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Help[Opinions] Need name for a cunning half brother...
TW: Heavy themes involved; some Supernatural genre
Male. 26 years. Olive skin. Black hair & grey eyes, mixed race. (½ White, ¼ Black & ¼ Indian). Bisexual.
Set in Louisiana, 1854.
This character is the younger, illegitimate half brother of the main character. His mother was a mixed race Trinidadian Free Woman & his white father was master of a large cotton plantation (First Eyrie). He is able to successfully "pass" for white. Since he is both illegitimate & coloured, he cannot inherit the plantation. He (rightfully) loathes his older half brother, Richard Falconbridge as Richard is a drunken racist & rapist who abuses his slaves. Richard also lynched his lover, a freed man named Antony.
He conspires with a voodoo priestess to put a spell on his brother & the plantation overseer to steal First Eyrie away from the Falconbridge family. Motivations: Revenge & hatred. He is very good at mimicking emotions, rumoured to have almost no conscience, making him (allegedly) worse than his brother. Think Edmund from King Lear.
Uses the surname "Exeter".
Current options: Ulysses, Jonathan "Jon", Ashford, Silver, Dorian, Gabriel, Tristan, Theobald, Edric, Roy, Bruce, Luke, Ethan, Leander, Brandon
Suggestions welcome.
Market women who talk all at once
Male. 26 years. Olive skin. Black hair & grey eyes, mixed race. (½ White, ¼ Black & ¼ Indian). Bisexual.
Set in Louisiana, 1854.
This character is the younger, illegitimate half brother of the main character. His mother was a mixed race Trinidadian Free Woman & his white father was master of a large cotton plantation (First Eyrie). He is able to successfully "pass" for white. Since he is both illegitimate & coloured, he cannot inherit the plantation. He (rightfully) loathes his older half brother, Richard Falconbridge as Richard is a drunken racist & rapist who abuses his slaves. Richard also lynched his lover, a freed man named Antony.
He conspires with a voodoo priestess to put a spell on his brother & the plantation overseer to steal First Eyrie away from the Falconbridge family. Motivations: Revenge & hatred. He is very good at mimicking emotions, rumoured to have almost no conscience, making him (allegedly) worse than his brother. Think Edmund from King Lear.
Uses the surname "Exeter".
Current options: Ulysses, Jonathan "Jon", Ashford, Silver, Dorian, Gabriel, Tristan, Theobald, Edric, Roy, Bruce, Luke, Ethan, Leander, Brandon
Suggestions welcome.
Market women who talk all at once
This message was edited 8/18/2021, 12:44 PM
Archived Thread - replies disabled
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Replies
I'm thinking maybe a more unusual Biblical name for that era, like.... Joel. Joel is like the quintessential "seems charming but is actually a cold hearted manipulative jerk" name to me. Luke and Gabriel could also work.
Ethan, Roy, Brandon and Bruce seem to belong to the wrong time period and it's distracting.
Edric, Theobald and Dorian sound too European.
Mythological/classical names were pretty common then for both upper class types and slaves, so Leander and Ulysses would work, but I think Ulysses is too evocative of Grant. Leander Exeter is ok but I don't think it sounds very nice, it's choppy. That -er -er sound is meh. Maybe something like Hadrian Exeter, Juvenal Exeter, Marcus Exeter, Tarquin Exeter.
Ashford and Silver are interesting options because they bring to mind the strong tradition of using surnames/maiden names. Ashford Exeter does sound pretty evil.
Ethan, Roy, Brandon and Bruce seem to belong to the wrong time period and it's distracting.
Edric, Theobald and Dorian sound too European.
Mythological/classical names were pretty common then for both upper class types and slaves, so Leander and Ulysses would work, but I think Ulysses is too evocative of Grant. Leander Exeter is ok but I don't think it sounds very nice, it's choppy. That -er -er sound is meh. Maybe something like Hadrian Exeter, Juvenal Exeter, Marcus Exeter, Tarquin Exeter.
Ashford and Silver are interesting options because they bring to mind the strong tradition of using surnames/maiden names. Ashford Exeter does sound pretty evil.
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Jonathan Bruce Malcolm Frederick Kenneth Lance Walter Albert Alfred Arthur Harold Charles Lawrence Clarence Stanley Patrick Douglas Dennis
This message was edited 8/18/2021, 1:32 PM
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Consider looking at some established literature set around this time by Black writers to give you a good idea of names used. Maybe Kidred by Octavia E Butler.
I think your best options here are Gabriel and Luke, as they’re Biblical, and Biblical names are generally very good options for novels set in this period/context.
I think your best options here are Gabriel and Luke, as they’re Biblical, and Biblical names are generally very good options for novels set in this period/context.
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He's only ¼ African & prefers to "pass" as white for its ease.
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I’m not sure what your point is?
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You still need to be sensitive to the fact that you are writing about a character of African American heritage/descent in a time of legal slavery which is why I recommended Black authors specifically.
Please be aware of racist racial categorisation and hypodescent. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadroon I don’t have any sources right now (read: I am tired and have a lot of writing of my own to be doing) but I have read historic accounts of people who were only 1/8 Black being removed from Whites-only spaces.
This is one of my current areas of study in literature :)
Please be aware of racist racial categorisation and hypodescent. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadroon I don’t have any sources right now (read: I am tired and have a lot of writing of my own to be doing) but I have read historic accounts of people who were only 1/8 Black being removed from Whites-only spaces.
This is one of my current areas of study in literature :)
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The character himself does not identify as black. His race has nearly zero bearing on his personality. He views his white presenting skin as a leg up that makes his vendetta easy.
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So why are you writing him as having this particular identity?
Again you are writing about a person of African American heritage during slavery. Please write sensitively.
Again you are writing about a person of African American heritage during slavery. Please write sensitively.
This message was edited 8/18/2021, 1:05 PM
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