From: kay@invalid.net   
      
   In article , mdhangton@gmail.com says...   
   >   
   > Dorothy J Heydt wrote:   
      
   > I will tell you something else.  _The Writer's Digest Character Naming   
   > Sourcebook_ is absolutely useless for anything that isn't European.  In   
   > a first draft, I took "Higalik" from there, and later I found out that   
   > name only exists for a subtribe of Inuit on one island in Canada. That   
   > was when I started downloading BIA dictionaries compiled during the   
   > Fifties.   
      
   The universe is boobytrapped.  I believe Andre Norton did her level best   
   to do her research before writing a novel with a Dineh (Navajo)   
   character as protagonist.  Since she didn't use one, I suspect she found   
   authentic family names like Begay or Yazzie undramatic, but really   
   wanted an authentic Dineh given name.  The book was published in 1959,   
   meaning that the research was probably done in the mid '50s, and by   
   scouring library archives for any info they might have on the Navajo.   
   And my bet is all the photos had European derived first names.  My guess   
   is after long searching, she found a photo of an elderly gent labeled   
   "Hosteen" somebody or other and figured it made sense an older guy would   
   have an authentic given name, and gave it to her character.  Alas,   
   "Hosteen" isn't a given name at all, it's a term meaning Old Man or   
   Grandpa...   
      
   Which is how the hero of one of my favorite Norton tales as a child was   
   named "Grandpa Storm" though of course *I* had no idea of this either   
   until I came across the works of Tony Hillerman, a long time later.  The   
   universe is boobytrapped.   
   --   
      
   Kay Shapero   
   Address munged, try my first name at kayshapero dot net.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)