Tuesday Tales: Ghuli is Getting A Name Change

Good morning!

This isn't really a Tuesday Tales, more like a brainstorm session that I've already gone through. BUT it's something for Tuesday, and it's about my characters, so it almost fits into the category.

For as long as I've written Fractured Princess, my main character has been named Ghulien, Ghuli for short. Now, in my head, it's pronounced JOO-lee. Over the years, however, I've had people read it as GOO-lee. It never occurred to me that in the English language, gh is--as far as I know--always pronounced as a hard g. Somehow, I thought the h would make it soft. But not only is that not how h's work haha; in the Crystalline language, h's aren't silent.

Also, I believe Ghuli was just a name I grabbed out of thin air when I needed one and don't really have much of an attachment to the name besides it's what I've been calling her for 13 years (yeesh, 13 years).

So, I've spent a couple of days thinking of names that 1) follow the rules of the Crystalline language, 2) sound good, and 3) that could be transferred into a nickname. One thing I never thought of is that Ghuli is passing for a Human, and also, her parents had close ties to their Human scholars, so they might give their daughter a nickname that sounded a little Human without anyone questioning it. Also, I still wanted to keep the j sound, so that played a big role.

Therefore, come December (so I can get back full swing into NaNoWriMo) my MC's new name will be:

*drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrum rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroll*

*cymbal*

Jonnie
(Not sure what it's short for yet.)

What do you think? I've always loved the name Jonnie for a girl, and I've only used it for a fan fiction back when I was in college, so it's a great way to reuse it.

I'd go back to all of my old posts and change the name, but that would be so tedious. Maybe I'll put a disclaimer. That'll suffice.