Short story update: Oldest brother!

Writers' Corner
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So, short update. I’ve decided on [name_f]Mia[/name_f], [name_u]Vivian[/name_u], and [name_f]Scarlett[/name_f] “[name_u]Scout[/name_u]” for the family of girls. The twins are still [name_u]Endellion[/name_u] “[name_f]Della[/name_f]” and [name_m]Osiris[/name_m] “[name_m]Ozzy[/name_m]”, and the last cousin is still [name_f]Hazel[/name_f]. The oldest Vorcroft’s name is not yet set though!

His character description from my other post:
17 years old, curly brown hair and blue eyes. He assumes the position of leader, which he shares with [name_f]Mia[/name_f]. Great with kids, compassionate, kind, star soccer player at his high school, smart, a little too protective sometimes.

His younger siblings are [name_u]Endellion[/name_u] “[name_f]Della[/name_f]” and [name_m]Osiris[/name_m] “[name_m]Ozzy[/name_m]”. I want a long, eccentric, and uncommon full name that sounds like a brother to [name_u]Endellion[/name_u] and [name_m]Osiris[/name_m], with a nickname that is also uncommon but would still be considered cool for a teen. It also has to go with the surname Vorcroft.

Since the siblings go by their nicknames around 97% of the time, I’ve started focusing the search on his nickname. [name_f]My[/name_f] top 3 that I’ve found, in order, are (to give you an idea of where my mind is)

  1. Bram
  2. Link
  3. Anders

For [name_m]Bram[/name_m], my current top choice for a full name is [name_m]Ambrose[/name_m], if that’s not too much of a stretch. I don’t like [name_m]Abraham[/name_m] or [name_m]Abram[/name_m] because they feel too religious for this story. For [name_m]Anders[/name_m], my top choices are [name_m]Lysander[/name_m] and [name_m]Leander[/name_m]. I can’t use [name_m]Evander[/name_m] because I don’t want to match initials with [name_u]Endellion[/name_u]. Lastly, there’s [name_m]Link[/name_m], which really can only be short for [name_u]Lincoln[/name_u] and I don’t like that. So it will just serve as an example for a nickname, and I don’t expect to be using it.

That brings the options to:

  • Ambrose “[name_m]Bram[/name_m]”
  • Something else “[name_m]Bram[/name_m]”
  • Leander “[name_m]Anders[/name_m]”
  • Lysander “[name_m]Anders[/name_m]”
  • Something else “[name_m]Anders[/name_m]”
  • Something else with another nickname

0 voters

Please vote and/or offer suggestions! Thanks!

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If you really do like [name_m]Link[/name_m] enough to use it, I’ve done some searching and found some names that you could use as a full name for [name_m]Link[/name_m].

Linden “[name_m]Link[/name_m]”
[name_m]Franklin[/name_m] “[name_m]Link[/name_m]”
[name_m]Colin[/name_m] “[name_m]Link[/name_m]”
[name_u]Larkin[/name_u] “[name_m]Link[/name_m]”
[name_m]Kellin[/name_m] “[name_m]Link[/name_m]”
[name_m]Lachlan[/name_m]/Lachlin/Locklin “[name_m]Link[/name_m]”

Maybe you’ll like one of these…?

You could also do the nickname [name_m]Knox[/name_m] for the full name of [name_u]Lennox[/name_u], which is something I found while finding these and I really like it.

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[name_f]My[/name_f] first thought before seeing these options was [name_m]Lysander[/name_m] “[name_u]Sander[/name_u]”, which is pretty damn close to your [name_m]Lysander[/name_m] “[name_m]Anders[/name_m]” so it feels meant to be!

I’m not sure [name_m]Anders[/name_m] feels like a natural brother to [name_f]Della[/name_f] and [name_m]Ozzy[/name_m] though — maybe [name_u]Sander[/name_u], [name_u]Sasha[/name_u], [name_u]Sonny[/name_u], [name_m]Ludo[/name_m]… :thinking:

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@carlene.denae, I did a google search on “full names for [name_m]Link[/name_m]” and I think I found the same list that you did lol. I don’t think it’ll work because anything other than [name_u]Lincoln[/name_u] feels like a stretch to me. The whole story of this search has been that I can find a nickname I like or a full name I like, but the two never go together!

@katinka, no joke, I was switching between [name_m]Anders[/name_m] and [name_u]Sander[/name_u] on my keyboard before posting this so maybe it is a sign! I’m just worried that with [name_u]Sander[/name_u], people’s first thought would be [name_u]Bernie[/name_u]? That was what tipped the scales in [name_m]Anders[/name_m]’ favor. But I could easily see both for him!

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That’s it! It’s definitely a sign :wink:

I hadn’t even thought of [name_u]Bernie[/name_u] [name_m]Sanders[/name_m] before you said that… but I’m a continent away so perhaps not quite so embroiled in the US political system as you (pretty embroiled though!)

[name_m]How[/name_m] about just [name_m]Ander[/name_m]? Or even [name_m]Xander[/name_m]? It’s just that [name_m]Anders[/name_m] has a very specific Northern European vibe to me, which neither [name_m]Lysander[/name_m] nor the sister names and nicknames have, so it just seems a little bit random. But nicknames are random, I guess!

Is [name_u]Sandy[/name_u] too old-fashioned/female in the US? I rather like it as a Scottish-flavoured [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] diminutive, but I think it’s more [name_f]Sandra[/name_f] over there, right?

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That makes me feel better about [name_u]Sander[/name_u]! It’s a tough situation to think about because if/when I make this a longer project, the target audience will probably be a more traditional YA age range, so I’d be less worried about the association. For this first test run of sorts though, I’ll be presenting it to a classroom full of college students, and I’m just a little fine-tuned to picking out details that might distract from the writing or the story lol. I do think the character’s parents would not feel ideologically opposed to the potential [name_u]Bernie[/name_u] association though, even if it wasn’t their intention.

I was considering [name_u]Andy[/name_u] as well but worried it felt boring next to [name_m]Ozzy[/name_m] and [name_f]Della[/name_f]. I like just [name_m]Ander[/name_m] too! [name_m]Xander[/name_m] is quite common in this genre so I’d prefer to stay away from it, and [name_u]Sandy[/name_u] is quite feminine (and dated, tbh) in the US.

Your comment has made me much more confident in [name_u]Sander[/name_u] though! I think I’m between [name_u]Sander[/name_u] and [name_m]Bram[/name_m] now for his name :blush:

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Quick question - is this set in modern day? If so, personally when I hear [name_m]Abraham[/name_m] I don’t necessarily hear religious. I mean, of course I do, but the first [name_m]Abraham[/name_m] I think of is [name_m]Abraham[/name_m] [name_u]Lincoln[/name_u].

Another Nickname for [name_m]Bram[/name_m] could be [name_m]Bramwell[/name_m]? It’s maybe a bit odd but I have a character with a surname as a name as he was named after his mother’s mainden name ([name_m]Kipling[/name_m]). [name_m]Bramwell[/name_m] feels like it honours someone somehow and has a story. But it also fits with first name sounds such as [name_u]Maxwell[/name_u]. Also, I may be wrong, but I think the [name_f]Bronte[/name_f] sisters had a brother called [name_m]Bramwell[/name_m]. So if they’re literary parents they may like that.

As for [name_m]Anders[/name_m], I personally think both [name_m]Leander[/name_m] and [name_m]Lysander[/name_m] are a bit of a stretch. But pushed I would go with [name_m]Lysander[/name_m]. This really is a tricky one, I agree!

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Maybe [name_m]Kipling[/name_m] would work for yours too actually? I think [name_m]Kip[/name_m] is a super cool nickname personally.

I get the sense from your description that these parents are well-read, well-travelled, liberal academic types? I’m picturing the family from Series of Unfortunate Events but modern! Here’s some other ideas, just incase you’re still open to others:

Fitzwilliam - the nn [name_m]Fitz[/name_m] could be cool
[name_m]Thibault[/name_m] - [name_u]French[/name_u], so if your characters are well travelled maybe it’s a special place to them. The name means bold and could have the nn Tib, [name_f]Tibby[/name_f], or Bolt)
[name_m]Bartholomew[/name_m] - if you could get over the Simpsons association I think [name_m]Bart[/name_m] is a cool nn
[name_m]Wolfram[/name_m] - nn [name_u]Wolf[/name_u] surely is cool!
[name_m]Beaumont[/name_m] - I think the nn [name_u]Beau[/name_u] is cool
[name_m]Tennyson[/name_m] - after the poet, nn could be Ten or [name_u]Sonny[/name_u]?
[name_u]Willoughby[/name_u] - [name_m]Shakespeare[/name_m] reference - a unique way to get the nn [name_m]Will[/name_m]
[name_m]Aurelio[/name_m] - nn [name_m]Elio[/name_m] is cool and a name in itself
[name_m]Lorenzo[/name_m] - similar to [name_m]Aurelio[/name_m]/Elio, the nn [name_m]Enzo[/name_m] is a cool name in it’s own right

I also wouldn’t pass up on more ‘normal’ names. I try hard with my stories to avoid everything sounding too matchy. In real life things don’t always match so perfectly. There’s 7 years between this character and [name_f]Della[/name_f] and [name_m]Ozzy[/name_m], right? Might their naming style have been a little more simple, and then with the twins they. got a bit more courageous because they knew they could give them more ‘normal’ nicknames. Perhaps they weren’t quite as adventurous with their first kid, but he still had an academicy-sounding name, such as:

Laurence (nn [name_u]Laurie[/name_u])
[name_u]Julian[/name_u] (nn [name_u]Jules[/name_u])
[name_m]Caspian[/name_m] (nn [name_m]Cas[/name_m])
[name_m]Leonardo[/name_m] (nn [name_m]Leo[/name_m])
[name_m]Finnegan[/name_m] (nn [name_u]Finn[/name_u])
[name_m]Alistair[/name_m] (nn [name_u]Ali[/name_u])
[name_m]Vincent[/name_m] (nn [name_u]Vinny[/name_u]) [name_u]Vinny[/name_u] Vorcroft sounds pretty cool haha

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@augustkip8, yes this is set in modern day! The character would’ve been born around 2003? [name_f]My[/name_f] issue with [name_m]Abraham[/name_m] is, while my first association is also [name_u]Lincoln[/name_u], the only people who use the name nowadays are typically pretty religious. Religion isn’t a theme in this story so it would feel out of place for me.

I really like [name_m]Bramwell[/name_m]! I agree it sounds more like an honor name than the others, so I’d have to think on that. If I go with [name_m]Leander[/name_m] or [name_m]Lysander[/name_m], I’m leaning towards [name_u]Sander[/name_u] now as a nickname.

I’m still working out the parents’ exact personalities. Right now, I’m playing with the idea that all the parents (the OG siblings because this story is based around their kids, who are cousins) had their own “roles” as part of the team, so that might influence their naming as well. [name_m]Daniel[/name_m] was quite academically-minded, and enjoyed the historical side to adventuring. He and his wife both went on to be professors, I’m thinking.

I like [name_m]Kip[/name_m] and [name_m]Kipling[/name_m], but I think they’re a bit too juvenile sounding for him. I really like [name_m]Tennyson[/name_m], [name_m]Caspian[/name_m], and [name_m]Alistair[/name_m] as well, but I’m not too sure about the nicknames. I agree that sibsets are not always perfectly matched in real life, but I also just don’t picture this character with a common name.

Bramwell is definitely one that I’ll consider! Thank you!

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Yeah I see what you mean about [name_m]Abraham[/name_m]. It’s a shame really. I love [name_m]Bramwell[/name_m], and you could come up with an association that weaves into the story. The kids are on a mission to find their parents, right? I presume they’ll be uncovering mysteries as they go. Maybe the name [name_m]Bramwell[/name_m] means something more/different than what he thought all along. Maybe they stumble upon a seemingly insignificant character with the surname [name_m]Bramwell[/name_m] and realise that’s too much of a coincidence, only to find they have a huge connection and mean something important to their parents.

[name_m]Just[/name_m] some ideas. I definitely prefer the nickname [name_u]Sander[/name_u] to [name_m]Anders[/name_m] for [name_m]Lysander[/name_m]. It’s basically [name_m]Xander[/name_m], so has a cool vibe whilst also being unique. Agree about those other names. It’s really hard to get a good nickname!

I feel very invested in this haha, so keep us updated on your decisions! :smiley:

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So I like [name_m]Lysander[/name_m] and [name_m]Ambrose[/name_m] and I think the nn work. You could also go with: “[name_m]Bramble[/name_m]” or “[name_m]Bramwell[/name_m]” for “[name_m]Bram[/name_m]”. Then you could get “[name_m]Anders[/name_m]” from [name_m]Ollivander[/name_m], [name_u]Anderson[/name_u], [name_m]Cassander[/name_m], [name_u]Coriander[/name_u], or [name_u]Wanderer[/name_u].

For [name_m]Link[/name_m]- [name_m]Franklin[/name_m] or [name_m]Lachlan[/name_m]

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Finally have an update for you guys, if you’re still curious lol. I’ve been using both [name_m]Bram[/name_m] and [name_u]Sander[/name_u] as I started plotting/writing, basically just turning to whichever one I felt like fit him more in that instant (because my preference changed with my mood).

As I was driving 7 hours to get to school yesterday, I was doing some more plotting since the driving was quite mindless, and I passed by a sign for a place called [name_m]Sanders[/name_m]! It was a sign :wink: haha, see what I did there? I’m hilarious

I think [name_u]Sander[/name_u] fits the story better anyway, but I was holding on to [name_m]Bram[/name_m] because I liked how “[name_m]Bram[/name_m] Vorcroft” sounded coming out of a sports announcer’s mouth. Anyways, his name is [name_m]Lysander[/name_m] Vorcroft! Maybe I’ll have to find a way to work [name_m]Bram[/name_m] into his middle name, if I eventually need to give him one.

Thank you!!

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