I need a load of names for a book I am writing
They need to be names for men (age 14-40)*
They have to be names that were used during the first World War
They need to sound good if they were shouted across a battle field
The men’s names have to be English*
The men are all in the English Cavelry
I already have the names for the two main characters:
[name]Major[/name] [name]Jamie[/name] [name]William[/name] [name]Colter[/name] ([name]Thomas[/name]’ father)
[name]Thomas[/name] [name]Jamie[/name] [name]Colter[/name]
Please help in any way you can
These would be Edwardian names. For this time period, there is a ton of material. The novels of [name]Winifred[/name] Holtby, the trilogy by [name]Vera[/name] Brittain, R F Delderfield’s To Serve them all my Days, the works of [name]Robert[/name] [name]Graves[/name] and [name]Wilfred[/name] [name]Owen[/name], [name]Rupert[/name] [name]Brooks[/name], etc. Also, any war memorial in [name]England[/name] would have the names of the war dead. It was very unusual for boys younger than 16 to pass into the army. Also an Englishman was unlikely to have the name [name]Jamie[/name] at this time unless his mother or grandparents were Scottish. Furthermore, it was quite unusual for middle class men to be in the cavlary and to carry any rank. A major would not have been likely to be from the middle class at the beginning of the war. Because there is so much material available, you will have to research very carefully, as there are no more copyeditors in publishing (thanks to the bean counters) and there are many people who are aware of the minutiae of WWI. Common English names were: [name]John[/name], [name]William[/name], [name]Albert[/name], [name]Edward[/name], [name]Richard[/name], [name]George[/name], [name]Francis[/name], [name]Frederick[/name], [name]Thomas[/name], [name]Henry[/name], [name]Harvey[/name], [name]Edmund[/name], [name]Roger[/name], [name]Robert[/name], [name]Hugh[/name], [name]Alexander[/name], [name]Andrew[/name], [name]David[/name], [name]Gerald[/name], [name]Nicholas[/name], [name]Peter[/name], [name]Philip[/name], [name]Charles[/name], [name]Reginald[/name], etc. Middle classes tended to use surnames on eldest sons; lower classes used very typical English names; upper classes used either very typical Anglo-[name]Saxon[/name] names or some of the more European names such as [name]Piers[/name], [name]Maximilian[/name], [name]Torquil[/name], etc. Again, reading the biographies of the men in this era and especially the Brittain trilogy will immerse you in the time period.
To miloowen have you read the book “war horse”
To miloowen I don’t want to sound rude but there were a lot of boys who joined the army to young eg: [name]Myer[/name] rosenblum went to war when he was 13 years and 9 months old and private [name]James[/name] bartaby who went two war when he was 13 years an 10 months old.
In the book “war horse” by [name]Michael[/name] Morpurgo and the film adaptation directed by [name]Steven[/name] Spielberg [name]Major[/name] [name]Jamie[/name] [name]Stewart[/name] is from a upper class background and is not Scottish.
[name]Jamie[/name] [name]Stewart[/name] is a Scottish royal name. And yes, I have read War Horse. I thought you were a writer, as in fact I am. Sorry, my bad.
I am very sorry please forgive me I am only 13 years old and I should really listen to people more and not just blurt stuff out as I can see you are from pensacola, florida and I am from Norwich, england I am very sorry if I have offended you or anybody you know
So sorry
[name]Hannah[/name]
Hey, kiddo, sorry I was so short with you. I had no idea you were so young. That’s a big chunk to bite if you’re just starting to write, to write about WWI. What I said about reading WWI novels, especially those written during the time period, still goes. I wouldn’t necessarily want to be influenced just by the Morpugo book. You want to write your own story, so you have to find your own angle to it. I would start with the usual character building exercises. There are some really great books that do this for students of writing – [name]Marion[/name] [name]Dane[/name] [name]Bauer[/name] has a good writing book out there, and probably the best book on character development for anyone is [name]Orson[/name] [name]Scott[/name] [name]Card[/name]'s book (I think it’s a Writer’s Digest Book). I teach creative writing and am a published author, so I can help you if you need it. And again, I’m very sorry I bit your head off. It was quite unnecessary.
Thanks for all the help. I didn’t mean to say that I was basing my story on War Horse, I am not I was just using that for [name]Jamie[/name]'s name