[strike]I’m not quite done with my other story yet but this will be the next one in the pipeline. Two key characters need names.
#1 - Daughter of [name]Thirza[/name], a single mother who gave birth at 16. Girl is a quiet, reserved but intelligent child of around six or seven. She likes drawing and painting. I want something that is pretty teenage parentish, but no butchered spellings.
#2 - [name]Thirza[/name]'s younger sister, who’s about 14. Other sibling is [name]Simon[/name], 17. [name]Sister[/name] is quite into sports, plays on her school football (soccer) team, bit of a tomboy but also an aspiring chef who likes to spend time in the kitchen.
I also need a surname for the family. Parents are unnamed but aren’t as essential to the plot as [name]Thirza[/name], [name]Simon[/name] and these two unnamed characters so I can see if something crops up for them as I write, unless anyone has any good ideas. [/strike]
Oh, sorry, it’s contemporary in the UK. I usually assume contemporary in the poster’s own country unless explicitly stated on these threads, which was why I didn’t mention it.
#1- [name]Zandra[/name], [name]Lilibeth[/name], [name]Elizabella[/name], [name]Sybil[/name], [name]Jezebel[/name], [name]Tess[/name], [name]Celestia[/name], [name]Topaz[/name] ([name]Paz[/name]) (These are unusual names that I thought might appeal to a younger mother due to their uniqueness, and she’d then use them as a name.)
#2- [name]Bryn[/name], [name]Rae[/name], [name]Kate[/name], [name]Zoe[/name], [name]Jade[/name] (I stuck with shorter, stronger, more tomboy-esque names for this one)
I don’t have many great surnames, it really depends on what you’re looking for. Unusual? Common? I don’t know.
#2 - well [name]Thirza[/name] is very unique on top of being Biblical and since [name]Simon[/name] is also Biblical I’d stick with that theme.
[name]Darah[/name]
[name]Esther[/name] (goes by [name]Tess[/name])
[name]Kezia[/name] (goes by Kezy)
[name]Ruth[/name] (goes by [name]Rue[/name])
[name]Zarah[/name]
Decided on [name]Keziah[/name] nn [name]Kezzie[/name] or [name]Kizzy[/name] (not sure which would work best) for the sister.
Got three I’m undecided on for the daughter.
[name]Jasmine[/name]/[name]Jazmine[/name]/[name]Jazmyn[/name] - It’s got a pretty, feminine sound. With Z’s in [name]Thirza[/name] and [name]Keziah[/name] it’s plausible the trend could be carried onto the next generation, so I’m undecided on the spelling. I know I said no trendy spellings, but the more I think about it, the more I think [name]Jazmyn[/name] would be more suited to the little girl than [name]Jasmine[/name].
[name]Isabella[/name]/[name]Izabella[/name] - Ditto the above. Yes it’s very popular, frilly and appealing to young mums, and I like the fact she could be an [name]Izzy[/name] or a [name]Bella[/name] depending on her personality. I wouldn’t use the nickname much, she’d be referred to as the full name in the narrative, but is [name]Izzy[/name] and [name]Kezzie[/name]/[name]Kizzy[/name] going to be too much, or would it be a nice quirk to nickname her close to her aunt?
[name]Liberty[/name] - I like the meaning of ‘freedom’ - appropriate for the daughter of someone who ran away at 16 or just plain cheesy? Would use occasional nn [name]Libby[/name].
Of those 3 I like [name]Izabella[/name] the best. There’s a lot of other nn’s you could use for it and I agree that it has a good mix of frilly and popular. You could use Bellz or Zabby or something else fun as a quirky z nickname, though I don’t think [name]Izzy[/name] is too close, as long as both names aren’t used together on every page.
I say go for [name]Jazmyn[/name]. It seems like something a teen parent would choose, and the Z link is really good! I think [name]Izzy[/name] and [name]Kizzy[/name] is just too close, especially if the aunt and the niece see each other often in the story.
This is pretty much how I feel. [name]Jazmyn[/name] would be my first pick out of those choices. It sounds like something the teen parent character would name her kid and seems to fit the character and story.
[name]Izabella[/name] would be my second choice, though, because [name]Liberty[/name] does feel too cheesy.