What is in a name – Medieval Characters

Names have more power than we know.

When I started writing my medieval fantasy series, I used a medieval name generator. But as my writing evolved, I became intrigued with the meaning of names. I knew what kind of characters I wanted to create and so I delved into the study of names. When I was working on the Audible brief, the narrator asked me for a name list with pronunciations for The Last of the Silver Wings and The Fire Within the Storm. From there, I started creating name lists, which I implemented for books 3 and 4. You will find those at the back of the books and on my website.

At the moment, I am writing a novella about the Masked Man.It is a slice of history for this turned Dragon Whisperer. Now I don’t mention his name a lot in my medieval fantasy series. He is certainly a man of mystery. But he has a traditional female name. The Warlord who owned him deliberately used the name to humiliate the Whisperer. A mind game, which was perhaps the seed that resulted in our medieval villain enacting his own bit of psychological warfare through the book series. He was born in captivity and his captor was on a mission to darken this Copper Fire Dragon Whisperer’s heart and make him train the dragons for weaponization.

Now here is a bit of interesting psychology research. I am adding this quote word for word from an article in https://theweek.com/

Boys with names traditionally given to girls are more likely to misbehave than their counterparts with masculine names, research suggests… When in elementary school, boys named Ashley and Shannon, for instance, behave just like their more masculine-named classmates named Brian and other boyish names. “Once these kids hit sixth grade, all of a sudden the rates of disciplinary problems skyrocket [for those boys with girlish names], and it was much more the case if there happened to be a girl in the grade with that same name,” Figlio [said]. [LiveScience]

Is my Masked Man misbehaving because of his name? Or is the trauma he faced at being stolen at birth more than enough to turn him? I will let you decide….

This is what his name means.

Amat-ul
Also known as The Masked Man
A fallen Copper Dragon Whisperer.
Arabic origin meaning Slave of or Servant of: The name is typically given to females.
Pronounced: A-mat-ool

The Masked Man has some serious grudges, but throughout this Medieval Fantasy series there is this thread of honour and compassion that he shows when interacting with others. They say that we are all the heroes of our own story and many traditional villains, both from medieval time and modern history, have a bizarre thread of logic that runs through their minds. They often believe that they are acting for the greater good. Would the world be better off without dragons?

This is a question that many nations have pondered when they come across a nation with different belief systems to them. During the Gallic Wars, 58 to 50 BC, Caesar reported that he burnt every village and building that he could find in the territory of the Eburones. It is alleged that Caesar said that he wanted to annihilate the Eburones as well as their name. The Eburones were a Gallic-Germanic tribe dwelling in the northeast of Gaul. I added an image of the Ambiorix, a King and chieftain of the Belgae fought in 54 BC in an uprising against the Roman forces

What does my name mean?

Kim

Anglo-Saxon Baby Names Meaning:
In Anglo-Saxon Baby Names, the meaning of the name Kim is: Noble or brave.

English Baby Names Meaning:
In English Baby Names the meaning of the name Kim is: Bold family. Bold kin. Famous Bearer: The hero of Rudyard Kipling’s novel ‘Kim’.

Welsh Baby Names Meaning:
In Welsh Baby Names, the meaning of the name Kim is Chief of war. Leader.

American Baby Names Meaning:
In American Baby Names, the meaning of the name Kim is: Noble or brave.

But then, somewhere tucked into the book, is Dorothea.
Dorothy was my birth name, which means God’s gift.

Coupled together, it’s no wonder I write Christian fantasy with a fair amount of fighting in it.
Well now, I have given my fans who, like me, love research, soothing to dash off to google with.

If you know what your name means, let me know. I would love to hear from you.