Now that some of you have my book Bound by an Oath and are already reading it, I think it is time to share some of my experiences while writing it.
Why all the Weird Names?
You may have wondered why the names of many of the characters in Bound by an Oath are so strange and hard to pronounce. I struggled with their strangeness at first, but as an author writing a historical novel I felt it was my duty to use historically accurate names wherever possible. My research showed me that the names of the Celtic people living in Britain in the fifth century were distinctive, as was their language.
Some of the names of the period such as “Harold” and “Wilfred” are still spelled the same and are still in use today, and some such as “Godefridus” (Godfrey) and “Aedisonne” (Addison) have born only a few changes in spelling from the fifth century to the twenty- first century. But there were some such as “Carvillius” (who was a real tribal leader) and “Segovax” (also a real Kentish leader) that just seem strange to the modern ear. I dallied with the idea of using more modern names, however, I decided to stay with the original plan to be true to the historical period. After all, Game of Thrones is riddled with very strange names and readers have coped admirably reading and pronouncing them!
A list of men’s names from the period was fairly easy to compile, but women’s names were much harder to find. Women of the fifth century were not usually leaders who had their names etched on ancient coins, nor were they mentioned in Roman dispatches, and so, in naming the women I had to be a bit creative. I simplified some of the names and made up one or two by taking an old name and making it sound Celtic, for example the name “Edith” became “Aeditha.”
How were these names pronounced?
I think you can probably guess the answer to this question! There are people who can make educated guesses as to their pronunciation, but no one really knows how to say them. My position is that as readers you can make your own decisions, with one caveat. Don’t be upset if someone else pronounces it differently and claims higher knowledge! As a child I read the name Eleanor in a book. I had never heard the name and decided that it was pronounced “Ally- eh-nor” with the emphasis on the third syllable. When I found out the proper pronunciation, I was disappointed and unhappy. I liked my pronunciation much better.
One final word…
Among the Celtic names used in my book, the name of one of the main characters, Aethelreda, is an oddity. If any readers of Bound by an Oath are Anglo- Saxon scholars you will know that Aethelreda is not a Celtic name but an Anglo- Saxon one. I’ll tell you a little secret here. I have called my Celtic queen “Aethelreda” in my mind for decades, long before I knew how to differentiate a Celtic word from a Saxon one, and I just could not bring myself to rename her! I tried and tried, but nothing seemed to fit her feisty, noble character as well as Aethelreda. And so, Aethelreda she remained.
But there is a very good reason for our queen’s Anglo-Saxon name.
That reason will be divulged in the yet unnamed sequel to Bound by an Oath!
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