting her slightly too much autonomy there, but it’s definitely something that would align with her personality. The ship is described as “…a people pleaser, sweet and lithe, a spunky and speedy little rascal”, and going with that description, I named the ship [name_f]Chloe[/name_f].
Now, I’m questioning that. First, I feel weird referring to something as “the [name_f]Chloe[/name_f]”. I’m not sure why “the [name_f]Perdita[/name_f]” sounds better, maybe because it’s not as popular of a name, maybe it just works better objectively. I don’t know. Second, [name_f]Chloe[/name_f] doesn’t have an important meaning to it. Now, [name_f]Petra[/name_f] didn’t know/factor in the meaning of [name_f]Perdita[/name_f] when she named the first ship, but I do use name meanings to make references within other aspects of this world, so part of me feels obligated to do so with this ship. The problem is, I don’t know what that meaning would be, at the moment.
So my question: [name_f]Do[/name_f] I choose a new and meaningful name for this ship, or do I assume no one is actually going to care about the etymology-based fairytale [name_f]Easter[/name_f] Eggs and just use [name_f]Chloe[/name_f] (or another meaningless name, if you agree that “the [name_f]Chloe[/name_f]” is sorta wack)?
Okay, so, imo, the Chloe sounds kind of… weird. No offense, but [name_f]Chloe[/name_f] seems more like a name for a person, while [name_f]Perdita[/name_f] seems like an actual ship name.
I think that since you already based [name_f]Petra[/name_f] of [name_m]Peter[/name_m], that you should continue using the meaningful names, because [name_f]Chloe[/name_f], meaningful or not, for a ship just sounds kind of wacky. [name_m]Even[/name_m] if your character doesn’t know, I like to hide all sorts of different meanings and clues/secret-y stuff in my books, if that makes sense.
“The [name_f]Chloe[/name_f]” does seem a bit…underwhelming. I think you need something a bit more grand and less common sounding. I’d suggest doing a little searching on nameberry’s advance search where you can input words that you want for meaning.
Okay, glad I’m not just being too critical of [name_f]Chloe[/name_f] lol. I briefly toyed with doing something like [name_f]Chloe[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f] but I’m not sure why that would appeal to the character more than just [name_f]Chloe[/name_f], if that makes sense. I read a book once with a ship called the [name_f]Pamela[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f], which was where that specific second name came from.
I completely agree with this! And I’ve done it with so many aspects of this world I’ve created that it seems almost lazy to not do it here? It’s just hard because, with [name_f]Perdita[/name_f], I knew exactly what I was looking for because I knew exactly what element of the [name_m]Peter[/name_m] [name_m]Pan[/name_m] story I wanted to take inspiration from, but here I don’t know what name would have the same level of meaning as [name_f]Perdita[/name_f] does.
It honestly felt fine until I found myself saying “the [name_f]Chloe[/name_f]”! So yeah, I completely agree. I typically use Behind the Name’s meaning search engine (love Nameberry, of course, I just find BtN to be slightly more accurate at times) but I guess my issue here is that I don’t know what to search. I do really like the idea of [name_f]Siofra[/name_f] aesthetically, but there isn’t anything about elves or sprites within the story so it feels more like a surface-level meaning compared to [name_f]Perdita[/name_f], which has a deeper connection to the plot.
I suppose I’ll have to think on that and find some theme-related words! Gives me something to mull over about as I go to sleep tonight, lol. Thanks for the feedback!
She has a ship called [name_f]Perdita[/name_f], she’s just not able to use it right now!
I’m struggling to find something as fairytale-inspired as [name_f]Perdita[/name_f] is for her main ship. Right now, I’m thinking about using the emotional arc she has during this plot as inspiration. Maybe it’ll stick, maybe it’ll be a placeholder until I can find something that connects to fairytales the same way [name_f]Perdita[/name_f] does. Throughout the story, she has to come to terms with the reality that she can’t save everyone, and there are times when bad things happen, and it’s not her fault if she can’t stop them. I’m playing around with [name_f]Alessia[/name_f] (“defender, savior of mankind”) and [name_f]Valeria[/name_f] (“to be strong”) at the moment!
