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Carrie-Annehttp://carrieannebrownian.wordpress.comI started reading at three (my first book was Grimm's Fairy Tales, the uncensored adult version), started writing at four, started writing book-length things at eleven, and have been a writer ever since. I predominantly write historical fiction family sagas/series. I primarily write about young people, since I was a young person myself when I became a serious writer and didn't know how to write about adults as main characters. I only write in a contemporary setting if the books naturally go into the modern era over the course of the decades-long stories being told over many books. I've always been drawn to books, films, music, fashions, et al, from bygone eras, and have never really been too much into modern things. If something or someone has appeal for all time, it'll still be there to be discovered after the initial to-do has died down. For example, my second-favorite writer enjoyed a huge burst of popularity in the Sixties and Seventies, but he wrote his books from 1904-43, and his books still resonate today, even after he's no longer such a fad. Quality lasts for all time.

A to Z reflections 2020

May 12, 2020 by Carrie-Anne

This was my seventh year doing the A to Z Challenge with this blog, my ninth with two blogs. Much to my disappointment, for the third year in a row I had to suffice with a fairly simple theme, one I didn’t need to do a huge amount of research for. I remain hopeful I can return to more intensive themes in the coming years.

I didn’t start writing and researching my posts till early March. Last year, I didn’t begin writing my posts till 25 March, and had to fly through them to be finished before April started. Again, I hope I have much more lead time next year. Though I was born two weeks after my estimated due date and feel I do a lot of my best work at the last minute, procrastination isn’t a positive habit.

As always, I featured both female and male names on each day, and alternated which sex each post started with. Early on, I decided to feature six for each sex, except for a few letters with a wealth of lovely Estonian names. I didn’t want to shortchange them.

I ended up using a fair bit more names borrowed from other languages (primarily German, Scandinavian, and Russian) than I’d hoped for, but it wouldn’t have been accurate to only feature native Estonian names. The country was occupied by various foreigners for almost 700 years. Cultural osmosis was inevitable.

Unfortunately, I could only find one male Z name, and no male C names. Q, W, X, and Y had to be wildcard days.

Yet again, I seemed to have bad luck with the list. A lot of the links I clicked on never started the Challenge, or gave up very early. If you’ve not blogged in a really long time, why commit yourself to doing it six days a week for an entire month?

Early prep is so important, particularly if you’ve never done it before. When all your posts are written and edited in advance, you don’t have to stress about writing a new post every day in real time. Themes are also important. They make it easier to find topics.

Post recap:

The Zs of Estonian names

April 30, 2020 by Carrie-Anne

Male:

Zinovi is adopted from the Russian name Zinoviy, a male form of the Greek name Zenobia (life of Zeus).

Female:

Žanna is adopted from the Russian name Zhanna, which in turn is a form of the French name Jeanne. It means “God is gracious.”

Zinaida is adopted from Russian, and a derivative of Zeus. In 2019, this was the 101st most popular female name in Estonia.

Zlata is adopted from Russian, and means “golden.”

Zoja is adopted from the Russian name Zoya, which means “life.”

Wildcard Y names

April 29, 2020 by Carrie-Anne

Since there are no Estonian names starting with Y, either native or borrowed, today is another wildcard day.

Female:

Yansylu means “beautiful soul” in Persian. This is a Tatar name.

Yejide means “image of the mother” in Yoruba.

Yemanyá is a Yoruba fertility goddess, also popular in Brazil.

Yewudbar means “beautiful beyond limits” in Amharic.

Yolisa means “exciting” in Xhosa, a South African language.

Yulduz means “star” in Uzbek.

Male:

Yadgar means “souvenir” in Kurdish.

Yanamayu means “black river” in Quechuan.

Yazdan means “angel” and “God” in Persian and Urdu.

Yekan means “unique” in Kurdish.

Yomelela means “be strong” in Xhosa.

Yupanqui means “he who honours his ancestors” in Quechuan.

Wildcard X names

April 28, 2020 by Carrie-Anne

Since there are no Estonian names starting with X, either native or borrowed, today is another wildcard spotlight. X is one of my fave letters for names, since getting a chance to use one is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Male:

Xabiso means “value” in Xhosa, a South African language.

Xale means “shawl” in Portuguese. This is a rare Brazilian name.

Xaloc means “sirocco” (a hot, dusty wind) in Catalan.

Xelas is the name of the Transformer in Lummi mythology. The Lummi tribe, of whom sadly only 5,000 are left, lives in the North American Pacific Northwest.

Xoviano is the Galician form of Jovian, which ultimately derives from Jupiter (sky father).

Xylon means “timber” in Greek.

Female:

Xana is a nymph or fairy in Asturian mythology. The name may be based on Diana, which probably means “divine, heavenly.”

Xenodike, or Xenodice, means “guest’s justice” and “foreigner’s justice” in Greek.

Xenopatra means “guest’s father” and “foreigner’s father” in Greek.

Xetsa means “twin” in Ewe, a language spoken in Ghana and Togo.

Xihlamariso means “marvel, surprise” in Tsonga, a language spoken in Mozambique and South Africa.

Xolisile means “we are sorry” in Zulu, a South African language.

Wildcard W names

April 27, 2020 by Carrie-Anne

Seeing as there are no Estonian names, either native or borrowed, starting with W, today is another wildcard day featuring a variety of other kinds of names.

Female:

Wafula means “born during the rainy season” in Luhya, a language spoken in Kenya.

Walela means “hummingbird” in Cherokee.

Wambui means “zebra” in Kikuyu, another language of Kenya.

Wangari means “leopard” in Kikuyu.

Whetū means “star” in Maori.

Wura means “gold” in Yoruba.

Male:

Wadud means “affectionate, lover” in Arabic.

Wafai means “loyalty” in Arabic.

Wahyu means “revelation” in Indonesian.

Wamalwa means “born during the brewing season” in Luhya.

Wayra means “wind” in Quechuan.

Wiranto means “warrior, hero” in Indonesian and Javanese.