What do you think of my character names?

Okay. I’ve been working on a new story. It is based off Elemental bending and stuff like that, so it isn’t set in modern times. I didn’t make a new planet or anything, but I wouldn’t say that it takes place on any continent, I made the places up.

So for starts… The nations are divided by elements, and I picked the names by meaning, so each name means what the nation is. They are called:

[name]Shula[/name]- the [name]Fire[/name] Nation
Kaito- The Water Nation
[name]Zeru[/name]- the [name]Air[/name] Nation
[name]Gaiea[/name]- the [name]Earth[/name] Nation. I made this spelling up (based off of [name]Gaia[/name] if you couldn’t tell). I’m not sure if I should pronounce it like gay-a or how [name]Gaia[/name] is normally pronounced. Any thoughts?
Aeolus- the city/island of the Miras (more on that later)

The gods:

So far, I only have a few name picked:

[name]Zeno[/name]- the main god. He’s the equivalent of [name]Zeus[/name]. God of sky and storms and such. [name]Zeru[/name] is named after him (loosely)
[name]Kaia[/name]- the goddess of Water, sister of [name]Gaia[/name]. [name]Goddess[/name] of oceans all that. Kaito is named after her (loosely)
[name]Gaia[/name]-The goddess of [name]Earth[/name] like she is in Greek mythology. [name]Gaiea[/name] is named after her.
Shu- the god of fire. Contradicting to his element, he is gentle. [name]Shula[/name] is named after him.
Funda- goddess of health.

The characters:

The girls:
[name]Nerea[/name]- the main character and story teller. She is the daughter of a water bender and a fire bender, which was forbidden. She is a smoke bender because of the contradicting elements in her body until her friend, Evren, teaches her how to control them. She has strong connections to the spirit world, and the spirits think she will help save the world and haunt her dreams from the time she was a small child. She is the equivalent of a princess (but she isn’t one) hates said status, and she runs away to help save the world.
[name]Amara[/name]- [name]Nerea[/name]'s younger sister. She’s a lot younger than [name]Nerea[/name], very innocent and sheltered. [name]Nerea[/name] raises her after their mother is banished, when [name]Amara[/name] was a year old. She is not a bender and a good flute/pipe player. She likes being royalty, she hasn’t known anything else. She is devastated when her sister runs away.
[name]Mayim[/name]- [name]Nerea[/name] and [name]Amara[/name]'s mother. She is rebellious and fell in love with a fire bender, runs away with him and marries him and has two kids with him. She sends her parents a letter, and they come looking for her, leading to her banishment. She is a Kaitoan princess (of her providence). Very powerful water bender.
[name]Altalune[/name]- [name]Mayim[/name]'s mother. An oracle of sorts, she can’t see the future, but senses how the future will be for someone. Supports her daughter and granddaughter’s decisions, but her overbearing husband doesn’t listen to her. Generally nice. [name]Non[/name] bender.
[name]Nina[/name]- [name]Nerea[/name] and [name]Amara[/name]'s paternal grandmother. She isn’t really a main character. She dies when [name]Amara[/name] is four. [name]Fire[/name] bender.
[name]Soleil[/name]- Shulan princess and closest friend of [name]Nerea[/name]. [name]Nerea[/name] doesn’t make many friends. She is sweet and somewhat innocent and naïve, but is very loyal. She helps [name]Nerea[/name] escape. [name]Fire[/name] bender, but mostly bends light, not really fire (she doesn’t like to but she can, it makes her feel out of control).
Melanthe- The fire nation queen. [name]Leander[/name], [name]Soleil[/name], and [name]Castor[/name]'s mother. She’s mean and stuck up, but beautiful. The black flower that her name means.
[name]Lux[/name]- Enemy turned friend of [name]Nerea[/name]'s. Helps [name]Nerea[/name] and Evren and later joins their group. She is a fire bender and very sarcastic and bitter. Wants nothing more than to stop the Gaieans. Great granddaughter of [name]Aroa[/name].
[name]Aroa[/name]- Evren’s first love. She is a fire bender, about the same as [name]Nerea[/name], she’s not a princess but she’s royalty. Sweet person. She survives the plague, but is devistated that Evren goes missing. She get married and has two kids before dying of a broken heart (never able to get over Evren). Not important to the main story.
[name]Mireille[/name]- Evren and [name]Galen[/name]'s mother. Dies in the plague. Airbender who had a water bending mother and a airbending father.

I think I got all the girls so far!

The boys:

Evren- The first [name]Mira[/name] (a peacemaker, kind of like the judges, legislative branch, and sort of executive branch rolled into one, they are kind of like the UN) after the death of the last one in [name]Zeru[/name]. Discovered at the age of two after he nearly drowns his mother by water bending(accident). Most of them are not discovered until at least sixteen. Sent to Aeolus at the age of ten, making him the youngest [name]Mira[/name] ever. Becomes able to bend all four elements (rare feat) and also emotion/dream bending, a rare skill. Many are jealous of him and think that he will become the next [name]Miran[/name] (the leader of the Miras), although he doesn’t know this. Falls in love with [name]Aroa[/name]. At age sixteen, it is discovered that the Gaiean [name]Mira[/name] are corrupted, but they attack the Miras before none of them know what is going on. But they can’t defeat him, so he is forced into a device used to control time, called the Hourglass. He is stuck in the hourglass for 130 years before [name]Nerea[/name] lets him out. He has no idea how long he was stuck in there. He and [name]Nerea[/name] set off to end the war and restore peace. His bonded animal is Iora, his bird who he can shrink or enlarge by telling it to, flies them places. The god [name]Zeno[/name] was reincarnated in his soul, but not as him, as some Miras get a spirit reincarnated into them. He later falls in love with [name]Nerea[/name].
[name]Galen[/name]- Evren’s younger brother, an oracle. He passes away because of the plague, but his spirit is stuck in the spirit world until Evren’s destiny is reached, so he is stuck for 130 years. He is [name]Nerea[/name]'s spirit guide. [name]Non[/name] bender.
[name]Durante[/name]- Evren and [name]Galen[/name]'s father. An airbender. Doesn’t die from the plague, but from fighting the Gaiean soldiers.
[name]Leander[/name]- one of sub antagonists. [name]Soleil[/name]'s brother, a fire bender, the prince next in line for the throne. He’s full of himself and arrogant. He knows he will be betrothed to [name]Nerea[/name], who hates him. He teases her all the time about her mother and her lack of bending skill. He’s possesive and makes it his goal to bring her back when she runs away. He sees her as his and will do anything to get her back.
[name]Castor[/name]- [name]Leander[/name]'s younger brother. He’s more sensitive and nicer. He’s about the same age as [name]Amara[/name]. Not big deal in the story. A fire bender. He sides with [name]Amara[/name] and [name]Soleil[/name] about [name]Nerea[/name]'s running away.
[name]Phoenix[/name]- the [name]Fire[/name] Nation [name]King[/name]. He’s somewhat mean but really has the kingdom’s best interest at heart. [name]Nerea[/name] hates him, because he banished her mother.
[name]Fintan[/name]- [name]Nerea[/name]'s father. [name]Fire[/name] nation commander in the [name]Navy[/name]. Falls in love with [name]Mayim[/name]. After her banishment he becomes the second in command to [name]Phoenix[/name], his best friend and blood brother. He basically abandons [name]Nerea[/name] in his grief. When she runs away, he has the whole fire nation, the navy especially, looking for her, him on a boat with [name]Amara[/name] searching. [name]Fire[/name] bender.
Agni- [name]Fintan[/name]'s father and [name]Nerea[/name] and [name]Amara[/name]'s grandfather. His wife was [name]Nina[/name]. He at first is mad at his son’s betrayal, but he gets over it. He was the [name]Admiral[/name] of the fire nation [name]Navy[/name]. [name]Fire[/name] bender.
[name]Maro[/name]- [name]Mayim[/name]'s father, [name]Altalune[/name]'s husband, [name]Nerea[/name] and [name]Amara[/name]'s grandfather. Chief of his providence of Kaito. Searches frantically for his daughter when she runs away. Seems bitter, well he is kind of bitter, but he really is very caring. Takes her back to the water nation when she’s banished. Water bender.

Sorry that was sooooo long!
I think those are all the characters’ names, places, and such.
What do you think of my character’s names and places? What do you think of the plot stuff I’ve mentioned.
How would you pronounce [name]Gaiea[/name]?
Thanks for reading.
Feel free to ask any questions.

Wow. [name]How[/name] do you keep all those characters straight? I think you wrote a novel just in that post.

Anyway, I would pronounce [name]Gaiea[/name] like [name]Gay[/name]-ee-uh.
All of your names seem in the same line, stylistically, but the post was overwhelming! Great story idea, though. What are you going to title it? And is Aeolus like [name]Atlantis[/name]?

I’m glad someone showed interest!
Yeah, that post took me almost an hour to write. A lot of those characters are not that important to the story, but its hard to keep track of what everyone’s parents’ names are. And I haven’t finished creating the whole Evren-[name]Nerea[/name]-[name]Lux[/name] gang yet. I think there is going to be two more people in that group. Aeolus is sort of like [name]Atlantis[/name]. Only [name]Mira[/name] and their family live there and some inventors, and people can travel their to meet with the [name]Mira[/name]. It isn’t paradise or anything. It would be like if [name]Rome[/name] or Athens was on an island. Its the center of spiritual life in the story. And it moves. Aeolus is never in the same place for very long, because they like to keep it neutral and so angry people won’t attack it. So I guess it is sort of like [name]Atlantis[/name]. It is also where they create things, because most of the intellects in the world communicate through there.
I’m not sure of the title yet. I’ve been thinking of calling it The Years Without Wind- because (I didn’t mention this) the other nations basically forced the good natured Zeruens into hiding, [name]Gaiea[/name] killing them, Shulan fighting them, Kaito afraid to cross either [name]Gaiea[/name] or [name]Shula[/name], so fighting them too. So [name]Zeno[/name] gets mad and doesn’t create wind, and the Airbenders basically hide their abilities.
I’m also thinking about In Between Dreams- because [name]Nerea[/name] communicates to the spirit world through her dreams, and the writing I have done so far has a lot of dreams in it. And Evren is a dream bender. [name]Both[/name] wind and dreams are going to be important in it.

I like most of your names. I think you have a plan. [name]Gaiea[/name] is hard to pronounce. I would rename it something like Gainea. (pronounced guy-neigh-a) I like your style. Does [name]Nina[/name] actually appear in the story? If she doesn’t appear much or at all, I would not necessarily refer to her by name since you have a lot going on. If I were writing this story, I would start with the main characters, who I think are [name]Nerea[/name] and Evren and let (for example the romance between [name]Mayim[/name] and [name]Fintan[/name]) be backstory. In general I would simplify the story a little. [name]How[/name] does [name]Aroa[/name] fit into the plot besides being Evren’s first girlfriend?
I take Melanthe is the main villain. I would like to know more about her, and what exactly they are battling over.

Namewise: I might prefer Finten over [name]Fintan[/name], but am unsure.

I also forgot to mention that [name]Nerea[/name] has a bonded animal. I can’t decide whether it will be a really large dog or a bear named [name]Isra[/name]. She received said animal after her mother was banished.

emilyva
I like your suggestion for Gainea, but I’m not sure I like the sound of Gainean (like a person from Gainea) [name]Guy[/name]-neigh-en? I just need to think about that.
[name]Nina[/name] won’t be mentioned very much. She is really only mentioned in [name]Nerea[/name]'s memories of her mother’s banishment.
The romance between [name]Mayim[/name] and [name]Fintan[/name] is just a back story. Its kind of [name]Nerea[/name]'s source of anger. Because the war wouldn’t bother her nearly as much (she is a princess and the daughter of the head of the military, [name]Gaiea[/name] would never get close to her) if her parents hadn’t been separated by it. I use it as the intro to the story in a way.
[name]Aroa[/name] isn’t really that big in the scheme of the story. She is a source of anger for Evren kind of, that he was stuck for one hundred and thirty years and lost everyone he loved. She really doesn’t come up very much until they meet [name]Lux[/name], her great granddaughter. Another thing I didn’t mention was this thing I call “[name]Mira[/name] State” it is kind of a thing that Miras go into when their emotions get out of control, and they basically destroy everything in their path. When he learns about [name]Aroa[/name], he goes into that state for the first time. So I use her for that, and I guess some angst between Evren and [name]Nerea[/name] as well.
Melanthe isn’t really a main character. I really just created her when I was writing this up, because I realized I never gave [name]Leander[/name], [name]Soleil[/name], and [name]Castor[/name]'s mother a name. The Gaieans are really the main antagonists. Sure [name]Phoenix[/name], Melanthe, and [name]Leander[/name] are going to be antagonists, but minor ones. She really doesn’t come into play that much. She is kind of just a stuck up bitch of a queen who kind of angers [name]Nerea[/name] into running away. After a fight with the royal court is when she runs away. When she comes back at the end of the story, we see a little more fighting with her, but she’s pretty minor.
I pronounce [name]Fintan[/name] exactly like Finten anyway, I pronounce it Fint-ten, and I like the spelling.
Thanks for all your questions! They made me think!

I’d say [name]Gaiea[/name] just the same as [name]Gaia[/name] ‘guy-a’.

I think the story is a really good story line, but sounds a whole lot like Avatar (the one that was originally cartoon). You know, element benders, really powerful dude who was stuck in one moment for a long time (the main character in Avatar was stuck in ice), and a wiped-out race of benders (or at least an in hiding race of benders)

I like the names, I really don’t know how to pronounce [name]Gaiea[/name], and overall the story line is pretty good. I think In Between Dreams is a great title.

I used to love the show Avatar, so it probably rubbed off on my a little. I have to fix some things I guess.

It’s true, it does sound a lot like Avatar (which I still love) but it’s obvious you put a lot of work into all the names and each character’s backstory. I feel like for [name]Gaiea[/name], since it is spelled differently from the original, it should be pronounced differently too, but I did like the suggestion of Gainea, because it makes more sense. You called them ‘Gaieans’ already, and that pretty much puts any pronunciation but [name]Guy[/name]-ans and [name]Guy[/name]-uh out the window, but I think [name]Guy[/name]-neigh-ans sounds good. If the nation was called [name]Gaiea[/name] and pronounced just like the god’s name, it would be the only nation with a name that was identical to the god it was named after, right? So I vote for Gainea on that part, if you haven’t decided on something else already.

The whole plot is your business, so I’m not going to get into that. But I did want to say that I really like the names you picked. They’re all similar, like they belong in the same world, but they’re not patterned and identical, which is awesome and I think sometimes a really hard thing to do. I did have one question: Are you planning on posting this story on the internet?

I am now becoming more aware on how Avatar-like my story sounds. I’m going to change a few things, but overall I think my plot is different enough that I don’t need to change very much. So thanks for amplifying that for me. As for Gainea, the suggestion is growing on me.
As for the posting on the internet… I really want to become a published author, and I’m getting that feeling that I will actually finish this one (my main problem is getting distracted by a new idea, so I never finish anything). So, if getting this published when I finish doesn’t work out for me, I will definitely post this on the internet. But if its good enough to be published, I won’t, I’ll just remind y’all to buy a copy. But I have to finish it first.

I would pronounce [name]Gaiea[/name] as “guy-AY-a” and Gainea as “GAYN-ee-a” because I see the word “gain” in there (although knowing it’s based on [name]Gaia[/name], it would be easy to adjust my brain to the correct pronunciation). Perhaps play around a bit more with adding different letters to see if there’s something that looks and sounds right.
Gaiam/Gaiem
Gaita (too similar to Kaito?)
Gaiya
etc.

I have always pronounced [name]Gaiea[/name] as guy-ay-uh, so I’m glad someone else sees it. I like your suggestions. I just have to figure out what I want I guess. I’ve gotten some good suggestions on here. Thanks!