My Love Affair with the Long Names of Fantasy Fiction: How It All Began
Long names are one of the love-hate elements that distinguish Fantasy fiction, i.e some readers adore them, while others have the opposite reaction. They have also been known to incur the mockery and derision of those outside the genre.
As readers of The Wall of Night series may know, I have paid my dues to the long names of the Fantastic tradition, which in and of itself probably tells you that I am one of those who *heart* their contribution to the genre.
In terms of where my love affair with long names began, it is hard to pinpoint exactly how and when, although I suspect it could go as far back as early childhood and my delight in fairytale characters such as Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin. From fairytales I progressed to myths and legends where I suspect names such as Aphrodite and Penthesilea from the Greek, and Geirrendour, Sleipnir and Brisingamen in the Norse also played their part.
Then, of course, we come to my early teens and The Lord of the Rings, where long names abound and are part of the mythic glamour of the storytelling, particularly for backstory characters such Luthien Tinuviel, Earendil, and Gil-galad. However, they’re also important in the main story, with character names that include Glorfindel and Galadriel, as well as the Ent, Fangorn (Treebeard), whose name, like those of all his kind, grows to match his life and experience.
I was hooked by both The Lord of the Rings’ story and the richness of a world-building that included eytmology — but I believe I first felt the full delight of long names some years later when I encountered Patricia McKillip’s The Riddlemaster of Hed. Long names abound in this tale, particularly — but not exclusively — for characters that hale from the land of Herun.
So readers encounter not only Master Ohm (Ghisteslwchlohm), but also Elrhiahodan, the Morgol (ruler) of Herun, and the wizard, If of the Unpronounceable Name. I think it was the humour of the “Unpronounceable Name” epithet that finally confirmed my place on the “lover of long names” side of the Fantasy ledger.
Not that it is an exclusive preference by any means. My main characters, Malian and Kalan, have quite respectably short names, I believe — but I did allow myself far more leeway with figures out of legend, such as the hero, Yorindesarinen, and the twins Telemanthar and Errianthar. I worked on the principle that I could have some fun with names that readers were not having to deal with all the time.
But I built some method into the fun as well, in that most of the characters with long names also hail from one particular Derai House, that of Stars. The House of Stars is famous for its enchanters and as is revealed in Daughter of Blood, the number of syllables in a name reflects the person’s power.
So it is no accident that Yorindesarinen, the most famous hero of the Derai ever, had a six syllable name. While the leader of the Star knights that make an appearance in Daughter of Blood has five syllables to his name, which is Tiraelisian — although he generally goes by Tirael to make things easier for others.
The ability to have long names came in useful in another way as well. When reader “Cheryl Graham” won the 2012 Tuckerization contest to give her name to a character in Daughter of Blood I had to give considerable thought to how I could credibly Fantasize her name — and came up with Che’Ryl-g-Raham. Already having a tradition of long names within the story helped in making the solution credible.
However, from the outset I decided that I needed to have a buck each way and respect both sides of the Fantasy divide in respect to the tradition of long names.
So very early on in Book One, The Heir of Night, I had a character in the House of Night take issue with the House of Stars’ tradition of long names:
‘ Doria, however, frowned. “Yorindesarinen is nothing but a fable put about by the House of Stars to make themselves feel important.” She sniffed. “Just like the length of their names. Ridiculous!” ‘
And with the exception of Tiraelisian and his knights, most of the new characters in Daughter of Blood have very short names. e.g. Myr, Faro, Ilai, Ise, Rook, and Nimor, to name just a few.
So there you are, you see: something for everyone. 😉