Gwynn is not a girl’s name
Monday, April 30th, 2007 at 4:06 amI’ve been asked, and have read a few bemused comments re The Etched City along the lines of “Why are Gwynn and Raule’s names gender-reversed? Is it important?” Perhaps it’s a bit much for me to still be going on about the book so long after it was published, but since people are still reading it (it recently went to reprint in the US) and it’s on at least one college course, on the off-chance that any of the people who’ve wondered about the names ever read this blog, a bit of clarification:
Raule is not the male name Raoul. Different spelling = different name. It sounds masculine to our ears, I know, but in her culture it’s a female name; and it just came to me that this was her name, and once I knew it I couldn’t change it. (Incidentally, I’ve just been reading a book by Rose Macaulay where the female lead is called Neville; I found that the name stopped sounding male to me after a couple of pages, just as “Alice” doesn’t seem female when you think of Alice Cooper.) Gwynn is a Welsh male name. It means “white, shining holy, blessed” - heh. There’s a character called Gwynn (or Gwyn) ap Nudd, who at various times fills the portfolios of lord of the underworld, master of the wild hunt, king of the faeries, a companion of King Arthur on one of his quests, abductor of the spring maiden Creiddylad, and a bit of a bastard who cuts some dude’s heart out and makes the dude’s father eat it - or maybe he cut the father’s heart out and made the dude eat it - I forget. Yes, there are women called Gwynn, often as a shortened form of Gwynneth, but the name is originally male.
More about the mythical Gwynn, from British Goblins: Welsh folk-lore, fairy mythology, legends & traditions, by Wirt Sikes:
“Special traditions have located fairy-land in the Vale of Neath, in Glamorganshire. Especially does a certain steep and rugged crag there, called Craig y Ddinas, bear a distinctly awful reputation as a stronghold of the fairy tribe…The sovereign of the fairies, and their especial guardian and protector, was one Gwyn ap Nudd. He was also ruler over the goblin tribe in general. His name often occurs in ancient Welsh poetry. An old bard of the fourteenth century, who, led away by the fairies, rode into a turf bog on a mountain one dark night, called it the fish-pond of Gwyn ap Nudd, a palace for goblins and their tribe. The association of this legendary character with the goblin fame of the Vale of Neath will appear, when it is mentioned that Nudd in Welsh is pronounced simply Neath, and not otherwise.”
People have also wondered why he carries a sword in a world with guns. There are several reasons. 1) Saving ammunition: out in the wilderness, even when there are trees, bullets don’t grow on them, and if you need to kill the unarmed or finish off the wounded a sword is more economical. 2) A weapon of last resort, when you’re out of bullets or don’t have time to reload. 3) Cavalry weapon: Gwynn’s sword is a yataghan, which is a type of sabre. It is hard to shoot accurately from horseback (or camelback), therefore the sabre is useful to mounted troops. 4) Weather: Cold weather in the north, flying dust in the south, would make guns jam. Swords don’t jam. 5)Ego & aesthetics: a nice sword is a status symbol, a symbol of an officer’s authority, & looks kickass.
Okay. Back to novel #2 and moving house.
April 30th, 2007 at 5:34 am
When I flicked through the book in the bookshop, I assumed Raule was the man and Gwynn the woman. But when I started reading, it felt perfectly natural for Raule and Gwynn to be who they are.
And I’m definitely with you on characters announcing their name and giving you very little choice on the matter. I have one called D’sil, which goes against my general principle against character-names with apostrophes in. *sigh* The man won’t be called anything else.
April 30th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
Oh man. Name woes.
Gwynn and Raule never made me even blink - but my friend Stephanie had the same problem, she associated the name Raule with men and Gwynn with women, and it was disconcerting to her at first.
It’s really irritating for me when a character decides THIS IS MY NAME. I’ll run into some kind of problem and want to rename them, but they’ll hear none of it.
May 1st, 2007 at 1:27 am
I thought Raule and Gwynn were very fitting names - all the names in the book, actually. A no-nonsense sound to the former, a sharp ornateness to the latter.
As with Laurie I find that once a character’s named, he or she is named for good; but my characters can go for quite long and develop distinct personalities at leisure without having a name attached. It’s of a parcel with how I relate to people in real life, I think - I often fail to remember the names of friendly acquaintances for years on end. ^^;
May 1st, 2007 at 2:12 am
Like Sabina I can have characters who don’t settle into a definite name for a long time, but then there’ll come of feeling of “Oh, that’s your name,” and it gets locked in and can’t be changed. Raule came from an abortive other book where her name was Odile, but her alternative self immediately told me her name was different.
Funny phenomenon, really.
May 29th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
I too would associate Raule with a male and Gwynn with a female. There are books with character names just don’t feel right all the way through, and others that grow on you after a few chapters. You may even find yourself having different associations with a name after reading a certain book.
June 9th, 2007 at 10:40 am
I’ve always known Raule is a woman’s name. I know one lady with that name. I’ve only ever heard it for women (with that spelling).
As for Gwyn. My son’s name is Gwyn. I’ve always known it’s a boy’s name. He’s 3 right now and I just KNOW he’s going to get hit with…”but it’s a girls name”. We have a plan for that. His response will be… “I’m named after the Welsh God of the Underworld and Death.” I’ve already correct some folks with their incorrect presumptions. When they try to argue the point with me I ask them…do you know Welsh? Do you know Welsh mythology? Do you know folks who’s first language and culture is Welsh? Usually they shut up at that point.
Thanks for posting this.:)
Karwen