colonial names

[skippercollecto]

For those of stuck on what to call new characters or places or ships, maybe I can give you some suggestions.
I am a member of a BG group at
https://groups.yahoo.com/group/felgercarb/
There is some fan fiction there, but I've also added long lists to the files (which you'll find in the left column on the groups' home page). I've collected "Colonial-sounding" names for years, and have made long lists of them--guys' and girls' names, cities, ships, even games, etc.
Almost everything I've mentioned is in the public domain (only a few came from my own imagination), so there are no copyright infringement issues. I've mentioned some possible "places" that they might be used. None of what I've come up with is part of the original Battlestar series canon; to me, it just sounds like it "could have been."
Feel free to borrow from the lists anytime.
Mary

[gmd3d]

This is a great list . I am putting some names to good use

[Spike The Cylon]

i joined the group.

[PredatorPt]

Is the group still active? Following the link, all I got is a message saying that it doesn't exist :\

I was looking forward to seeing (and using and adding to) those names

[Senmut]

It's A Plot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PredatorPt]

Tried every kind of search I could think of...and still no group...

[skippercollecto]

I bought a stack of old paperbacks at an antique show. One of them was entitled "The Brass Brigade," by Frank Peace, copyright 1956. It's about the war between the Apaches and the US Army in the 1880s (don't know if it's a true story, but it's probably extremely politically incorrect). The main character's name is Captain Flintridge Starbuck.
Anybody who wants the book (I got it for free) just email me, and I'll tell you where to send a self-addressed stamped envelope.
Mary

[jewels]

Mary,
Do you still have your name files for fan fiction? Would you want to upload those here sometime since Yahoo killed off the Felgercarb group?

Jewels

[skippercollecto]

I can retype the list at the beginning of June. I'm taking that week off of work.
Mary

[skippercollecto]

Here, at last, is the list I promised you six weeks ago. This is the boys' list. Happy writing!
Mary

Abram
Absalom
Adrian
Algernon
Aloysius
Ambrose
Anatole
Angus
Ansel
Asa
Augustus “Gus”
Balthazar
Baruch
Basil
Beauregard
Bertrand
Caleb
Caspar
Castor
Cecil
Cedric
Chauncey
Creon
Cyrano
Dominic “Dom
Dorian
Duncan
Eleazar
Eli
Elijah
Elisha
Emil
Ephraim
Enoch
Enos
Ezra
Ferdinand
Galen
Gareth
Gawain/Gavin
Gervaise
Gideon
Gilgamesh “Gil”
Gregor
Gunther
Hamish
Hamlet
Herschel
Hezekiah “Hecky”
Horace/Horatio
Ilya
Isadore
Isaiah
Ishmael
Janus
Jeb
Jasper
Joachim/Joaquin
Jonas
Jules
Karol
Laertes
Lancelot “Lance”
Leander
Lear
Lemuel
Leonid “Leo”
Levi
Lochinvar
Loki
Ludwig
Luther
Lysander
Malachi
Marcellus
Marius
Maynard
Melchior
Mercutio
Micah
Mikhael “Misha”
Nigel
Obadiah
Octavius
Omar
Paris
Percival/Parcifal “Percy”
Perseus
Philemon “Phil”
Phineas
Pollux
Pontius
Priam
Raphael “Rafe”
Ramses
Remus
Rory
Roscoe
Salvatore
Samson
Saul
Sebastian
Seth
Sigmund
Simeon
Sirach
Solomon
Sulla
Sylvan
Tamerlane
Telemachus
Theodoric
Theseus
Thor
Tiberius
Tito
Titus
Tobias
Tristan
Troilus
Tybalt
Ulysses “Uli”
Uriah/Urias
Valerian
Vernon
Virgil
Wilhelm
Winston
Xerxes
Zadoc
Zebedee
Zechariah/Zachariah

[skippercollecto]

And now for the ladies:

Adelheid “Heidi” (In the Johanna Spyri novel Heidi, the heroine's given name is Adelheid--pronounced ad-del-ide)
Althea
Andromeda
Antigone
Antonia “Toni”
Anya
Aphrodite
Arrietty
Artemis
Babette
Belle
Bernarda
Bernice
Blythe
Brigitta
Brunhilda or Brynhilde “Hildy”
Camille
Catalina “Cat”
Chantal
Chloe
Clio (who is not the same as Cleopatra)
Cressida
Dagmar
Demeter
Desdemona
Dorcas
Drusilla
Dulcinea
Enid
Eugenia “Genie”
Eulalie/Eula
Evangeline
Fiona
Frederica
Freya
Galatea
Goneril
Grizelda “Zelda”
Hadassah
Hagar
Hepzibah
Hermione
Hortense
Igraine/Ygraine
Iphegenia “Genie”
Isolde/Isolte/Ysolte
Jemima “Mimi”
Jerusha
Jocasta
Juliet
Juno
Karenina “Nina”
Kendra
Kezia
Kizzy
Lavinia
Leisl
Letitia
Lilith
Lorelei
Lorna
Ludmilla
Magdalena “Maggie” or “Lena”
Maia
Margarita “Margie”
Minerva “Minnie”
Morgan
Muriel
Nadia
Nefertiti
Ouida
Pandora
Persephone/Proserpina
Persis
Psyche
Rhea
Rhiannon
Rowena
Sabrina
Salome
Sayward “Sairdie”
Shayla
Siobhan
Sigrid
Sigurd
Talia
Talitha
Theda
Theodosia
Tobit
Twyla
Undine
Ursula
Valkyrie “Val”
Veronica "Frony"
Vida
Viola
Wilhelmina “Billie” or “Willie”
Willa
Winifred “Winnie”
Zady
Zillah
Zipporah/Zephorah

[gmd3d]

Thats a lot of work there..

[PredatorPt]

Thanks for taking the time to post all the names, skippercollecto!

[jewels]

Mary, thanks for this!
Jewels

[Compass]

Thanks, skippercollecto.

[Belloby]

You guys went through a lot to name your characters. When I named mine I just went out and bought a book on Greek mythology and took them from that.

Hope that helps any would-be writers out there!

[Eric Paddon]

I try to draw from as diverse a pool as I can, including Greece/Rome, the Bible and even the random modern name or two (which there is precedent for when you have the head of the Agro Ship being "Carmichael").

Two names I would add to the general list that I've found good use of:

Antipas (from Herod Antipas of the NT. My main male Council villain)
Lydia (also from Rome and the NT. She's becoming the female Council villain.)

And for Commander Cain's late wife I decided on Bethany, which while a place location in the Bible, works as a feminine name.

And sometimes, I like to come up with a name that represents an obscure personal in-joke of sorts in which the name doesn't sound modern or ancient but has a hidden meaning known only to myself. For the head waiter on the Rising Star, whom we see in "Long Patrol" and "Man With Nine Lives" I came up with the name of Zeibert, the in-joke being that Duke Zeibert was the proprietor of a famous Washington D.C. restaurant where the powerful and famous used to hang out.

[KamikazeAthena]

While there is a ton of ancient Egyptian references on the show, I can't think of a single Egyptian name that has been used. Someone might want to pull from there.

[Lara]

Long time ago, when I was trying to deduce the structure of colonial socity/ 12 colonies from the small scraps of info we are given, my 'solution' was to assume that the mother culture was Egyptian and pre 5thDynasty, but the colonies were in keeping with classical history as we know it to keep the mystery of the earth connexion alive.

The Galactica is a Caprican Battlestar. Its principle characters are Caprican, and their names loosely fell around Greek naming.. Their nature is logical, technical and democratic.

The rest of the colonies we have very little info on, but assuming they have different cultures, just as earth's continents have different cultures, it is a case of pick an ancient civilisation and assign a colony.
This logic ran to Minoan / Taura/ arts & culture, Greek/ Caprica/ technical & democratic, Roman/ Scorpia/ militaristic & domineering..

This also fitted to a certain extent with a capricans/ Americans analogy, which would explain the dominance of Caprican culture in the ongoing war, (note: not in any blame america sense, just in the technological/ size of standing army way)

Its full of exceptions, and rough, but it was a way of getting some variation, and of reconciling the were are the Egyptian names in a Greek named scenario??

The other, more tongue in cheek, solution was to 'assume' that anyone with an obviously 'odd' name (Jolly, Greenbean, Boxey) probably had a longer more complicated one. (and egyptian names are long and complicated...try Hetepsekhemwy, Khasekhemwy or Menkhauhor)
This naming practice was alive and kicking for the first half of last century at least, where 'family' names were passed down, but were so difficult or deeply unfashionable that a kid got a nickname and it stuck. My husband's family history is full of Uncle Snow, or Jack or Bluey because of family names that came out of more obscure places in the bible.

sad justifications, they may be, but when faced with actually naming characters, it becomes something you have to consider,

Cheers,
Lara