#so I’m like. okay. and opened a list of afghani names on the side | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

malachitezmeyka · 2 years ago

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Naming OCs actually sucks so much sometimes, especially when the creators of the source material have no fucking idea which culture they’re drawing from

#I’m trying to name Ghazan’s parents okay. cause if I continue my Haya fic it’ll come up #and the process just made me realise how much of a mish mash of cultures the avatar world is #and how hard it is to pick a name that would be appropriate #sometimes I wish I was 12 years old again and just picked stuff that sounded good #like there’s literally no reason for Suiren and Midori to have Japanese names considering ming-hua’s is Chinese and Ghazan’s is afghani #but again I was 12 and it’s been way too long and way too many connotations to their names have been formed for me to change them #just assume that since they’re in the red lotus their parents wanted to pick names separate from their respective nations/cultures. ok? ok #anyway back to my main point #I started with looking up origins for names I knew. particularly Ghazan’s bc I picked Haya’s on a whim #literally writing the first chapter of SotRL and typing up the first name that came to mind #which accidentally ended up being my actual distant aunt’s name oops #point is. it’s apparently hebrew. which really just throws everything off #so I looked up ghazan’s and it’s from an afghani dialect I believe. don’t take my word for it though blame google if I’m wrong #I checked multiple sources so I’m 80% sure if it #so I’m like. okay. and opened a list of afghani names on the side #then I remembered my recently adopted headcanon of Ghazan’s parents being originally from si wong desert #so I looked the sandbender tribes up and that’s when I started losing my mind #known names range from mongolian to chinese to thai #the sandbenders themselves are clearly inspired by arabs and north africans #so there’s a bajillion sources and o have no idea where to start #currently just scrolling through lists and writing out ones I like #I also want to avoid names with meanings that are too religious or ones that end in -aya or -an #so it’s a struggle lmao #there was a point when I thought it’d be funny if I named the mom Niloofar or Nilüfer cause it also means water lily like Suiren #but then decided it might be a bit too on the nose. I’m not really too into the whole ‘name your kids after family’ thing #even if it’s tangential #idk. it’s a cute idea but probably not the right call #writing woes #kind of

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