Sister Names

Writers' Corner
1

So I’ve been revising my story and I’m worried that two of my characters are too similar in name. They are sisters, named [name_f]Elara[/name_f] and [name_f]Larissa[/name_f]. Both are named after moons, the rest of their siblings are named [name_m]Deimos[/name_m], Phobos, Euanthe, [name_f]Phoebe[/name_f], Carme, [name_m]Triton[/name_m], [name_u]Dione[/name_u], Erinome, [name_f]Adrastea[/name_f], [name_f]Pandora[/name_f], [name_u]Charon[/name_u], [name_m]Titus[/name_m], [name_m]Hyperion[/name_m], and Tarvos.

I’m not sure that [name_m]Triton[/name_m] and [name_m]Titus[/name_m] are too similar as well, but I’m running out of [name_f]Moon[/name_f] names. Shakespearean names and most mythological names are not an option as those themes are used by other families, and the culture in my story does not allow living people to share names.

Is there a [name_f]Moon[/name_f] I’m missing? Would having sisters named [name_f]Elara[/name_f] and [name_f]Larissa[/name_f] be too close for a reader to mix them up? [name_f]Tia[/name_f]

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I don’t think [name_f]Elara[/name_f] and [name_f]Larissa[/name_f] are too similar. Sure, they share the “lar” bit, but the prominent sound is so different (ahr vs. iss) that the names don’t sound much alike to me.

1 Like
3

I don’t think [name_f]Elara[/name_f] and [name_f]Larissa[/name_f] are too similar, either. I once had [name_f]Lilliana[/name_f] and [name_f]Elissa[/name_f], nicknames [name_f]Lilly[/name_f] and [name_f]Ellie[/name_f], and it worked well. [name_m]Triton[/name_m] and [name_m]Titus[/name_m] are kind of similar but not too close.
The reader definitely won’t mix up [name_f]Elara[/name_f] and [name_f]Larissa[/name_f]. If it was, say, [name_f]Elara[/name_f] and [name_f]Elissa[/name_f], I’d be concerned. I think you’ll be fine!

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Thanks y’all ! At one point there was another brother named [name_m]Titan[/name_m] but I ended up scrapping his character. That would have been just too much