Thoughts on Mermaid Names

Writers' Corner
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I am currently writing a trio of stories based around three sisters. They are sirens, and each short story tells of their respective encounters with humans. Some bad, some good, and some somewhere in between. I’m really struggling with my choices for the names of my characters. I don’t know that they feel I inspired or unique enough.

We have:

Nirajan - father of “seamonsters”. He is an oceanic god in this world.

Gorgo - Nirajan’s first wife, mother of the Gorgons, a race of fish-humanoid people who look and take on the characteristics of sea animals (like octopi, jellyfish, sharks, ect).

[name_f]Sirena[/name_f] - Nirajan’s second a favourite wife, mother of the Sirens, a race of “mermaids” (they’re like sirens of myth). Sirens can choose to have human legs on land or mermaid tails in the water.

[name_f]Thetis[/name_f] & [name_f]Thalassa[/name_f] - [name_f]Sister[/name_f]-queens of the sirens.

Minasa - Consort of [name_f]Thetis[/name_f] and [name_f]Thalassa[/name_f].

[name_f]Neris[/name_f] & Assan - Mother and father of the main characters.

Main characters:
[name_f]Syrena[/name_f] - middle sister, has always been fascinated by the humans and chooses to forsake her people in favour of living on an island and collecting human artifacts. Has brown hair and golden eyes.

[name_m]Aramis[/name_m] - oldest sister. A “seawitch” of sorts, exiled from her people because she practices dark magic. She lives in a sea cave on an island cove and does magic for gorgons and sirens alike, for a price. Has brown hair and silver eyes.

Medusa - youngest sister and heir to [name_f]Thetis[/name_f] and [name_f]Thalassa[/name_f]. Has no use for humans and no wish to leave the sea. Has red hair and golden eyes.

I just feel like Medusa and [name_f]Syrena[/name_f] are too expected maybe for siren/mermaid names. They have reasons in the story for why they were named ([name_f]Syrena[/name_f] is obviously named after [name_f]Sirena[/name_f] and Medusa after the first siren queen. [name_m]Aramis[/name_m] was named for a great siren warrioress.) Thoughts on their names and on the names of my characters in general? Suggestions and changes you would make? Thank you so much :slight_smile:

2 Likes
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I do think [name_f]Sirena[/name_f] and [name_f]Syrena[/name_f] are too similar? I guess is [name_f]Sirena[/name_f] like a god/ancient ruler people would be named after? [name_m]Even[/name_m] then I think it could get a little confusing for a reader (especially if it were in an audiobook format which is how I read all of my books.)
Some other suggestions to replace sirena/syrena
[name_f]Mirena[/name_f]/[name_f]Marina[/name_f]/[name_f]Marinda[/name_f]/[name_f]Maris[/name_f] “of the sea”
[name_f]Maren[/name_f] “sea”
[name_f]Delphine[/name_f] “dolphin”
Muireen “sea white/sea fair”
[name_f]Nereida[/name_f] “sea nymph”
[name_f]Nerissa[/name_f] “from the sea”
[name_f]Selkie[/name_f] “sea folk” (seal people from irish mythology)
[name_f]Thalassa[/name_f] “the sea”
[name_f]Stellamaris[/name_f] “star of the sea”
[name_f]Ondine[/name_f]/[name_f]Undine[/name_f] “little wave” (mythological sea spirit)
[name_f]Morwenna[/name_f] “waves of the sea”
[name_f]Melusine[/name_f] (french folks character associated with the water)
[name_f]Palasha[/name_f] “open sea”
[name_f]Siri[/name_f] or [name_f]Irena[/name_f] (diminutives of [name_f]Sirena[/name_f] but different enough as a name)

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Adrienne came to mind as it translates to ‘dark lady of the sea’, ‘the dark one’, or ‘from the Adriatic’.

Luna would also be a great name as it means ‘moon’.

Marina is a beautiful name meaning ‘from the sea’.

Morwenna translates to ‘maiden’ or ‘waves of the sea’.

Celia means ‘heaven’ and makes a beautiful choice for a mermaid/siren. However, it also means ‘blind’.

Ayla means ‘moonlight’ or ‘moon halo’.

Melinoe is a beautiful name associated with the moon. However, it means ‘having the color of quince’.

Hope this helps!