Names and such

So it occurs to me that the current draft of E.I.D.O.L.O.N. doesn't have much in the way of normal names. In fact, the only characters with boring names (Kristina and Brian) were named specifically such that their names would be ordinary. Hrrm. So, pumped full of caffeine as I am, I thought I'd expound a few of the odd names, where they came from, and how exactly they're pronounced.

Asque is pronounced "AWWS-kay" (emphasis on the first syllable), not "ask" or "as-kyu". Asque was named by the fabulous Ann during a service trip to Washington D.C. during the summer of . . . sophomore year of high school? We were attempting to come up with characters for a Paranormal Investigations style roleplay, and after sticking Shin'nen into the picture, I doodled this odd blonde-haired man and demanded a name. She gave me "Asque", and the name stuck!

Incidentally, Ann's character was Danya, who was some sort of warrior person with many werewolf connections. I'm tempted to steal her and use her, since neither Asque nor Shin'nen is very physical-battle-inclined.

Shin'nen is pronounced "shin-NEHN" (emphasis on the second syllable), like "shin" as in the part of your leg plus "nen" like the "en" in "friend". At least, this is the way it's pronounced in my brain. In fact, considering the origin of the name, that pronounciation is incorrect--"shin" should be pronounced like "sheen", as in the sheen of a well polished shoe or something, but I'm sticking with how it's pronounced in my head. xD

The reason for the accurate pronounciation is that her name was derived from Japanese. Because Shin'nen began her life in my brain as a Digimon character, I thought I'd be 'cool' and name her in Japanese based on the theme of her crest (if you don't know, don't ask). Due to her optimistic outlook and sunny disposition (which she may or may not have grown out of, hrrm), this was the crest of faith--and, therefore "shinnen" (しんねん） means, basically "faith or belief". (The kanji for this is 信念). Now, however, it makes no sense that she would be named that as caucasian hailing from Minnesota, so I switched over to the second meaning of the word, "new year" (新年）, and finally gave Shin'nen a birthday--January first. The backstory is now that her parents hadn't expected a girl and were forced to make a last minute name decision. Between the painkillers and alcohol, Shin'nen will explain, they somehow decided that naming their kid "new year" in Japanese was pretty awesome, and proceeded to mispronounce it, resulting in the pronounciation that's stuck in my head. Yep.

Samiel is pronounced "SA-mee-ehl", like Sam, the name, plus "eee", the fearful noise, plus "L" like the letter. It's . . . actually pretty easy to pronounce right. So. Anyway, Samiel's name was originally stolen from the name of Tiger's magical Northern sword from Jennifer Robinson's Tiger and Del series (which is awesome, by the way--go read it now). I felt bad about that later, so I was happy to discover that "samiel" is also the name of a scorching, sandy wind of the Sahara and Arabian deserts. His nickname is Sammy, but don't call him that unless you know he won't bite your head off. Seriously.

Rebekka is, erm, pretty obvious to pronounce. Strangely, her name (and a lot about her, for that matter) has changed randomly as I've used her. Since she seems to vanish for large periods of time, not being a very important character (YET!), I, erm, tend to forget stuff about her . . . So she started "life" as Rachel, probably not much older than Shin'nen, but possibly married. I think back then she was sorta short and a little pudgy . . . not sure . . . Then she appeared as Rebecca, and I think she may have somehow become more Hispanic than before, slightly taller in my imagination, still not very old, I think . . . And then, most recently, her name shifted to Rebekka and she currently looks something like a taller, thirties-ish black woman with hair that seems to alternate between either poofy and long/braided. It's weird. We'll see what happens to her next. oo; I'm kinda worried.