What if I gave an unfamiliar name to my character without explaining the meaning

[Deleted member 22388]

Say I already came up with a random name
This random female name; Lai Fefe

So you would be wondering what is Lai and what is Fefe.
But I decided to ignore your question and continue the story meaning I didn't even gave a meaning

"She's Lai Fefe a beautiful flower that blinds many people's eye..." "now onto the next character..."(like that)

So, is this okay? Or would I receive a punch from someone onto my doorbell.(Since it's possible that I will do this on purpose)

(Note;She is a main character)

 

[NotaNuffian]

Say I already came up with a random name
This random female name; Lai Fefe

So you would be wondering what is Lai and what is Fefe.
But I decided to ignore your question and continue the story meaning I didn't even gave a meaning

"She's Lai Fefe a beautiful flower that blinds many people's eye..." "now onto the next character..."(like that)

So, is this okay? Or would I receive a punch from someone onto my doorbell.(Since it's possible that I will do this on purpose)

(Note;She is a main character)

To be honest, it is your book, she is your character and it is totally up to you if you want to entertain the little bugger or not. If you are worried about fan rage, don't, it is not like you are writing a billion dollar work as of now and one fan has the ability to topple your work. Also, if you give leeways to one, who is to say if the fans start becoming greedy children who keep pestering you and even make you alter your work to their liking, which ends up piss off the other group of fans who takes it out on you. So like the words of Ishirō Serizawa, "Let them fight."

 

[Lynet]

Well it is fine I would say. The wording you used for "She's Lai Fefe" sounds weird if you are writing in the story unless it was in a conversation.

Remember the number one rule everyone should have. Never ever follow a fan suggestions unless it is reader interactive story. As they or you can without intentionally destroy your own story. Go with your flow as it is your story.

I agree with what @NotaNuffian said.

As for your question of giving unfamiliar name. It is up to you as a author. Not many people would wonder what the meaning is unless those are fans who adore your works or understand that language. There may be those who asks in the comments and you may choose to answer it. As many would answer. It is your story nobody elses as YOU are the one who created it in the first place.

 

[Deleted member 22388]

To be honest, it is your book, she is your character and it is totally up to you if you want to entertain the little bugger or not. If you are worried about fan rage, don't, it is not like you are writing a billion dollar work as of now and one fan has the ability to topple your work. Also, if you give leeways to one, who is to say if the fans start becoming greedy children who keep pestering you and even make you alter your work to their liking, which ends up piss off the other group of fans who takes it out on you. So like the words of Ishirō Serizawa, "Let them fight."

What a bad*ss quote

Well it is fine I would say. The wording you used for "She's Lai Fefe" sounds weird if you are writing in the story unless it was in a conversation.

Remember the number one rule everyone should have. Never ever follow a fan suggestions unless it is reader interactive story. As they or you can without intentionally destroy your own story. Go with your flow as it is your story.

I agree with what @NotaNuffian said.

As for your question of giving unfamiliar name. It is up to you as a author. Not many people would wonder what the meaning is unless those are fans who adore your works or understand that language. There may be those who asks in the comments and you may choose to answer it. As many would answer. It is your story nobody elses as YOU are the one who created it in the first place.

Humu, pointing that weird thing out helps me or... it is my normal way to converse.

'Go with the flow' huh.. I understand.
Sniff* sniff* ugu I feel like flying.. yey~~~
(You open my mind)

"Forgot to say something.."
"-Thaikyu you both my strange(r) brotha"

 

[Allchemic]

Don't worry, because most people don't care about the meaning of the name.

However, from a personal point of view, I would not read a book where the main character's name is Lai Fefe, because it sounds odd, strange and not like a name at all. Obviously, that stems for everything I have read up to now and the fact that I never came into contact with a similar name, so it stands off in an annoying way. That could very well be a double-edged sword.

For one - it gives the character something unique, because it is a very unfamiliar name that is hardly (if ever) used.

However, for some people, it can easily break the immersion and lead to a bad reading experience.

But this is just my personal opinion, so... yeah, don't give it too much credit.

 

[MarSprite]

I don't think the names of the characters in your book will be the defining factor for most readers interest.
Every name was new once. If you want to give your character a weird name, do it.

 

[BenJepheneT]

it's totally fine, though i wouldn't feel anything besides pity for the character. even in my native tongue the name sounds like some chinese kid running to his parents' bedroom 3am dead in the night to inform that he did a Lai Fefe on the sheets

 

[AliceShiki]

I wouldn't even bat an eye at it. I'd just read along without minding it too much~

I mean, did you ever wonder what Naz'gul meant? I certainly didn't.

 

[BenJepheneT]

I wouldn't even bat an eye at it. I'd just read along without minding it too much~

I mean, did you ever wonder what Naz'gul meant? I certainly didn't.

ayyy, Aishah, you're the نزغل to my الصحراء الانجليزية

 

[AliceShiki]

ayyy, Aishah, you're the نزغل to my الصحراء الانجليزية

Nope, I'm not gonna search for a translator of Elvish to find out what this means~

... I'm pretty sure it's just a lewd joke though~

 

[RaidenInfinity]

Cov Fefe

 

[BenJepheneT]

Nope, I'm not gonna search for a translator of Elvish to find out what this means~

... I'm pretty sure it's just a lewd joke though~

It's Arabian and no, it ain't dirty. Unless you're speaking in Islamic terms then yes, I will be stoned like the haram homo I am

 

[AliceShiki]

It's Arabian and no, it ain't dirty. Unless you're speaking in Islamic terms then yes, I will be stoned like the haram homo I am

Oh!

Well, I hope the stones aren't drugs then! >.<

 

[BenJepheneT]

Oh!

Well, I hope the stones aren't drugs then! >.<

No. Stones. As in actual stones.

They stone gay people in the middle East.

Stone.

 

[Amarathia]

^ Yeah, that's so sad :'(
And I honestly think the name Lai Fefe sounds meh (in an 'oh is this gonna be a comedy spoof' way), but I'd still try reading the story if it was a genre I like. Definitely the 'Fefe' part that does it. The Fefe accompanied by 'beautiful flower' makes me cringe imagining cutesy shoujo romance manga

 

[ThrillingHuman]

I just randomly compile characters and get names. Been working fine for me

 

[hory-portier]

If someone asked me about the meaning of my real name I would be confused.
Japanese names always have some meaning, meanwhile in Slavic names sometimes have a meaning and at other times they don't. Especially last names. I have no idea what my last name was supposed to mean. Maybe someone centuries ago would know and maybe it got changed in the meantime. (I heard a theory that the last letter was added after Napoleonic wars)

Meanwhile, in the novel I write some of my names are words that I Google translate into Finish and then change them a bit to sound more like a fantasy name. They sound right and it would feel unnatural for me if anyone started asking about the meaning of the names there. I will just set it as a cultural thing in the place my story is set in that people don't think about the meaning of their names in their everyday life.

It would be different thing if all the other characters had the meaning of their names explained. You would need a reason for not explaining this one then.

 

[Mejiro]

Names may often technically have had a meaning at some point, but it's often lost through the ages. Like some British surnames are professions (Cooper, Bower, Smith), some are places, but some are things that probably made sense way back in the day, but not any more. Or were physical attributes of some ancestor (Redmane, Tall), but that may not apply to modern day descendants. And then first names can be pretty much anything. So I'm not personally fond of the name from a 'mouthfeel' PoV (the 'Fefe' raises the question if it's Fe-fe' or 'Fef') but that's going to depend on local language and preference, but names doesn't really have to mean anything, or that meaning to be known.

 

[ChubbyLiv]

If I read it as FiFi, it actually sounds cute.

 

[Ai-chan]

There is no need to explain the name. You're not writing classical Chinese literature. For the majority of English speaking world, a name is just a name their parents grabbed from a list of baby names or taken from their grand's names. Nobody really cares.

In Ai-chan's case, when Ai-chan is tired of normal names, Ai-chan codes a nice little programme that will output a random name based on a randomized combination of letters, consonants, vowels or words under a specific rule in just one click. Therefore, Ai-chan can theoretically get 1 million different combinations or unique permutations of names. Of course, none of these names have any meaning, but it allows unique names such as Nenuriri, Hefumefu, Argeal and Harsanean. Guess which of them are male names and which one are female names.