Preferred naming conventions for AUs?

[ardatli]

This question came up in a conversation elsewhere, and moonbrightnites and mander3_swish suggested that I ask over here as well - I'm very curious as to folks' opinions on this.

I'm reasonably new to reading and writing AUs, and I know there are a lot of different ways in which authors manage to bring characters from one property over into another universe and still keep them

Comments

[moonbrightnites]

I don't think it would be the case in your AU, but there are many where if the characters weren't attached to the correct name I would never be able to figure out who everyone is supposed to be.

Even when a writer is spot-on with the characterizations, I don't like seeing the names messed with. If it's a good story I'll drag the whole thing into Word and fix before reading but I'm afraid there's a lot of readers who wouldn't bother, especially if Brian or Justin's names were changed.

[ardatli]

"I don't think it would be the case in your AU"

That's very diplomatic of you. XD

[rinmonsterer]

Conundrum! On the one hand, I've been into historical romance for about a year and it always jarrs me when the sentence flow and narration style is modern (despite archaic vocabulary). Same goes with names. But in B/J fic changed character names always make me giggle! Like there's this 'historical' AU where Brian's name is Brigh McKenna and this will forever be a token of badfic for me. Sure, if the fic is good, after some pages I'll get used to the new names and ignore the dissonance (like you stop seeing page headers after you get engrossed in a novel). But it has to really hook me in the first chapter, otherwise I'll dismiss it because the names make me giggle uncontrolably and give me badfic feelings.

BTW, the thing about Justin's name is a shock to me! I mean, Justin The Martyr is an important man in Christian history, so I assumed that the name would stay alive in the European tradition like Denys/Dionysius, Augustine etc.

[ardatli]

Maybe my source was off, re: Justin? I've seen Justinian/Justinus and variations thereof, but in Regency specifically (which is what I've been looking at writing) you're far more likely to find a James, John or Jacob. It's definitely not one of the general Regency name pack for men. (Thomas, Robert, Richard, etc.)

You could get away with 'Emmett' as a surname-become-given-name, I think, and Theodore's a safe bet no matter your time frame. 'Jennifer' is a disaster, alas, at least outside of Cornwall pre-20th century.

It's funny that 'Brian' was changed, unless the fic was pre-renaissance? I'm pretty sure 'Brian' as an Irish name can be dated back to at least the 1500s.

... I swear I'm not as much of a dork as I seem. :P

[rinmonsterer]

Oh I love history dorkiness! :D I also love history, but it's an unrequitted love, so I always appreciate someone telling me as it is (was).

I definitely don't have anything to support my shock at lack of Justins in post-renaissance history. This is just a feeling. I used to think Justin was a name invented in 1990s, and then I learned about Justin Martyr last year and I was like: huh. Not to humiliate myself, but wikipedia says St. Justin is a Roman Catholic saint, so it'd be odd if the name only appeared in Eastern tradition. Maybe it was just very unpopular, but not nonexistent? Then again, maybe it disappeared from England when Roman Catholics became unpopular? I honestly don't know. Someone would have to research that :p

[ardatli]

The Academy of St. Gabriel is my usual go-to for anything pre-1600: http://www.s-gabriel.org/ - their word on Justin was "The name was clearly rare in England, as we have so few examples, but it was occasionally used." And their earliest documented reference to it is 1639.

After that, the best bet for English names would be Burke's Peerage, but it requires a fee for online searching these days.

[ariadne_mitos]

Oh that is so interesting!
I am not a writer, but if I ever wrote in a historic AU in a period that I know well, then that would be antiquity.
Obviously, I would have to change every name. An easy way/compromise would be to change the last letters of the names to fit the period.
The problem is that as a reader I cannot say that I would like the change in names of my favorite charecters.
So I guess what I am saying is, the academic in me would say go with historical accuracy (and as a matter of fact I avoid watching movies related to my discipline because of the whatever historicity), but the fangirl in me would say, naaahh!Makes any sense?

[ardatli]

"Makes any sense?"

Yes, because that's exactly my problem! XD And the Spousal Unit is keeping a list of movies I'm not allowed to watch again, because I end up throwing things at the TV. :P

[ariadne_mitos]

Oh I know that feeling! It's the "dude, seriously couldn't you hire a starving fresher with less than 500$ to tell you how stupid the scenery/costume/historical accuracy of this movie is?".
Of course there is poetic licence. And if the end result is good, then I can accept poetic licence. But if the end result sucks, then I have a problem with everything. Even because your characters are holding the wrong type of shield!

[wouldbedorothy]

I... don't know. No answer quite seems right. This may be why I don't really read historical AU's, lol!

But that's not helpful at all, is it? :-b Um...

I think I would lean towards keeping the names canon.

[moonbrightnites]

Tell me you've at least read the Abernathy Trilogy!
It isn't especially IC (Brian is barely recognizable) but I loved every page of it.

[wouldbedorothy]

I started to say yes, but I only remember reading one story, so I must not have read the entire trilogy. What I read was good, but historical romances generally don't interest me, fanfiction or otherwise.

Wait... Pride and Prejudice kind of makes a liar of me on that point, lol.

[ardatli]

P&P isn't a romance, though; at least not in the traditional sense. Austen wrote satire and social commentary. So I think your statement still holds!

[gaedhal]

Justin was a very popular name in the 19th century and continued to be popular
especially in the South and Midwest in the early 20th. For example, Justin Morgan
developed the Morgan horse in Vermont in the early 1800's, etc.

The convention of using last names (i.e., Lindsay) as first names has been more
common for men, although you see it in the Upper Classes in the U.S. in the early
20th century (see "Jordan" in "The Great Gatsby"). A lot of common British male
names become female first names in the U.S.: Leslie, Evelyn, Vivian, etc. Lindsay
could be lumped in with those.

[moonbrightnites]

Thank you, that's interesting info. :)