Hello and welcome!

So in my book The Chief’s Revenge there are a lot of names that at first glance are hard to pronounce. And I was daydreaming to myself I thought I should create a guide just in case someone is struggling and they find my blog.

So let’s start with the Irish names:

Éabhla

This is the Irish version of Eve, or so the internet says. It is pronounced Ave–Lah.

I modeled the characters in this book after the fae so I thought it was only fitting to have some Irish names.

Aoibheann

I came across a name Aoibheal in another book and I loved it so much I wanted a variant of it in my book and luckily I found Aoibheann.

It is pronounced Eve–En apparently so the pronounciation that I put in my book was wrong (I put it’s pronounced Ay-Veen… so I’ve been pronouncing it wrong this whole time?). I’ve also been told that a ‘b’ and ‘h’ in Gaelic makes a ‘v’ sound.

Anyway it’s a beautiful name don’t you think?

Clíodhna

I just love this name, I loved it on first sight. This name belongs to a mythological figure in Irish mythology, queen of the Banshees.. I mean, my interest is piqued. But when I originally chose this name I didn’t know that, I just thought it was a cool name.

It is pronounced KLEE–uh–na.

 

And now let’s move on to the made up names, yes I made a lot of them up:

Stéaphen

I messed around with actual names to make different variants so Stéaphen is a variant of Stephen. It is pronounced stee–ah–FAN.

Talieas

This one is pronounced TAH–lee–us.

I can’t remember what this was a variant of.

Aodan

This one is a variant of Aden. He even uses Aden in the book when he’s trying to blend in with other earthlings.

It is pronounced Ay– O– DAAN. I think out of all them this is the simplest to pronounce.

Taylea

This one I got from messing with Taylor. I didn’t want to name him that so I went with Taylea. Also I feel that Taylea is a pretty name and I thought it would be nice to give my male character a pretty name.

Tay–LEE–Ah

Roydan

Ok, I lied this one and the next one are the simplest to pronounce as you pronounce them how you see them. I just spiced up ordinary names by splicing them together. Roy and Dan.

So roy–DAAN. (A long ‘a’ sound, same goes for Aodan’s DAAN)

Frankus

Frank–Us

So easy it’s a walk in the park.

Major

Because he is from Thea and they have that whole French accent thing going Major shouldn’t be pronounced with an English accent but with a French accent. So May–Jour.

Minora

Again because I wanted that French flavour her name is pronounced me–NO–rah. Say it in a French accent and it works.

Also fun fact Major and Minora come from the major and minor keys in piano. To make minor sound feminine I added the ‘a’. And of course to make them sound different the French accent.

Why matching names? Because they’re twins.

Serenomia

This one I have no idea where it came from. Honestly I was so creative when I wrote this book. I made up 80% of the names. I’d like to talk to that Gift because current Gift doesn’t know how past Gift did it.

Anyway it’s pronounced seh–reh–NO–mee–ah

Manoria

Again pretend to be French and slightly posh.

mah–NO–ri–ah

With her name it’s meant to match her siblings’ names a little bit because I imagined their parents were eccentric like that.

Mesamomia

Another one that came from the banks of my mind.

Meh–sah–mo (as in mo money mo problems)-Ah

Shaygon

I also made this one up. I didn’t derive it from any existing names.

It is pronounced Shay–gone.

Coneala

The last name of the royal house of Eaetha.

It is pronounced Co (as in co-ed)-NE (as in Ned)-Lah. So the first ‘a’ is not pronounced, it’s just decoration.

This is weird but I got the idea for this name from cornea. Yes…

Topea

This is Aodan’s last name and it is pronounced To (as in Toe)- Peh (as in Pay)- Ah.

Zira

Aodan’s second name. His whole name is just a trap.

Zi (as in Zero)- Rah (as in the Ancient Egyptian god).

Donolos

This one is simple to me but just in case.

Doh (as in do nut)- NO– lus

Eaetha

Ee (as in Eeyore)- Ay– Tha (with a long ‘a’ sound)

Eaethor

Ee (as in Eeyore)-Ay– THOR (as in the god of thunder)

Both of the region names are meant to be derivatives of the name earth. Also the second ‘e’ in both are not pronounced.

Xemera

The name of my made up dimension! There are rarely names beginning with X so I was determined to create one. I remember unlike the others this one actually took me a while to come up with. It is pronounced: X–Meh–Rah. So yeah that’s second ‘e’ you don’t actually pronounce.

 

So yeah that’s it. I did put a pronunciation guide at the end of my book but it was short and I felt not extensive. There are probably other words I made up that I’ve left out. If you read my book and stumble upon a word let me know and I may do a part two.

Thank you for reading!