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  • Ask Papabear

Papabear Offers Advice on Choosing a Fursona Name

1/6/2013

8 Comments

 
Dear Readers,

Since Papabear's in basket is empty once more (hint hint), I thought I would write on a subject that recently had some debate on this site: furry names. There was a recent letter from a furry who was concerned about his name being unoriginal, and, outside this site, I have occasionally chatted with furs who have been having difficulty coming up with a name for their fursonas or, sometimes, for stories they are writing.

So, how does one come up with a cool name?

When I was thinking of a name for my alter ego, Grubbs Grizzly, I wanted something unique. I started with the last name, which was kind of a given and not too original, but I wanted to be clear about my species--so, Grizzly it was. But what of the first name? I didn't want to be known only as Grizzly or Mr. Grizzly or maybe Brer Grizz.

I next thought about my fursona. Who was he? Well, he was a very laid-back bear, as most bears are. He was inspired by Disney's "The Country Bears," but I didn't want him to be a rip-off of those characters. Nor did I want him to be Baloo, though I love Baloo and Grubbs has a rather Baloo-ish personality. So I thought more about the character. I pictured him in kind of dirty, worn-out denim overalls (looking back, I guess overalls on bears are kind of cliche, too, oh well, I like 'em). I started thinking of names that describe that, and "grubby" popped into my head, which evolved into "Grubs" and then "Grubbs" with 2 b's. I'm not sure how that got in my grey matter, but it must have been subconscious because later I came across some people in my research with the name Grubbs as a last name. Anyway, I liked the name because it was both descriptive and alliterative, and being a writer, I have a fondness for occasional alliteration or assonance, with maybe a little onomatopoeia thrown in.

When it comes to fiction, I often adopt character names from history, pop culture, and literary sources such as Greek and Roman mythology.  In my novel, The Steel of Enadia, the main protagonist is named Jann after Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions because his character is key to a major upheaval in his world. Brodi, Jann's companion, comes from a slang term meaning several things, including "accident," "taking a chance," and "to steal." All of which have some relevance to the character. Speritus, Jann's wizard mentor, is a bastardization of the word "inspiration," because that is what he does for Jann.

I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

Back to fursonas. Selecting a name can be a very personal thing for some, but for others it really is just something for fun and is not that serious. For the former crowd, I suggest you really get in touch with your alter ego, envisioning who that person really is, what his/her traits are, both physical and emotional. If you reflect on those things long enough, often an appropriate name will come to mind. 

You can also think about your heritage when coming up with a name and draw on your family's culture to find an appropriate handle, whether that may be Asian or African or Native American or European or whatever, there is a lot you can draw on. For instance, a bear friend of mine has a Scottish background. I suggested the name "Mathan," which is Gaelic for bear. Or, say you are a cheetah and your roots go back to Swahili culture.... you could adopt the name Mwepesi, which means "swift." Or you are Chinese and you have a sweet personality, your name could be 甜.

The possibilities are endless. You have thousands of years of history and culture to draw upon, not to mention the spiritual world and your own inner world.

Have fun with it. Be creative! A good name will literally last you a lifetime :-3

Hugs,
Papabear
8 Comments
Furisky
1/6/2013 02:32:56 am

This one took "Frisky" + "Furry" and it yielded Furisky. When I see others agonizing over their furry name it kindof makes me sad. Yes, they want the "perfect" name but "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Others love you for you and not your name. That being said, pick something that you are comfortable with but don't let the process cause you agony.

Just in case anyone wants to read The Steel of Enadia http://www.amazon.com/Steel-Enadia-Kevin-Hile/dp/1554041546
(I really enjoyed it)

Reply
Ace Bio-Glow Splicer Hyenasarus link
1/6/2013 02:55:40 am

My name works like this: Ace (My life long nickname), Bio-Glow (Reference to my glowing parts and body), Splicer (My gene-spliced genetics, also it sounds very creepy like a resident evil/aliens thing of witch I am a fan). And then Hyenasaurus (I am a Spotted Hyenasaurus in specific). So basically I broke down what I want to represent by my sona (Witch I see as being an extension of myself). Feeling as I am my sona I go by the very same nickname in real life as to my sona that is "fictional" in this world. I help people as a job creating concept art for may things including furries and sometimes naming something happens when the concept is created. Normally the complication of the name can indicate a complex character of the sona and personality like a fine wine. Others are short and sweet, simple but lovable. All names a good but please have a little creativity!

Reply
Dairy Cow
1/6/2013 09:41:51 am

My name is dairy cow because I grew up and still lives and works on the family's farm with other cows, maybe my udders are not to big as other cows have but still love being one of them.

Reply
Brandon Panthera
1/7/2013 10:07:43 am

I like the advice Papabear offered here. I also would like to point out that, while he admits that some parts of his fursona may be cliche or generic ("...looking back, I guess overalls on bears are kind of cliche, too, oh well, I like 'em., he doesn't care! His fursona is ultimately what he feels comfortable being. It's like clothing. Given the choice, you'll wear what makes you comfortable over what you think other people would like to see. :]

Also, another way of coming up with names is looking into the animal kingdom's scientific names. In my case, Panthera is a genus of the family Felidae (felines). It encompases the classifications for tigers, lions, leopards and jaguars. Since black panthers aren't ~technically~ a species, is is also a callback to my actual fursona. And then Brandon is just my name, I wasn't too creative with it for simplicity's sake.

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Stilghar Ny'Raleth T'Kenn link
1/8/2013 03:25:33 am

I chose this name before I ever found Furry.

A former D&D player (and only 'former' because I can't find any groups in the area taking new players), I became enamored of one of my character concepts: a wizard who could fight as effectively with hands and feet as with magic. I chose the name Stilghar because I'd recently seen Dune and couldn't think of a first name I liked better.

Changed the spelling a bit, but I still get caught by Herbert fans from time to time. ;)

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eekee
3/13/2013 01:29:38 pm

I love choosing names, it's so much fun! ... just so long as I don't have to rush it, haha! That said, my most lasting name wasn't my choice; "eekee" was given to me by a friend's little brother, and stuck. I tried quite hard to abandon the name, to be a bit more of the manly man persona which I have plenty of role models for, but I am just really, really not. :D I've accepted the name as my own now. It apparently came from an obscure Rastafarian singer: Eek-a-Mouse.

The other name which has stuck with me is Cyall, the name of a pixie who was made as a roleplaying character but who is so close to being my fursona. (The only thing holding me back there is she's just too female. I can't win. :D) When I picked this name I was choosing names by sound alone, I just picked syllables I like together. After I chose it and had been using the character for a while I realised it was a respelling of a Druid scrying spell from a MUD I had been playing at the time: ciall. I was a little bit annoyed with myself for not realising sooner, but I still liked the sound. Years later I came to like another pronunciation of my spelling too; Americans usually interpret it as "Sigh-all," where my original was "See-all" but with a short "see" and long "all." I'm happy with both pronunciations now.

I was less comfortable when one day, after years of playing the character every day (with occasional breaks), I suddenly noticed my original pronunciation was remarkably similar to that drug spammers advertise alongside Viagra: Ciallis. I laugh now, looking back, but at the time I felt so uncomfortable! I don't think I would have felt so bad if my Cyall hadn't helped so many guys to get it up too! XD I'm still a little uncomfy with the connection but I'm not one to hide something I can laugh about. I'm still playing the character nearly every day today, she fits me so well, although she started out as a wild experiment, playing a girl rather than a boy for a change. She has virtually become my fursona in that way, and I do say 'fursona' rather than whatever word the otherkin use; I never got into the otherkin scene.

As for choosing names these days, I still sometimes pick for sound alone, (especially for a made-up species,) but mostly I find it both easier and nicer to pick names by meaning if there's an existing language which might fit. As an example, for a fertility roleplay I put Ekin Umut on my shortlist; two Turkish names meaning 'harvest' and 'hope' respectively. I use baby name websites for this, there are a few with large selections of names along with a brief meaning; nothing too complicated or cluttered.

The Quenya Lapseparma is another site I use; it maps modern names to their Quenya equivalents by their meaning. (Quenya is, roughly speaking, Tolkien's old high elvish.) I don't use it quite as intended; I search it for keywords. To find a name for Cyall's baby, I searched it for "star" because Cyall met the daddy on a spaceship, and I found "Elen". For a new character I searched a little deeper and came up with Yavi; shortened from Yavinque which means "fruit-bearing".

Unfortunately, Quenya is a little sterile in more ways than one. Tolkein himself was writing for a general audience in Britain in the the early part of the 20th century, and that meant his writing has a distinct aversion to anything related to reproduction. This takes a chunk out of the available choices. "Fruit-bearing" was the closest I could get to hinting at fertility which I'm sure would have been much easier in a middle-eastern language or even some European ones. I just didn't like the sound of "Ekin Umut" so much as I liked "Yavi." Further hindering the depth and breadth of the language is the fact that Tolkein's son, in trying to preserve his fathers books, has unfortunately stopped the language's growth. It's a shame as Tolkein evidently thought of himself as a language designer first and a writer second, even going so far as to say he wrote his stories so that his languages would have a world to develop in. Ah well.

I'm complaining because I would love to use an exotic language with many meaningful names for my characters, and I do love the sound of Quenya. :) (And I don't love Klingon! haha.) There is a more open elvish language being developed, but I'm told it's little more than "Spanglish" so I haven't looked into it. I suppose I could... but now my little essay has wandered firmly into the territory of choosing names of roleplay characters of which there may be many, rather than a fursona of which you'll probably have fewer than 5 in your life, so I'll stop now. Well, I could mention character name generators, but I tried some and felt they churn out too many low-quality names for my taste. You can end up looking through a big list, which numbs my mind. Not what's wanted when trying to be creative. :)

On another note entirely, when I read "overalls on bears are kind of cliche," I put two and two together, the other 'two' being "he was a ve

Reply
eekee
3/13/2013 01:36:56 pm

Oh would you look at that, cut off in the very last line! haha. It was something I wanted to include more than half of the other stuff I wrote, too. Here it is:

When I read "overalls on bears are kind of cliche," I put two and two together, the other 'two' being "he was a very laid-back bear, as most bears are." I immediately thought overalls were a very fitting outfit for any laid-back character, so it's no wonder they suit bears. :)

Reply
Temra The Fuzz
11/5/2020 07:18:20 am

So, i made mine as well. Temra was the first name that came to mind because my fursona "temra the dark wolf" was named after his mother because he was a dark pup in the outside but when hes with his family hes not afraid to show his sensitive side...

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