Monday, March 10, 2014

The continuing saga of choosing those names


Choosing just the right name, whether it be for a real child or a ‘book child’, can certainly be a torturous journey. A couple of weeks ago, Marion Ueckermann posted her blog ‘What’s in a Name?’ here where she shared the journey of choosing her new grandson Liam’s name and also that of her novelette, Helsinki Sunrise. I was so interested to read her blog, as our daughter was then days away from having her second child and still struggling with choosing a name. Now it is all over and she and her husband are the proud parents of a new baby girl, but watching their journey reminded me of my own struggles in choosing the titles of some of my books.

Maxine and her proud Nanna!
Because our son-in-law Kofi is from Ghana, there are added complications when choosing a baby’s name. Often, Ghanaians are named after the day of the week on which they were born—and these differ according to whether the baby is a boy or a girl. ‘Kofi’ means ‘Friday’, the day our grandson was also born. However, to avoid confusion, Kofi and Tina opted to call their son Zain Kofi. Already they have various friends called Kofi as well, except one is called ‘Kofi Plumber’ and another ‘Kofi Junior’ and so on! So when it came to their daughter, they chose not to use the Twi word for Tuesday. Instead, along with the names Maxine Marie, they decided to include Kofi’s mother’s surname—which is different from Kofi’s because, in Ghana, you can choose a different surname for your children!

Phew—so you thought choosing book titles was complicated?! Compared with that, naming my books was nothing really. My first novel had to be Heléna, the name of the Czech migrant we had known years earlier who inspired the book. I then decided I would use another girl’s name ending in ‘a’ for my next novel and chose Laura, soon to be followed by yet another, Jenna. But then it was decided my first novel needed to be divided into two, which put paid to my little plan! Eventually, I called this second half of my first novel All the Days of My Life, from Psalm 23:6, since I felt this verse encapsulated the attitude of my lovely heroine Heléna.

Having messed up my run of names ending in ‘a’, I decided to abandon that idea entirely. I called my fifth novel Heléna’s Legacy and my sixth The Inheritance—despite the fact that there are umpteen books out there already entitled The Inheritance! I still felt it summed up key issues in the book—the ungodly inheritance of anger and bitterness passed down to the main male character from his family, along with his material inheritance, with all this contrasting to our heavenly inheritance. With my memoir Soul Friend, I was well aware another book with that title already existed but went ahead anyway. The ancient Celtic term ‘soul friend’ describes my lovely spiritual mentor Joy to a tee and seems to have captured the hearts and minds of many of my readers, for which I am very grateful.

How have you fared in your own book titling journey? Maybe your publisher has the final say—and I did listen to my publisher with my last two at least—but I’m glad I had the final choice. They are my babies, after all! 
Jo-Anne Berthelsen lives in Sydney but grew up in Brisbane. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher, editor and secretary, as well as in local church ministry. Jo-Anne is passionate about touching hearts and lives through both the written and spoken word. She is the author of six published novels and one non-fiction work, Soul Friend: the story of a shared spiritual journey. Jo-Anne is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. For more information, please visit www.jo-anneberthelsen.com or www.soulfriend.com.au.

14 comments:

  1. Hi Jo-Anne,
    It's such great news, to hear about your new granddaughter, Maxine. She looks adorable. It sounds as if they had to put a lot of thought into choosing a name.
    I agree with you about the books. Sometimes, a name just seems to fit, whether or not it's been used by others, and it sounds as if that was the case with your titles.
    I've had fun choosing baby names and book titles alike, but of the two, I'd say book titles are the hardest :)

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  2. Thanks, Paula. It's interesting, isn't it, that choosing book titles can be harder than choosing children's names? Perhaps it's that there are more issues to think about with a book eg Will the title sell the book? Does it truly represent what the book is about? Are there others out there already it will be confused with? Not sure!

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  3. Oh my word, Jo-Anne, that sounds so complicated. Think I'll stick to the Coke cans :)

    Congratulations on your beautiful new granddaughter.

    I've never found it difficult to name my works ... guess one day if I ever get the rest of my stories published, I'll see whether the publisher finds the names acceptable or not.

    I've just had to change the current novelette I'm working on because I know it won't fit with what the publisher wants. Although, again, I loved the name, it was easier second time around to let it go and move on :)

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    1. Marion, I told our daughter Tina about how your grandson was named, after seeing 'Liam' on a Coke can and she thought that was hilarious! I really love that name though, so it doesn't matter where it came from! And yes, I agree it's easier to let names go--and even big chunks of our manuscripts--second time around, for sure.

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  4. Hi Jo-Anne, Congratulations on the safe arrival of Maxine! She's beautiful :)

    My publisher asks for a list of suggested titles for my books and they make the final decision. Titles are a marketing tool and I'm learning their preferences. Her Tycoon Hero (my fourth book) was one of my suggested titles.

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    1. That would be so interesting, Narelle, to have to give a list of suggested titles for each of your books. For some of mine, I've just had the one idea from the very beginning and that was 'it' and with others, I could probably have given a couple of ideas, but having to suggest a few would be a bit of a stretch. I agree that titles are an important marketing tool though so there should be a lot of thought put into them. For example, while I had my reasons for choosing the title of my second novel 'All the Days of My Life', I would never choose such a title again as, for starters, I found it too long, and also people thought it was about my own life ie some sort of autobiography, even though I would tell them clearly it was a novel! So there you go!

      Thanks for your congratulations too, Narelle, on our little granddaughter. And yes, we think she's beautiful!

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  5. Loved reading this because we used to live in West Africa and, along with many others, my husband went by Kofi and I was Ablavi. Those names have always held a special spot in our lives. Congrats on the sweet, sweet baby!

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    1. Wow, that's so interesting you have lived in West Africa, Lisa, and that your husband was called Kofi! Our Kofi has lived in Australia for about ten years now but around four years ago now, he went home for a visit and then our daughter joined him in his home town of Sunyani in Ghana and they were married there. I think Abina is the name given to girls born on a Tuesday, as Maxine was, which I think is really pretty. Anyway, they opted for Maxine Marie Antwi (Kofi's mother's last name) Konadu.

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  6. Great post Jo-Anne. Having just struggled to name our new daughter - and ending up with one that wasn't even on or shortlist - I can sympathize!!

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    1. Oh Kara, now you've made me very curious to know what name you ended up with! I think you might have mentioned it on a post but I have forgotten. I will ask your in-laws next time I see them! I hope you and your little girl are both doing well and that your very energetic little boy is getting on well with her too. God bless!

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  7. How funny and charming. Lovely post. And congrats on the new grandbaby.

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  8. Thanks, Christine, both for your comment about my post and for the congrats! Each culture has its funny way with names, don't you think? Even our own!

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  9. Well, no grandchildren to speak of Jo, but my nephew was named Athrun from a character in a ScFi novel! Your new little darling looks so sweet.

    Loved your history of book-naming. Yes, it does take time to chew over until you settle.

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  10. Yes, our new little granddaughter sure is a bit cute! And Athrun is a really interesting name, in my opinion. Rita, I think you came up with excellent titles for your two published novels, so well done to you!

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