Whenever we go on vacations or to stores there always seem to be those pieces of paper with every common name on them telling their meaning and Hebrew of Latin origins. If you’re anything like me, those absolutely fascinate you. Trying to figure out if your name description matches your personality and who’s is the best. There are many different meanings behind each name. Mine, Jordan, is Hebrew if I recall correctly and often means down flowing or flow. This really has no significance whatsoever to me as I am a person and can’t exactly flow in the conventional sense. This name as you can probably guess is often derived in meaning and significance from the Jordan River which plays a big part in the bible and Christianity.
The great thing about writing your own books is that you can choose the significance and meaning of your characters names. This is a trick that a lot of really popular authors do that, and you may not have even realized it. One of the most famous examples is from Star Wars. Darth Vader, who is later revealed to be Luke’s father in one of the biggest plot twists in cinema history, his name in German literally means “Dark Father”. Writers are good at entering this subtle character hints and developments behind the scenes.
One of my favourite series Harry Potter, has a lot of these character naming tricks implemented into it. Albus Dumbledore is a really interesting one. The name itself means white and wisdom, which paired with his luscious long white beard is a perfect fit. Although the story behind the name is even more interesting. There was a go owner of Britain that when he claimed the throne became an ally of an unlikely foe, Septimus Severous. Sound familiar? Argus, which if Filch’s first name means watchful. That fits perfectly doesn’t it? Bellatrix means great female warrior, war, and a woman in power. What better for the Dark Lords first hand lady? Harry means power, a great name for the chosen one. My favourite story is of Madam Trelawney. There was an actual prophet that shares her last name in myths and stories who was cursed so that no one would believe any of her prophecies, although they were true. This was very true of Madam, who was believed to be insane by all but was very insightful and correct in her divination. Good ol’ J.K. Rowling does a very good job at things like this, these are only a very select few examples, so feel free to explore and find more Harry Potter ones on your own, you will for sure be mind blown.
In the ever popular hunger games series there are also many really cool name stories that fit the characters to a t. Go and look some up from your favourite books or tv series and put your favourite in the comments, stories like this fascinate me! So next time you begin writing a story out some subtle hints in your character name to make it a little more interesting, and satisfy the history buff in you. Happy Booking all!
Cooking and Booking 