I have yet to write any fiction. Something inside of me can dream up all kinds of fantastical scenes and characters, but no plot! As soon as I try to write fictional story I find myself seeing right away how it relates to my experiences and then I try to either a) be true to the original events, or b) turn the fictional elements into symbols for a hidden reality. In the process I get all caught up in the system of symbols or parable or fable. The supposed story never moves forward because I’m ambivalent about turning my life events into fictional tales. Plus, I’m just not good at crafting story.
Because I have images in my mind of fictional characters that feel real to me like the truth of dreams, yet I can’t flesh them out through written story, these characters are nearly never shared with anyone. I just hold them in my head and heart and once-in-a-while they appear in my dreams.
Yet, I love them so much that I want to share their names! Now I realize many other people can, have, and will use these names in their own works. To my knowledge, no-one can copyright simply a name. (I think that if you want to copyright a brand name, and it uses a common name or word, you have to include other details in the copyrighted brand, such as the logo associated with it or the precise phrase. Names in common usage are (I believe) eternally free! If you, dear reader, know differently, feel free to leave a link in the comments.
This is a partial list of the beautiful or funny names of my dream characters (they often appear in pairs):
- Lucy and Leo
- Emma and Ella
- Melchior and Leonardo
- Lucy and Theo
- Meredeth Merriweather
- Amelia and Olivia
- Mara and Baba Yaga
- Kokoro
- Isabel
- Max
- Alice and Aurora
Like I said, these are not names I invented. Several of them are inspired by literature or real people I’ve known. There are more, but I wanted to just start a list because somehow I want to see their names in print! Maybe I’ll tell you more about them someday!
Mauve List 