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 1^st 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?