What's in a name? · 2:10am Sep 2nd, 2021
So I think enough time has passed since Chapter Five has released for me to elaborate on names and naming choices for some of the original characters, as well as the thought processes surrounding them.
When I was first conceiving this story, a very long time ago, I knew that it would involve a certain quartet of Royal Guards crossing paths with a changeling, and I planted seeds for it accordingly, first in Reflections - Quiververse Edition, and later in The Last of the Elements. I decided on the name 'Gossamer' for the changeling, but I didn't have anything pinned down for them beyond that, partly because these were still early days and partly because I was content to refrain from making firm plans for them until canon gave me more to work with. Gossamer, of course, eventually evolved into Clypeus, thanks influence from the show and from the comics. His name comes from the word for mouthparts found in various insects, in keeping with the theme naming seen in the show.
And speaking of the comics, Clypeus is meant to be a changeling who appeared in them. Feel free to guess which one, but expect more clues in Chapter Six.
For the two zebra guards accompanying Princess Horaia, I went online looking for Swahili names for girls, and picked the two that I thought would work best for their characters. 'Aziza' means powerful or beloved, and I think both adequately describe the colonel, whereas 'Raziya' means agreeable. Horaia's aide, meanwhile, will likely not be named in-story, or even get any dialogue, but his name is 'Chane', which means reliable.
And as a small bonus, I came across the name of one of Zecora's childhood friends from the comics - Marini, which means pretty or healthy.
Finally, we come to the villain of the piece, Colonel Stormfront. With him, I wanted a name that both made it clear in hindsight that he was a hateful villain, but not something that was immediately obvious. I went looking around, and I found the word 'stormfront', which evoked both weather patterns and also had links to white supremacy and Nazi movements. That it was connected to a Nazi villain in the comic book series and Amazon program The Boys is a complete coincidence, but a happy one.
Anyway, hope you folks enjoyed this bit of behind the scenes stuff, and thank you for indulging me.
Aha, nice to know about the origins of these names. Particularly about Clypeus and the two zebras.
I'd suspected the origins of Stormfront's name, mainly in connection to the white-supremacist forum rather than The Boys, but I did wonder.
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Yeah. I know that my readers are smart, but I wanted a name that wasn't too on-the-nose for him. Trouble is, you can only be so subtle, and I'm not good at subtle.