A Question About Character Names in AU Fanfic

[chomiji]

In some AU scenarios, you can't use a manga character's original Japanese name. In ancient Rome, for example. it breaks the fourth wall to have a character named Genjyo Sanzo.

But in modern and recent-past AUs set in much of the English-speaking world (the U.S., Canada, Britain), it's not so jarring to use an Asian name.

[Poll #1739109]

Comments

[lauand.livejournal.com]

You're right, in very historically specific AUs, it adds to the ambience to change the name so that it fits the setting, but I've found modern times stories with canon names, changed names similar to the canon ones and changed names that had nothing to do with canon and I've bought all of them because it fit the story. So, I don't really have a preference. I can skip the argumentation of why a foreign name just like I skip the reasoning behind Gojyo's eyes being red. I can buy stories where he's dark haired or has blue eyes, too. I think that, if the characterization is good enough, the rest can't jar me enough to care.

Unhelpful comment is unhelpful.

[chomiji]

Thanks for answering!

[lawless523.livejournal.com]

I know there are some peole who find changed names confusing and hard to keep track of, so when I can, I use their canon names.

I'm writing a chapter-by-chapter AU (that I haven't finished yet, horrors) set in New Orleans in which Sanzo's local, Goku's from rural Mississippi, Gojyo's part Native American, and Hakkai's from a city with a significant Chinese population, and I changed all of their names except Hakkai's. (His I rearranged according to Western naming conventions.) But for my 7th night story from last year, set in the suburbs of New York City, I didn't change anyone's name except to change Kougaiji's nickname to Koh.

It's probably easier to keep track of who's who if you give them the same initials and names that are as close as possible to the originals given their presumed ethnicity and the period, but sometimes other names work better. I'm not particularly picky about it. So in short my answer is whatever of the three works best. If you change names, though, a listing at the beginning can be helpful.

[sanada.livejournal.com]

The handful of AU fic I've written where the original names wouldn't be appropriate have involved ancient Chinese settings... so I just stuck with the Japanese names like Saiyuki does. But I did once roleplay a Japanese character called "Ishida" in a Chinese setting, and had him adopt the title "Lord Shitian" (written with the same characters).

Saiyuki is kind of a weird example to use because it is almost a cross-cultural AU in canon. I guess since I was familiar with manga "Sanzo" before I read the novel version where he's "Sanzhang" in Chinese or "Tripitaka" in Sanskirt, it's not jarring to see it written in Japanese. But when I write fic for Chinese-themed Japanese anime like Koutetsu Sangokushi, I backstranslate all the Japanese names to Chinese. I read the novel with Chinese names first, so it's way too weird to see a name like "Rikuson Hakugen" instead of "Lu Xun, style name Boyue."

[elsane.livejournal.com]

I am all for the world building (and overthink things), so I am going to be confused and annoyed if I have to imagine Gojyo being called Gojyo if the story is set in, say, the Umayyad Caliphate -- and if he's called Gojyo in 1948- era NYC, he'd better be at least partly of Japanese ancestry (and then I wonder what his experience of WWII is like, and then,...). So names consistent with the setting are best :)

Having said that, great character voices mean you can always tell who is who, but if you aren't totally confident in voice, it is easier if the names hearken back to the canon names with initials or similar sounds or something. (This goes double if you introduce a lot of people at once.)

[nekonexus.livejournal.com]

+1 :)

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Thank you for writing this comment so I don't have to do all that work of actually articulating my thoughts, lol. :D

[misura.livejournal.com]

If the setting isn't prohibitive towards using canon names, I definitely prefer those - especially in a longer fic with multiple chapters, since I don't really want to start each chapter not only trying to recall 'what happened last time' but also 'who is who, again?'. (So initials would be my second choice, I guess.)

[devikun.livejournal.com]

I picked the "Use their initials" option, but I don't like it because it's easier, I just like it because it's cool. Dorky, I know!

[blackcatsboon]

I think it depends on the fic. Obviously, if it's in a reincarnation AU then they need different names, but otherwise, providing it makes historical sense, I think it's best to stick with the original names. And I don't know about initials, but it does make it easier to follow if the alternate names are similar in some way to the original ones.

[nekonexus.livejournal.com]

I prefer being able to tell who's who by characterization - but that of course assumes that I know the author's writing well enough to know where we agree and disagree on characterization. ;) (and by that I mean broad strokes of archetypal characterization, as obviously the details are going to change based on the character's new setting and experiences, etc.)

I also use name meanings that may not be surface-level apparent to indicate connections.

For my novella-length reinc AU, I went with what felt right for the characters: Sanzo ended up as Steve Garrett, Gojyo became Jake, and Goku became Val (short for Valin - monkey king). Hakkai became Keiran McCullach (boar).

[nekonexus.livejournal.com]

^___^;; Ahha, well, that would likely be because it's a couple-few years old at this point, and in it's own community with completely non-existant non-intuitive links from LJ. Er. Yeah. (Also also it got written in small chunks, so it wasn't until it was finished and recompiled that I could pin a length on it.)

Comments still very welcome, despite the age. Kiro and I would be happy to natter on about it.

Also, hi Jake? *g*

[athena8.livejournal.com]

I can go either way, really. But I like option 2 because it makes me smile when the author comes up with a clever alternate name!

[rroselavy.livejournal.com]

I think if the characterization is strong enough, the names shouldn't matter -- i.e. they can and should be changed to match the AU setting. When I write AUs, I try to keep some hint of the canon name ... for some characters it seems more important to my writing than for others, if that makes any sense. Sometimes I keeps some original names and mix them with non-canon names as well ...

[blue-hobbit.livejournal.com]

Just my opinion as someone who only reads and doesn't writes fanfic, but for me stories that completely change a character's name tend to kind of throw me off. Even if it's easy to tell who the characters are supposed to be by the way they are written, not having their original names, or at least something resembling them in a way that you can make the connection, makes me less likely to read a fic. It probably shouldn't matter, but for some reason it just doesn't work for me.

[sovay]

Bring on the alternative names! Just make sure I can tell who is who!

. . . also, if you're writing ancient Roman Saiyuki, I kind of want to know about it.