Essentially, I am writing a story about a ‘cult’ that does not allow young members to leave their property until a certain age. The cult is based in extremist Christianity (not a kind that exists or could be called Christianity, but uses the texts of the Old & [name_m]New[/name_m] Testament as a basis to exploit for their own purposes). My MC births a baby girl. Now, the thing is my MC only knows those in her community-- who are all named Biblical names, and as the MC is attempting to find herself/separate herself from the cult, the baby needs a name that is not Biblical. But it also can’t be a ‘normal’ name as she has no concept of other names existing. She does have the influence of some normal things (houses, lawns, things like that but no TV/media) and of nature (think [name_m]Rocky[/name_m] mountains kind of wilderness + some field areas and a river/pond.)
All that being said… What would you name a baby if you had no concept of ‘names’ as we know them and didn’t know non-Biblical names, but didn’t want a Biblical name? You do have the influence of nature & other people who also aren’t aware of the concept of non-Biblical names.
I get that this will be very difficult, I’m sorry! That’s why I’m stuck.
(Also, I’m sorry if you find the idea of writing about a cult offensive! If you have any suggestions of how I could avoid causing too much offense, I’m always open to suggestions.)
First idea: Word names. [name_m]Even[/name_m] if the mother doesn’t know they’re names outside her cult, she could still pick [name_f]Hope[/name_f], [name_f]Grace[/name_f], [name_u]River[/name_u], [name_f]Rose[/name_f], [name_f]Faith[/name_f], [name_f]Daisy[/name_f] etc.
Second idea: Sometimes naming stories/reasons are mentioned in the bible. ( e.g. [name_f]Gen[/name_f] 29.34: Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called [name_m]Levi[/name_m]. [[name_m]Levi[/name_m] meaning attached])
So she could take a word that sums up her reasons why she wants to seperate, or a detail about the birth story, and translate it to a language she knows, probably hebrew or latin, or maybe aramaic or greek.
Rebella might be a bit on-the-nose, but maybe…
Divisa, latin for distinct
Initia, latin for beginning
[name_f]Aurora[/name_f], latin for dawn
[name_f]Via[/name_f], latin for way
I second word names! Specifically I was thinking of nature names, since she has access to nature.
I associate birds with freedom, as do a lot of people, so I’d probably use a bird name. [name_m]Peregrine[/name_m] would be good I think - it’s had use as a first name, though obviously your mc wouldn’t have heard of them, and I always think of birds of prey as being powerful and free. [name_u]Wren[/name_u] and [name_f]Lark[/name_f] would be quite fitting too, but I think less common in the landscape you are thinking of.