Naming advice?

[fierceawakening]

So, having finished and posted Chapter 6 of Nova Black the other day, I've been thinking.

I really don't like that this guy doesn't have a name yet. Originally I thought I could play with that lack to make him mysterious and epic, but that isn't panning out and now it's just... awkward. I'd go back and edit in a name for him, except that I

Comments

[eerian_sadow]

well, if you wanted to snag Quake from me, feel free. i feel quite certain that no one would even think that you'd snagged the name from me. it just seems like a general, big mech name to me; like James or Michael for a human male.

and i'm not being shy about not commenting; i just haven't had any glowing praise to issue. still love Nova, though. ^_^

[fierceawakening]

and i'm not being shy about not commenting; i just haven't had any glowing praise to issue. still love Nova, though.

Does that mean "It's awesome but I haven't said so," or "I have nothing to say," or "your awesome is insufficient?"

*cannot quite parse*

And yeah, Quake is a nice name. I'll keep that one in mind. Thanks.

[eerian_sadow]

it totally means "it's awesome but i haven't said so" though i think i might have rambled on at length in chapter 1. i've really enjoyed all your characters and settings so far, though. they're all very real, with issues and fears and they're just people trying to get by. it's an excellent story.

and you're welcome. i have trouble naming my own characters, so i'm always happy to help when i can.

[fierceawakening]

Thank you so much. That's totally what I was going for. I wanted to talk about the Cybertronians who weren't Optimus or Megatron or the most elite and skilled of their followers, and about how the war would affect them and what they'd be like.

[ultharkitty]

I second Quake, because it reminds me of Mek-Quake from the ABC Warriors (Chrysoprase will always make me think of Discworld mafia trolls, although it's a decent name). Also, I don't see the problem in two characters having the same name in this context.

*goes back to being mired in fiction writing and ignoring the Internets*

[ext_101344]

After a quick flip through my thesaurus, I have the following suggestions, which may or may not already be taken:

Macros

Grandiossus (from "grandiose", which I think captures both "opportunist" and "big, bulky" - maybe tweak the variation on the original word to get a name you're happy with).

Also, possibly a variation on "Elephantine"?

[amblinwiseass]

How about something like 'Monolith'? It seems to fit him, and while I'm quite sure it's been used by writers in the past, I figure probably not very often; there might be a canon character with the name, but if so I've never heard of 'em. Also, if you wanted to do a 2001 crossover, it'd give you a great opening. :)

[amblinwiseass]

(And, hell, so what if there is a canon character, or another fic character, called Monolith? It's not like I'm the only person on the planet named Aaron, after all, and there's a whole lot of Aarons more famous than me.)

[fierceawakening]

You know, that's very well said. I'd been carefully checking to make sure all my names weren't taken already, but you're right. It's probably more realistic anyway that there be a few common names that are the equivalent of "Aaron" or "Dave" or the like.

[fierceawakening]

also, thank you very much for the laugh. Now I'm sitting here thinking that "Colossus" is probably the Decepticon equivalent of a name like "Dave," and laughing uproariously.

[amblinwiseass]

"Ferris" maybe? It means iron, which is a black metal, and it might be fun to play with the contrast between this big massive imposing fellow and (what has become) a twee little name like 'Ferris'. Also, the name's most obvious connotation/reference for modern audiences is going to be "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", and if there's any word which could be used to describe the Ferris in that movie, 'opportunist' would have to be it. (I don't know how well the other connotations of that character fit yours, so maybe that's not such a good option after all.)