What's in a name? by Brendan Conboy

Image by Artur Pawlak from Pixabay

Last month I asked the question, ‘Who remembers your characters?’ Thank you for all of your lovely comments, I am so glad that you found my muse helpful.

In a similar vein, I would like to ask another question. How much thought do you give to the names of characters, places, objects, inventions, etc? In my ‘Mimics’ series, many of the characters and creatures are given Greek or Hebrew names. One of my Hebrew character names is ‘Abaddon.’ I’ll leave you to figure out what that means.

 

Having recently moved house, I was keen to find out the meaning of where I live. The village is Kings Stanley. The ancient word for stoney or rocky ground is ‘stan’ and ‘leah’ means clearing. In the 13^th century, the local manor was a demesne of Henry III, hence the ‘Kings’ designation.

My street name is ‘Penn Lane,’ originally spelt as ‘PEN.’ This seems rather fitting for an author don’t you think? The word ‘Lane’ is from the Germanic ‘Lanu’ or ‘Lano,’ meaning avenue or passageway – the way to somewhere.

My new house is called ‘Layenka’ which seems to have several meanings. It is a river in western France, a jolly Spanish song and dance, or according to Google, it is Zulu for ‘he said.’ I read that as ‘God said.’

So, to sum all of this up -  

·       I am in the place of the King, standing on the Rock, with a clear vision (Kings Stanley).

·       I am in the Way of the pen – a ready writer.

·       I am in a place to listen to what HE says.

Perhaps you could research the meanings of your name and where you live, then write a short, allegorical story. My name, Brendan, means ‘king’ and my surname means ‘son of yellow dog.’

I’m off to write mine now – I would love to hear yours.

 

Brendan Conboy aka Half Man Half Poet is the author of 16 published books including two fascinating autobiographies, The Golden Thread and I'm Still VALUED.  In 1986, Brendan invited Jesus into his life and God blessed him with the gift of rhyming words.  He used that gift as a Christian Rap artist for 25 years and has written 6 poetry books including the entire Book of Psalms in Rhyme.  He has 3 published novels - Issues, Invasion of the Mimics and Legacy of the Mimics.  He is the creator of Book Blest Christian book festival.  Brendan is available for speaking events, poetry performances and workshops.  Visit Brendan's website HERE.