Young Writers Society

I need help thinking up names for my characters, any sort of assistance would be appreciated.

Basically all the baby girls in the world are named after flowers and all the boys are named after trees. This is going with the belief that females exist to be pretty and delicate and men exist to stand tall and take charge.

I know that there are thousands of flower and tree names, but a lot of them would sound awful as names for humans. So please, please, please can you lovely people (I'm sucking up here) be kind and brainstorm some names for me? Thank you.

Hmm... I can't think of any tree names, but I can think of a few flower names.

Daisy, Fern, Rose, Ivy, Lilly, and so on. Does that help?

Flowers: (some not as common ones) Oleander, Coriander, Dandelion, Amaryllis, Aster, Magnolia, others off this list (but there are most definitely more).

Trees: Oak, Pine, Fiddlewood (nickname Fiddle?), Joshua, others off this list, too.

I wish you the best of luck with this!

Check out these links:

http://www.babycenter.com/0_baby-names- ... 0305342.bc

http://www.thinkbabynames.com/names/1/tree

Hope I helped!

Question: Will your story be taking place in a fantasy land ( aka not earth )? If so, then you could create different flowers and trees for that world... and you could make the names a little more suitible for names. I don't mean that you should have a Bob tree, but rather come up with your own names... like a Finly tree, or a Cydlin flower.

Just my odd thoughts on the matter, anyway.

A few slightly out of the box options:

- If you're making a brand new system of naming that reflects cultural values, why not modify what's considered an "acceptable name"? I mean, fantasy worlds take on some very strange names all the time, and so long as the naming system is consistent. You can also add in different cultures and use regional names to create ethnicity. Us determining what's a good name for humans could be totally different from what this group considers good names for humans, and they probably should be.

- Consider having a small pool of names. For example, the Dobe Ju'/hoansi have only about 30 some names for men, and around 25 for women. They've created an extremely sophisticated system of naming conventions that reflects the fact people change bands a lot (they're a nomadic people in the Kalahari Desert, therefore they change bands to alleviate tension), and there is the smallest rank that comes from age in an otherwise egalitarian people. Namely, when you meet somebody with the same name as a relative, you then have the same type of relationship with that person as the relative you know. The older person gets to decide what the relationship is, if it's joking or strained. It's a really cool way a limited name pool can be used.

- Look at what fits the broader theme you're looking at (plant names that represent certain qualities)— the way you're describing it, certain types of flowers would be inappropriate. Take roses, for example. They might be pretty, but they also have thorns and are perennials, meaning they don't fit the cultural parameters you've set (they aren't delicate). And the palm tree sways at every prompting, meaning it's not exactly a strong tree that takes charge like you've described. Raspberry sounds like a good name for a guy, because raspberry bushes are territorial beasts with thorns, take over whatever garden they're planted in, and can get decently tall. In short, they encompass traits you want boys to have. (A good girl's name might be clover, because it's a very small flower and very delicate)

With the cultural backing behind your naming structure (which I absolutely adore), I'd actually consider breaking away from purely biological classifications and thinking about what the culture would consider a "flower" or a "tree" (are flowering trees for those who are neither men nor women, but both?) in terms of what traits they attribute to flowers and trees. You're not completely limited to our biology, because if they're using flowers and trees as symbolic for attributes they associate with gender, then I'd value symbolism over biology, especially if they're less scientifically advanced and lack the genetic classifications we have.

Wow! Thanks everyone, this is really helpful.