Do you have any characters with multiple names?

If so, who and why? How did they earn more than one title? What plot purpose does this serve in your book?

And how do you manage it in the narration? How do you keep your character’s multiple titles straight?

In Alaidia, one of my MCs goes through several name changes. His birth name is Kennard William Conrad Beonred II. Isn’t that awesome? A friend helped me come up with that.

However, early on in the story, he changes his name to conceal his identity and becomes Nathaniel John Ayers. (His parents’ names also change at this point, but they don’t live very long and I usually refer to them as “Nathan’s mother,” or “his parents,” etc.) After his parents’ death, he takes up a new last name: Nathaniel John James.

For the bulk of the story, he is known as simply Nathan. The narration refers to him exclusively as Nathan; people call him Nathaniel, Nathan, Nate, and other varieties in dialog. However, since I loved his birth name so much, I couldn’t let it go; he still calls himself that, and occasionally his guardians will slip and use it. Also, his enemies only know him by his birth name.

As the book progresses, his heritage comes back into play, and he is called by his birth name more often. However, the 3rd-person narration continues to use only and exclusively “Nathan.”

He’s been “Nathan” since the story started years ago, but I love his birth name – so I had to use both. I have logical reasons for why I use both, and I think it adds flavor; those that call him Kennard are of a different relation to him than those that call him Nathan. However, it can get confusing, especially because he has relatives that share all of his names (his father was Kennard William, and his grandfather was William Conrad – I think). I hope that sticking to one and only one name in the narration helps.

Thoughts?

That. is. an awesome name. I don't have any thoughts at the moment, but to me what you have seems to be alright. Then again, I haven't read anything from your story. As long as you are consistent with who calls him what, I think it would be fine.

Mostly I just had a character and thought, 'hey that would be a good nick-name...' so basically all my characters have nick-names.

Thanks much, Elanhil!

Oh dear, I wasn't counting nicknames. I think if I counted nicknames, at least half of my characters would fall under this topic. I think using nicknames in dialog adds credibility and authenticity... but that's a separate topic, one I might start tomorrow if it hasn't already been covered.

Hmm... Don't think I have nicknames... Maybe I should. But that's a sidetrack that will lead to the destruction of the original destination of this topic.

Phili, I wouldn't be worried if I were you, about the multiple names thingy. Tolkien did that to much success. He made it clear when the name changed, what it changed to, and still referred to the characters by a uniform name.

Hmm, come to think of it, Strider had more names than one. Gollum, too. You're right! Thanks, Elanhil!

I remembered another character of mine that has more than one name. *spoiler alert* In my NaNo novel, the antagonist poses in several different positions and uses a different name in each. He is first established as Lord Elwain, then reappears as Shimei, then finally Elder Mont. (I may change some of these names later; this is literary abandon and I'm just picking the names that are near at hand.) He does this so the protagonist doesn't realize it's the same person each time. In the end he reveals his triple identity.

Because the protagonist doesn't realize it's the same person until the end, the narration uses whatever name the character is appearing under at the time. In one scene, when he reveals himself to another character, the narration changes terms in the middle of the scene. (I may have to work on that transition.) In my head, Shimei is his base name and is the one he uses when all is revealed, because that name fits his character best and will hopefully be his most memorable role.

One character that I have you first know as Slate. But you come to realize he is a fugitive, and that his real name is Alibur. But then you come to learn that Alibur was a name he gave himself while a spy in foreign lands, and that his given name is Dyra.

Well yeah, nicknames is sort of a broad term. Like I don't count Tanner and Tahn as two separate names. I just thought up random others. Like Tanner is sometimes known as Wolf. They all basically have codenames or names given to them by other races and peoples. Like Aragorn/Elessar

I didn't think about that - a character having a different name in various cultures/languages. That's a good idea.

That's also a good idea. My characters have all moved to a new city, far away from where they were before and they speak another language in the city, as well as having an entirely different culture. Actually, Phili, I hadn't thought of Aragorn. I was thinking of Underhill (Bagins) when I typed that and then remembered Gollum and Gandalf. Wow, Tolkien has tons! Pippin and Merry are nicknames. And the list could go on. If Tolkien did it, you can. (Well, I don't think any of us are as good as Tolkien, but at least we know it's possible.)

After I named a few of my MAs (Major Antagonists) I realized that their names were in one language (the language of the people they fought) and thought they probably had names in their own language too. So now most of them have two names

Examples:
Kask-Ka (Varentil name) Velezaar Avarez (Ah Graliz Sweniz name) -- I'm not sure what the Varentil names means, but the Ah Graliz name means "Violent Avenger"
Ikap Kinada (Varentil name) Drakon Krazen (Ah Graliz Sweniz name) -- Both the Varentil and Ah Graliz names mean "Dark Crown "

I happen to like the name Iri myself, Lady E.

You put a lot of work into those names, Vili!

One of my character's names is similar to Iri, only his name is Eri, and I lengthened it by adding an "an" to the end (Erian).

I only have one character with multiple names: Samsvar. His name later turns to Srugoz (which should give you a hint if you've read my story) but to keep from spoiling any more than I already have I won't say much more...

I deal with it by making it a hard and fast point. When my two MC's realize that Point A, they start referring to him by the new name. It's almost as if he's a new character.

eruheran

I actually have 2 MCs who's names change. (I forgot about them)

Ci-Filnar (I Fail) changes his name to Qin-Rivinarta (Will Avenge) after he avenges his family's deaths.
The other character changes her name to Anaeo-Vale (Hidden Behind the Vale). Her past is still a secret at the moment so I can't tell you what her old name was...

Gack! What?! That was... unexpected.

Oh yeah--sorry Shawn. =) That's right, I haven't gotten to that point in the story yet. =D

eruheran

Edit it and put a "Spoiler Warning" title!

That's what the spoiler block is for.

Okay, okay. *sheesh* =D

eruheran

I only have one person who has a long name. Alannah (she's the "princess" in my story) has a long name. Everyone else uses the traditional two or three names.

Alannah-Katrine Annalease Natailya Darmuelez

Well, what about multiple characters with the same name? Talk about a narrating nightmare. In my Novella, Trice, both the FMC and the MMC are named Trice. Trice Calloway and Trice Chanson respectively. It's hilarious in the story but to this day I don't know if I was confusing in places or not.

In Lightning Ranger my MC was born Michael Haert, his sister calls him Mickey, then when he joins the outlaws he goes by Lightning. But it's pretty straightforward. The narrative refers to him as Lightning pretty much through out since his birth name is a secret and a plot point and a mystery.

Then there's Lancelyn from Legend of Darmoor who has a fairy name (which I don't remember) and it's confusing because his people call him by one name and his sweetheart by the other. In the second two books he's called almost exclusively by the name I don't remember. Then, I name his son Lancelyn... Which results in everyone always wondering every time I say Lancelyn whether I'm talking about the son or the father.

Maybe I should start a thread on characters with the same name....

The worst version of this, however, is my scifi novel The Third Earth. I have Dorus/David and Suzanne/Daea/Karistome. Which name I use is dependent upon who is speaking. Each character calls her by the name they think belongs to her so it's pretty straightforward... I think.

Didn't Aragorn/Strider have a third name too?

I didn't think about that, Jaynin - multiple characters with the SAME name. I have a bit of that in terms of royal lineage; Nathan's birth name is followed by an II because he shares names with his father and grandfather. It can be a bit confusing to explain, but since both the father and grandfather are dead before the book truly begins and they are most often referred to as "his father" or "his grandfather," I think it will be manageable.

Anyway, that is a good idea. Used properly, it could be interesting in more ways than one.

I love it!

Gosh! I think he had like 7!

*searches wiki* erm... he had 10....


BTW, Trice (both of them) sound like a lot of fun

They are. That's one of my favorite stories. See, I confused them as to which one was talking too, which is why I'm not sure if I confused myself or not. Maybe I should get some people to actually read it and tell me...

Dunadan was the other one I was looking for. Longshanks and wingfoot are just passing comments and the others... don't really count I think.

Aragorn/Strider/Dunadan is how I know that particular character; my second favorite in the series.

Don't forget Elessar!

Ah, I forgot that one too. But no one actually called him that in day to day use that I know of.

Good grief, now I've got a poem I can't remember about Elessar haunting me... Oh, there it is.

"Where are the Dunadan, Elessar?"

That's all I can remember... I'm pathetic with LotR poetry.

One of my worlds has a complicated naming system by which a child is called a shortened form of their father or mother's name (depending on gender) until they come of age at about fourteen in a naming ceremony. This creates a huge narrative difficulty for me in chapter one, as I have to describe the system, drop in why the MC is Raiden's nephew (Rainef for short) and not something-son. Then, to make it worse his entire village is destroyed in the next chapter, leaving him nameless. At first I just called him "the boy" in the narration the whole way through, but readers got annoyed, and insisted I should narrate him as "Rainef" until his village is destroyed, then switch to "the boy".

How other people refer to an orphan though is by clan name, and he's of the Dragon clan after he's adopted by dragons, so then, when he's given that title in chapter 2 or 3 (depending on edits) his "name" becomes Dragon Boy, and is narrated that way until the end of the book when he goes through his naming ceremony.

Why I do this to myself, I don't know? But I'm attached to the world building and want to keep it. If I could only get it to flow smoothly enough the readers don't all hate me... sigh.

I've tried to avoid such confusions in my other books. I hit a bit of a snag in a historical fiction novel where names are reused a ton in Frankish society (royalty/nobility likes to do that). But the FMC's uncle and the MMC's father had the same name (Milon) historically, but they were different people. After too many readers got them confused and they are minor characters not main ones, I started using the English translation of Miles for the uncle and kept the French Milon for the father to keep them separate.

Sounds intriguing, Ardyth! If the narration has established him as "Rainef" in the first chapter, I don't see why the narration can't continue to use that name. After all, he probably still thinks of himself as that. You would make it clear in the dialog that he has no official name, but the informal name sticks. Just a thought. But "Dragon Boy" is cool too.

I read a book, (cannot remember what book,) where the character started with no name. They very carefully avoided having him called anything until the second chapter when he got a long cumbersome title. He continued to be referred to just as 'he' except when they used his title, and I think eventually the title got shortened too. Then in chapter five he actually gets a name and they switch to that for the rest of the book, although he gets some other titles along the way. (It was a really, really cool book... wait... got it!) Cynthia Voight. A part of the Jackaroo series. *goes off to start a new thread.*

So using a nameless character can be done. I did a whole synopsis once when I didn't have a name for the MC, and you just have to be very, very, very careful with your POV so that 'him' is always the same person. It's tricky...

I agree with Jaynin, I read a book called Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, by Jessica Day George where the main character wasn't given a name when she was born. She was simply called "lass." You don't even find out her name until the last page! XD

New thread! (This conversation keeps branching off into all sorts of new conversations...)

Characters WITHOUT a name

I have a super-problem here: In my story 'Scales' one of the characters has two names, but neither are nicknames and he doesn't use them together. See, he's something of a spy ,but a good guy too.

Originally Scales was a stand-alone book but then two more tales popped into my mind. In the first story, the MC knows this character by 'Max', which is a false name but you learn to love this Max character. When you find out that his name is actually Zarek, the MC continues to call him Max. Which is all good and fine until the next book comes along where everyone knows this character by 'Zarek'! I feel like suddenly switching him to be called Zarek would alienated him from the readers and you've already grown to love this character Max! Also, I can't think of how to simply delete one of the names because to me, he is still both.

Little help?

It's a little hard to make a judgment without knowing your stories well, but a break between books is a perfect time to make a switch with a character's name. It's a clean divide, a new world, a new tale - and that character's role might be different between the books. His friend will probably still call him "Max" in dialog, but the story has "grown up" and the narration now uses "Zarek." That's just fine.

In Honor System, the main people I follow around are spies. They have their real names - which we know from the prequel - and their alter-ego names. I used their real names for internal monologue and dialogue tags, plus they call each other by their real names in private. Only when they are in front of other people or other people are addressing them do their alter-ego names get used. I don't think it's easy for everyone to remember their alter names. . . I haven't figured out how to fix that.

In the book I'm writing, I have a girl character whose birth name is "Anastasia" after the Russian princess that had a lot of conspiracy going about her after her death. But her name is changed to "Zaelinia", which means "God remembers", about one quarter of the way into the book. Which has to do a lot with a sudden change in her life.

I haven't gotten far enough into the book to know how I'm going to switch my narrative from calling her "Anastasia" to "Zaelinia", but I have a few ideas.

Lefwen, my antagonist; was possesed by Ixion and had his name changed to Velcorr... Now having three names.

On this thread is more about Lefwen.

I actually have realized how I use nicknames in my books. I only use their nicknames when they are being spoken to. An example, I have a character named Marmita. She is the aunt of my MC. I refer to her in the story as Marmita, but when my MC talks to her, he says "Aunt Marmie".

Using nicknames in dialogue and not elsewhere is a good and realistic idea in some circumstances.

*nods * It actually wasn't intentional...

That's what I do, generally. Another good tip can be to use some different nicknames when different people are addressing them. My secondary MC is called 'Nummy' by her father (her full name is Numaryá), but 'Arya' by Zaciré, the MC.

eru

At times people will be called different names because of various languages in my book. Examplia gratia... Gandalf was called many names by various people.

That's true, Namor *resolves to work that in with Hardvan, a charry in his book*

eru

Personally I'd look at The Bible, God did it with Moses and Jacob. I don't know if that helps, I'd just try there.

One thing which I like to keep in mind when deciding what name the narration would use is whose POV the scene is in. If the person I am looking from always thinks of someone by a certain name, I use it in the narration.