“I read in a book once that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but I’ve never been able to believe it. I don’t believe a rose WOULD be as nice if it was called a thistle or a skunk cabbage.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables.
I’ve always loved Anne’s comment on Shakespeare’s line from Romeo and Juliet.
I almost always look up what names mean before using them. I also have a deep love for flower symbolism and floral names, which stems from back when I was in high school. My niece was born and I went to look through all sorts of names and learn their meaning…which later became a bit of an obsession of mine. I ended up looking up the names of every character I’d ever written, plus the meaning behind my own name, the names of my family members and the names of my friends.
My Nana’s birth name is floral but she hates it. She goes by her middle name instead. I love it though, I think it’s a really beautiful name. I had a doll with that name when I was little but I ended up changing her name to Erika, after the Princess and the Pauper Barbie movie. My sister had the same doll but with blonde hair, so hers was named Anika. I think if I have a daughter someday in the future, I’ll name her after my Nana. My Nana gave me permission to use the name. Her mother also had a very floral themed name that I think is pretty, but my Nana thinks it’s too frilly and over the top.
One of my main character’s in my debut novel, is named after a flower. Her uncle even calls her “Flower” at times to tease her, which he’s done since she was a baby. Sometimes it annoys her, but she doesn’t completely hate it either.
Unless you’ve seen the upcoming novels page on my publishers website, you probably don’t know any of my character’s names. I haven’t posted them anywhere yet, since we’re only on the deep dive edits, but I’ve decided to drop little hints here and there in the meantime.
Can you guess what her name is?
Ardin Patterson 