07 April 2015

Freaky Name Coincidences, Part Four

Or better title, Attack of the Sequential Vowels!

If you missed out on the first three installments of my Freaky Name Coincidences posts (which you probably did if you’ve never been here before…), check them out here! These posts started when I realized that strange things tend to happen to me when I’m trying to name my characters. If I had 26 instead of 4 I would probably do an entire A to Z Challenge on them. Maybe someday. Since my theme is all about names, I thought it was a great time to share the fourth freaky name coincidence!

This one is tricky to describe because I’m not even sure how I figured out this was a thing in the first place. When you think about your characters’ names, you don’t usually think about the individual letters and how they relate to each other. Or how those letters relate to the letters in a different character’s name. But sometimes those names may have something in common, and you don’t even realize it.

I was plotting a book with every intention of writing it for the last NaNoWriMo. I got the first sentence down on November 1st and never wrote another word, but that’s not the important part right now. What I did figure out were the two main characters’ names: Gabe and Jamie. I wish I could remember the exact moment, or what exactly triggered this thought in my mind (because that would probably make this story more interesting), but at some point I started thinking about Gabe’s full first name (see my D post!), which is Gabriel. And then I realized something. The vowels in my two main characters’ (and love interests) names lined up perfectly:

G A B R I E L
J A M I E

It was an interesting coincidence. It only worked if I used Gabe’s full name, of course, but it was still there. What exactly did this mean? I had no idea, actually. I just thought it was cool. So I decided to examine my other book ideas. I looked at the characters in Uneven Lines, Jordan and Tom. Doesn’t seem so at first. But wait! Like Gabe, Tom’s name is a diminutive one (I really like using that term now that I know it…). What happens if I spell out the whole thing?

J O R D A N
T H O M A S

The vowels strike again! I was even more freaked out, especially because in no way did I do this on purpose. But I had to check one more time, to the characters who’ve been in my head since I was 14, Drew and Amber. I’ll spare you the diminutive speech again…

A N D R E W
A M B E R

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! It happened again! Or more accurately, it’s been happening for years! Not only are all the vowels in these characters’ names the same, but they’re in the same order. And for all three sets, it requires the full first names, not the shortened ones that I actually use. Weird and cool? Yes. But I have no idea what it means. Maybe these love interests are supposed to be soulmates? Definitely with one, nope nope nope nope nope with another, and the verdict is still out on the third, but probably. So that can’t be it. Maybe it’s just one of those things that sneaks its way into a story and maybe the reader will notice, but it’s perfectly fine if they don’t. It just makes things a little more interesting.

What do you think the vowels mean? Have you ever noticed strange patterns in your characters’ names?  

29 comments:

  1. My oldest son is named Gabe aka Gabriel so I'm very fond of characters with that name!! Nice name coincidences!

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  2. OO, does that mean if we check out your stuff we can spot future love interests by matching up vowels in the names?
    Sophie
    Sophie's Thoughts & Fumbles
    FB3X
    Wittegen Press

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  3. Want to know my freaky name coincidences? So far, in all of my published stories, my main characters' names start with a B or D. In Hurricane Crimes - Beth and Donovan. In 30 Seconds, Dani and Blake. At least in my upcoming stories I changed it up a bit. :P

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  4. Sometimes similar names pop up, but sometimes that helps fit the world if it's a fictional one. But yes, I do take into consideration the individual letters. :)

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  5. I don't think any of mine have lined up that well. That was quite a coincidence.

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  6. Very interesting theme and post!

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  7. Whoa. This is interesting. That is an amazing coincidence. I don't think I've done that with love interests in my books, but I know that my kids told me that my MC's love interest couldn't have more syllables in his name than she did . . . so I've been looking at that more closely lately in books and movies and it rings pretty true.

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  8. I've never had such a freaky coincidence like that, but I'm pretty cognizant of the letters in the names I'm choosing. I don't like to pick similar names, as that might confuse my readers.

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  9. I just name my characters whatever comes to mind, but after you wrote this, I realized that recently I've had a couple of characters that are sort of stepbrother and sister named Blake and Rachel...

    John Holton
    Blogging from A to Z 2015 Cohost
    The Sound of One Hand Typing

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  10. Maybe it's something you're doing subconsciously. Haven't noticed any patterns, but I'm sure that would change if I spent time figuring stuff out.

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  11. It means you better get on writing those characters stories or they will find other ways to torment you!

    ~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
    Member of C. Lee's Muffin Commando Squad
    Story Dam
    Patricia Lynne, Indie Author

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  12. It's a subconscious pattern. Unfortunately, my subconscious pattern is to want to name all my guys Patrick (no idea why), and end all my female characters' names with "A." Bizzaro.

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  13. Curious coincidence or sub-conscious sabotage by your characters? Don't think I've noticed any similar patterns in my writing, but maybe I should look closer .....

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  14. You'll have everybody checking their names now. Seems like a strange coincidence to me I must say.

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  15. That is so awesome. All of my kids have the same initials and the number of letters (I realized this when I signed them up for insurance with the little squares.
    Caleb Allen
    Cole Austin
    Carter Aric
    Conner Adam

    They all have ten letters total by accident.

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  16. I haven't considered the names at the vowel level, but I did once realize I had a Bill, Brady and Brandon all in one story. That was my B story, I guess.

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  17. Hi! Thanks for stopping by - I love your blog and am adding you to my A-Z pals! I'm over at News From Nowhere.

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  18. That is interesting. It must mean something. There's something about B names like Lee said - in my first book I had loads that started with B, but it was probably laziness!

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  19. That's so cool! Very interesting. I wonder if there is a similar pattern in any other books.

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  20. I used to notice patterns in my students' names.

    Over from the A to Z.

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  21. lol! That is rather freaky. Once, oh well, twice, well, maybe... Third time, this is getting weird... Thanks for the smile!

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  22. I've never thought about this... but now I want to check... and by the way... NEVER give kids similar names in real life...

    Our three boys HAVE similar names (seemed cute at the time) and now I just number them when I'm mad at one of them... "#2 Sit DOWN!!" :)

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  23. How cool is that!?!?! It's never happened to me, but now I want it to and will definitely be on the look out for it.

    Scribbles From Jenn - Visiting from the A to Z Challenge

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  24. Wowzers! That is freaky! I need to check mine out.

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  25. That does sound pretty interesting. lol I wrote a short story that featured a girl with 4 sisters, and I named her boyfriend Jamie. In my crit class, one of the guys asked if I could change it to something more manly because of all the other girl names. lol Someone else liked it for the same reason. haha

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  26. Interesting post, good blog. I've never thought about vowel order in names.

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  27. I think it means you're doing something right!
    Keep doing it!

    Heather

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