I am all about this. In fact, I am probably about it too much. The hardest part of any game for me is the "name your character screen," by far. I go HAM with this stuff, and I won't rest until each name makes sense in the ways I find most pleasing.
To start, I chose the family name Eglantine for a variety of different reasons. Tracing the word back far enough will bring you to the Latin root word acus, which can translate to thorny, spiny, or needle. Needle I liked, as it fits with the family's most public and prided profession, weaving.
On top of that, Eglantine is another name for the sweet briar flower. Having grown up with a mother that is quite the botanist due to her profession, I have a great love of the scientific names for plants and the language of flowers. In fact, the entirety of Edda's family is built around that. The sweet briar (it's a wild rose) translates to both "poetry" and "a wound to heal." The second meaning I like quite a bit, as it fits with the tone of Edda's family, as well as the character herself - in many different ways, depending on how you look at it! There's like two other small reasons I chose this name but I'm already gushing.
For the name Edda, I've been using that as my go-to healer name since I first started playing MMOs. Thankfully, it fits, but I would also be lying if I said the character wasn't somewhat built around the name... The name itself has many different meanings depending on which part of Europe you trace it to. "Great-grandmother," "with clear goals," "noble," "inheritance," and "poetic" are the most common. It fits! It really fits. And yes, if you were choosy her name could basically translate to "Poetic Poetry." Intentional, believe it or not.
The thought and care I put into this crap also extends towards Edda's NPC family as well. Eamon, her father, essentially means "wealthy protector." His first-born son Esmond, means "graceful protector." Aaaaand etc for the entire family... All whilst confining myself to 'E' names. I have a problem.
Fun Fact: Because I love fleshing out kooky families, each child born into the family receives a "true name" on their 16th nameday (because fuck if the initials E.E. don't get confusing on the family tree) that acts as their confidential middle name. All of said names are - you guessed it - the names of flowers/plants, and are given to suit the nature of the person, or the parent's hopes for them. Edda's begins with an M! I wonder what it could be...
I wrote a lot. I told you I went HAM.
To start, I chose the family name Eglantine for a variety of different reasons. Tracing the word back far enough will bring you to the Latin root word acus, which can translate to thorny, spiny, or needle. Needle I liked, as it fits with the family's most public and prided profession, weaving.
On top of that, Eglantine is another name for the sweet briar flower. Having grown up with a mother that is quite the botanist due to her profession, I have a great love of the scientific names for plants and the language of flowers. In fact, the entirety of Edda's family is built around that. The sweet briar (it's a wild rose) translates to both "poetry" and "a wound to heal." The second meaning I like quite a bit, as it fits with the tone of Edda's family, as well as the character herself - in many different ways, depending on how you look at it! There's like two other small reasons I chose this name but I'm already gushing.
For the name Edda, I've been using that as my go-to healer name since I first started playing MMOs. Thankfully, it fits, but I would also be lying if I said the character wasn't somewhat built around the name... The name itself has many different meanings depending on which part of Europe you trace it to. "Great-grandmother," "with clear goals," "noble," "inheritance," and "poetic" are the most common. It fits! It really fits. And yes, if you were choosy her name could basically translate to "Poetic Poetry." Intentional, believe it or not.
The thought and care I put into this crap also extends towards Edda's NPC family as well. Eamon, her father, essentially means "wealthy protector." His first-born son Esmond, means "graceful protector." Aaaaand etc for the entire family... All whilst confining myself to 'E' names. I have a problem.
Fun Fact: Because I love fleshing out kooky families, each child born into the family receives a "true name" on their 16th nameday (because fuck if the initials E.E. don't get confusing on the family tree) that acts as their confidential middle name. All of said names are - you guessed it - the names of flowers/plants, and are given to suit the nature of the person, or the parent's hopes for them. Edda's begins with an M! I wonder what it could be...
I wrote a lot. I told you I went HAM.
