Hi all,
I hope everyone's doing well!
After about a week and a half of not feeling great, I actually
feel pretty energized today so would like to get some
housework done. Thus, we're back to Behind the Names
since much of that was pre-written in my old blog
entries. As before, I've added bits of info that have
become available since 2016 when I first did this.
I hope those celebrating have a meaningful and pleasant
Memorial Day!
God bless,
Jenni
Behind the Names:
Dyeland/Asteriana Characters Part II
As always, links to all the stories are available here: Story
Index.
So moving on from "The Carpenter" and "The King," we come to
"Shadowlands" where Reuel and his group (and adversaries),
ancient and modern, are introduced.
“Shadowlands” presented a challenge in that I had to come up
with a bunch of ancient sounding names. So there was no
looking at the social security lists. I mostly went off of
meanings and choosing origins that go way back. So
basically African and Middle Eastern origins.
Reuel- Actually a name for a real angel according to some.
One of the Rs in JRR Tolkien. “Friend of God” in Hebrew
which seems fitting since he's the angelic equivalent to Noah
who was also a friend of God... hence being chosen to survive.
Rafiq- “Friend” in Arabic. I wanted the two anam caras to
be linked through their names.
Odelya- “I will thank God” in Hebrew. She has a tragic
past but ultimately gives birth to the first baby of
El-Chanan. It also reminded me of Ophelia and Odette, both
tragic heroines.
Elazer- One spelling of a biblical name meaning “my God has
helped.”
Zaila- “Might, power” in Arabic. I was trying to give all
the angels God-centered names but there’s only so many times you
can use “el” before it gets confusing. So… God is mighty
and powerful. It works!
Naveed- Persian/Arabic for “good news.”
Eleora- “My God is my light” in Hebrew. Seemed fitting for
the baby born just after the dawning of a new day for her
people. The current Eleora is probably only the latest in
a string of Eleoras as I imagine her family is very proud of
their ancestor. Quite likely Eleora and Cody will
eventually have a granddaughter named Eleora.
Cody- Like I said before, Max was supposed to be named this and
I still liked the name so I was waiting around to use it.
The second Eleora’s husband seemed suited to it. It means
“helpful” and strikes me as a very American name which draws
attention to how out of his element he first was when he learned
his lady wasn’t exactly of Earth…
El-Chanan- El=God Chanan=gracious “God is gracious”
seemed appropriate for a world created because of God’s saving
grace.
Nen- “Ancient waters” in Egyptian. Made sense for a
villain whose actions led to the Flood. His original name,
Asante, means “thank you” in African. Dude fell a long
way…
Tzila- “Shadow” in Hebrew. Her original name of Ayanna
means “beautiful flower” in African. So she went from
something beautiful to something creepy. A literal shadow
of her former self.
Selam- “Peace” in African. She is the first woman to be
trafficked by Nen and Tzila. Ultimately, she ends up
helping to found Nogah and Rafiq and the Eleoras are descended
from her. Her story is an inspiration for someone with a
very similar name.
Speaking of... Belle's birth family is introduced in "Hope and
Healing."
Behnam- “good name/reputation” Behnam so much wants to be
good and, with Isra, recognized as good. It also reminded
me of Benjamin, Joseph’s beloved little brother. Joseph
was sold into slavery, Isra was sold into marriage. While
Behnam was never sold, he was more or less drafted into a life
not of his choosing and, ultimately, breaks free of it like
Joseph.
Badriya- “full moon” When we meet her, she’s the light in
Max’s and Andrew’s dark world. She sets off a naming
trend, inspiring the names of her nieces, Aiyla and Belle.
Isra- “night journey” I decided I wanted the main ladies
in Behnam’s life to all have celestial names. Isra’s
mother chose this because Isra was born in the night and then
her journey as a mother began.
Aiyla- “moonlight” She’s named for her aunt.
Omar- I wanted a more familiar name for him though now I can't
recall why. It also made sense that after losing Badriya
so tragically, his parents would name him “long lived.”
Funnily enough, apparently in Hebrew the name means “eloquent
speaker.” Omar has a speech delay but I guess we can
expect big things from him.
Aurora- She's not introduced until well after "Hope and Healing"
but I'm including her with her family. With Aurora's
birth, the Al-Mitras break away from Islamic and Afghani names,
the main reason being that Behnam and Isra allowed Aiyla and
Omar to name their baby sister. (I assume they held veto
power lest the baby be named after a Doc McStuffins character or
whichever cartoon was popular at the time.) When her baby
sister was born, Aiyla was big into the Disney princess movies
and so chose Aurora after Sleeping Beauty. Behnam and Isra
happily went along since the name, meaning "dawn," still fits in
with the sky theme.
Salma- Isra's younger sister. She's believed to be dead
for a while but is found to be alive in "Chrysalis." Like
Selam, she is also a survivor of human trafficking and her name
bears a similar meaning: peaceful/sweetheart.
Al-Mitra- I chose this last name for them because mitra means
“friend" which is very fitting for the family.
Since the Al-Mitras are now part of the Chandler-Wells clan, I'm
gonna go ahead and list them now.
Vincent Wells- Obviously, I didn't choose this name. This
was the character's name in Beauty and the Beast.
But for anyone who doesn't know, Vincent was found abandoned
behind St. Vincent's Hospital in New York. His name means
"conquering" which makes sense given he's a very strong and
powerful character who has taken out his fair share of
baddies... though he's retired from that by the time he appears
in the Asteriana stories. I think the name is also fitting
because he's conquered a lot of personal challenges between
being abandoned (though not really), having a mysterious
condition that makes him look different, and having struggles
with mental illness. That's all canon to the show.
The Asteriana stories also have him overcoming the loss of an
unborn child and the temporary loss of his adopted child,
JenniAnn/Psyche. Vincent's been through a lot but, in his
old age, is pretty well at peace and a source of strength for
his community and his family.
Catherine Chandler-Wells- Again, I did not choose this name...
although I suppose I chose her hyphenating her last name since
Vincent and Catherine were unmarried in the show. Anyway,
Catherine means "pure, innocent." To be honest, I don't
have a lot to say about that. Purity and innocence are
complicated concepts that tend to get abused. But she's a
good person with pure intentions who fights for the innocent so
it works.
Jacob- This name is shared by Vincent's adoptive father and his
and Catherine's adopted son. The show named the former, I
sort of chose the latter but also not really. In the
show's not exactly adored third season, Catherine and Vincent
have a son named Jacob. That Jacob was their biological
son. But I didn't use the name for their biological
son. The actual name meaning, "supplanter," doesn't really
have much to do with the characters. Rather, the name
works because Jacob is the patriarch of the Twelve Tribes.
Jacob the elder was the original patriarch of the Tunnels.
In the future, after Vincent's death, Jacob the younger will
also be the patriarch. So, functionally, both the show and
myself are using the name to mean "patriarch."
Jamey- Catherine's and Vincent's biological son who died in the
womb. His name also means "supplanter" which is why I
chose it... so he tied in with the original Jacob 2.0 from the
show. I honestly can't remember what prompted this but, at
some point, I kind of regretted that I'd completely ignored
Season 3 of BatB. I think it was maybe because, as much as
I hated that it had Catherine die and hinted at Vincent moving
on with someone else, watching Vincent grieve had, when I first
saw it, helped me. So while I jettisoned the whole Season
3 plot in favor of keeping Catherine alive, I guess I wanted to
nod to it. So I did with Jamey. As in Season 3,
Catherine and Vincent did conceive a child. But because I
made this decision too late to retroactively write in a child,
the only thing to do was have them lose that baby. It was
sad but also, especially in "Shadowlands," allowed me to explore
one of my own hopes for the afterlife which is meeting the
babies my family members have lost.
JenniAnn Dwynwen Chandler/Psyche Wells- Yep... So I
totally forgot to include JenniAnn last time. I've
mentioned before that I wish I'd named her Penelope but I didn't
so instead we just get a mash-up of two of my names: Jennifer
and Ann. Jenni/Jennifer is a Celtic/English name meaning
"fair spirit, white wave." To be honest, even for myself I
have a hard time finding a lot of meaning in that. Ann
means "graceful" which... not me but JenniAnn does dance so
she's probably more graceful than yours truly. Dwynwen is
a Welsh saint and the patron of lovers. It also means
"white or fair" which, to me, suggests JenniAnn's parents sort
of gave her the same name twice which I find funny. But
really I chose it because of the patronage and Dwynwen's story
of being torn between romantic love and a desire to remain
unmarried (in some versions). The two desires find an
interesting way of co-mingling in JenniAnn's relationship with
Andrew. As for her last name, I had once considered
JenniAnn actually being biologically related to Vincent instead
of Catherine. But having her be related to Catherine just
made more sense and so she's a Chandler. Nonetheless,
before her true identity was discovered, Vincent planned to
adopt the foundling and name her Psyche ("soul") Wells.
While JenniAnn never uses the surname of Wells, she has
continued to use Psyche in the Tunnels. I'm especially
fond of this as the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" is pretty
much threaded throughout the Asteriana stories so we have
Vincent aka the Beast naming his would-be daughter/actual
goddaughter Psyche, a figure in a much older variation of the
tale. In the myth, Psyche falls in love with the fearsome
god Cupid with their love eventually triumphing after several
trials. Just like her namesake, JenniAnn, a mortal woman,
falls in love with an ethereal being whose intervention is both
feared and desired... Andrew.
Since this whole section above had to do with Vincent's
relations, here's a quick rundown of the characters from
"Origins" who are, well, linked to Vincent's origins.
Cora Marie O'Connell Cleary- Vincent's biological mother.
I just think the name Cora is pretty. The meaning,
"maiden, from the coral of the sea," doesn't really figure
in. Marie ("bitter") ties her to Maryam and, thus, Vincent
to Joshua. While Vincent is by no means sinless, he
continuously laid down his own life for the good of his loved
ones so the comparison is apt, IMO. Also, like Maryam,
Cora loses her son (through a horrible confluence of events) but
is later reunited with him. O'Connell I just picked off of
a list. Cleary is Cora's married name and more on that in
a bit.
Lorcan Finn Cleary- Vincent's biological father, Cora's
husband. Lorcan is an Irish name meaning "fierce."
While Lor derives no joy from being physically fierce, he
definitely can be. But he's also fiercely loyal to those
he loves. Finn means "fair" and is the name of an Irish
folk hero who was very wise and protected others which
tracks. Cleary is an Irish surname which means "son of a
cleric." Lor's adoptive father, Declan, was a Protestant
minister and possibly came from a long line of preachers.
Maybe this generational tie to the spiritual explains why
Vincent was among the first to recognize Joshua for who he truly
is.
Declan Cleary- Declan means "man of prayer" which suits him very
well!
Siobhan Cleary- "God has been gracious." I think this is
fitting for a woman who wanted a child and got one in a pretty
miraculous way. Babies don't show up on doorsteps terribly
often.
Dr. Galvin McCarn- The only friend of Declan and Siobhan who
knew about Lorcan. He's the family's doctor and his
descendant, Darian, is the man who eventually finds Avi.
Galvin means "sparrow or brilliantly white." Honestly, I
just liked the sound of the name. And sometimes it's just
as simple as that!
On that note, I'm gonna wrap this up until Part III... whenever
that is.
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(Photo Credits: The photograph used on this page is from Touched
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and Moon Water Productions. It is not being used to seek
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