What's In a Name: Featuring Foreignness

By Spring Brookring

Hello, hello, hello, readers of Yn Nor! You know how usually I have some snappy or sarcastic welcome for you? Well, this month I don't. So sue me. Insert your own here. Anyway, many of us are now one month into school, the work load is settling out, and I still procrastinated just as much. Go figure.

This month, the plan is to discuss foreign names. This is simply a plan, however, and I will probably end up sidetracked and talking about cauliflower. If you notice me rambling more than is necessary, please throw small blunt objects until I stop.

Anyway, foreign words are used for names quite often. If anyone out there is named Pierre, you should know that's a French word for stone. The name Amy comes from the French word for friend. Foreign names are everywhere. Quick, build fences!

If you are low on inspiration (gasp!), try a foreign language. Many free translators are available on the web, and while not perfectly accurate, they will at least give you the rudimentary meaning of a word. Foreign language to English dictionaries are also not difficult to come by, unless you are broke. If this is the case, beg from your parents and pretend it's for "educational purposes." Disclaimer: there's a ten percent chance this will actually work. Try not to look shocked if it does.

Well, now that you've got your method of translation, how do you go about converting foreign words into names? You would be very disappointed if you learned that this process takes years of specialized training in a remote mountain range, and involves cold baths, raw fish, and meditating on the usefulness of alpacas. Fortunately, you will not learn this. That's not what it takes. Scared ya, didn't I? No? Darn. Making names out of these words is really pretty easy. If your IQ is above eight, this should be no problem.

One way to start is to think about the character you need a name for. What is he or she like? Are they bright and cheerful? How about Soleil, the French word for sun? Are they gloomy and depressed? How about the Portuguese word for shadow, Sombra? Pick a characteristic and run it through as many languages as you want until you find something you like.

Another thing to think about is where the character lives. Do they live somewhere akin to Scandinavia? Try a Norwegian or Swedish word. Do they have more of a Southern European culture? Pick a name to fit their life.

There is also my favorite method: typing in random words, the first things you think of, and seeing what the translator spits out. For example, I'll type in "My llama's brother ate a fish," then translate it into Dutch: "De broer van mijn lama at een vis." Some of that isn't exactly helpful. I do not recommend naming a character Een. But I rather like the sound of Mijn. I don't even know how to pronounce it, but I like it. And it came out of purely random gibberish about carnivorous llamas.

But the fun doesn't end here, my friends, oh no! Because there is so much more you can do with foreign words for names! Take the Italian word for rainbow, 'arcobaleno.' In my opinion, not a terrific name. It is now time for (dah dah dah dah)…adjustments! I'll drop the 'ar' from the beginning and the 'o' from the end, and I get Cobalen. Not bad. Or I could get rid of the whole first half and go with Aleno. Play around until you find something that fits. Or, if you wish to extend the fun, do more. The French word for rainbow is arc-en-ciel. If I add 'ciel' to 'bal,' the result is Balciel. I like that one, too. Combine, reorder, shorten, lengthen, distort, reverse, and spray paint to your hearts' content. And be sure to point the can away from your face. I witnessed a nasty incident with that last month in which an obnoxious neighbor kid will spent a week with purple enamel in his hair. Incidentally, what's the Spanish word for spray paint?

Now, you have a lot of things to do, but what about the things not to do? Well, use some common sense, for one thing. I have noticed that several people are sadly lacking in this precious commodity. If this is your case, you can order some cheap on E-bay. No names like Bonjour or Taco, sil-vous-plait. And I wouldn't choose Spaghetti or Pizza, either. Granted, those are foreign words (ha, bet I just confused some of you who thought pizza was American). They're just not very good foriegn words for names. Okay? Okay.

So, now you know the basics of turning the lovely foreign words into suitable names. Or at least, I talked about the basics. You may or may not have been listening. I'm sure the little blue spot on the wall is far more interesting. Anyway, I'll see you next month with more wonderful random-nicity and ramble-ocity (along with more made up words). Ciao, adios, au revoir, scat!

* If anyone can tell me the Spanish word for spray paint, I'll send you some.

* What is that blue spot on the wall, anyway? It looks like blue fly guts.

*Interestingly, I didn't say a word about cauliflower. Odd.