What's In a Name? Probably Secrets.
I very much doubt that any author names their characters without ulterior influences. My suspicious nature leads me to believe that Emily St. John Mandel is no exception. Yet, there is no reason why authors should not do this. It is proven that words, names, and other labels change how we perceive the object associated with that random collection of syllables. (for more information, see The Power of Names by Adam Alter, the article from whence the following was sourced).
An example: which of these shapes is a "maluma" and which is a "takete"?
If you believe the one on the left to be the maluma, and the other to be the takete, you are within the vast majority. Yet these are both nonsense words for nonsense shapes.
Names of people are no exception, and carry their own secret meanings. As a professor once warned me: “all seagulls look as though their name were Emma.”
So what does all this have to do with a post-apocalyptic novel? A lot, actually. A simple Google search for name meanings reveals much about the characters. Here, I've collected some of the more prominent characters and the origins of their names:
Jeevan means "life" or "bringer of life" - a good choice for the would-be paramedic. As well, an ironic one as the first chapter sees our Jeevan fail to bring Arthur back to life. Chaudhary is from Sanskrit, meaning "holder of four" (a measure of land) and "bearing a burden". The burden portion is easy enough to see - Jeevan failed to save Arthur, he wasted his youth at a series of unfulfilling jobs, and he was unable to save Frank. He also does end up with his own land, his own place in the world, as well as a family of four.
Clark means scribe or scholar. This accurately describes his role in the story. Clark manages a museum, keeping records of the pre-collapse world - both a scribe and a scholar. Thompson is more of a stretch. The name is derived from "son of Thomas", Thomas meaning "twin". Clark could be Arthur's twin in that they both do not have the lives they expected. In chapter nine, Clark thinks: "Do you remember when it seemed impossible that you'd get famous and I'd get a PhD?" [p111]. Having spent the best years of their lives together and then grown apart, they could be considered slightly twin-esque. Or perhaps, Mandel liked the name Thompson and didn't think twice about its implications.
Elizabeth Colton and Tyler Colton/Leander (sources: Elizabeth, Tyler) The name Elizabeth is of Hebrew origin and means, "my God is an oath". For someone who strongly believes in fate and a higher power and who is eventually led away by a group of religious wanderers, her name is most accurate. It is this faith that is assumed to lead to her son becoming a prophet. On the topic of Tyler, his name means literally "tiler" or someone who tiles roofs. This could be representative of how Tyler was meant to lead a normal, mundane life (Elizabeth moved away from hectic Hollywood and Arthur had decided to quit acting and join them just before his death) despite his famous parents and was likely to have done so if not for the apocalypse.
Kirsten is a name derived from Christine, which is in turn derived from Christian. Predictably, this name means "follower of Christ". This does not seem to fit her character (she is not shown to be particularly religious), however it could be argued that she is a follower - spending most of the book following the Traveling Symphony. Raymonde means protector, which, due to her throwing knife skills, she is. All in all, though, her name seems to fit her character the least.
Miranda Carroll (sources: Miranda, Miranda in The Tempest)
Aside from Miranda meaning "admirable" (think of the influence of her graphic novels), Miranda's namesake in Shakespeare's The Tempest shares some key similarities and differences with our Miranda. Having lived isolated on an island for 12 years (not Delano, though a parallel could be drawn), she is suddenly exposed to people other than her father and falls in love with one of them. She also finds that she is not well-equipped to interact with these strangers. Seems like our Miranda Carroll. However, our own Miranda loses her Ferdinand and eventually adapts to her new world. She is The Tempest's Miranda until she and Arthur part ways.
Arthur's name means "king" (also "bear", but that does not fit into his story very well). Arthur plays King Lear on the day he dies. His last name, however, is a grand allusion. Leander comes from the story of Hero and Leander, a Greek myth wherein a boy named Leander swims across the sea each night to visit his love, Hero. One night, tragically, a storm blows out Hero's guiding light and he drowns. Hero then flings herself into the sea in anguish over her lover's death. I find that this parallels Arthur and Miranda's relationship, (albeit not quite as melodramatically). After a brief romance, the two split up and Miranda throws herself into the sea. The Undersea, to be precise. After her divorce, the citizens of the Undersea become the main characters of Station Eleven and she flings herself into both her job and her graphic novels. Arthur, as well, finds it harder and harder to stay afloat in the tumultuous world of acting - between growing old, and his many failed marriages. From the point of their divorce onwards, both Arthur and Miranda become a lot less like their mythical/Shakespearean counterparts and a lot more grounded in reality.
Intentional or not, the names Mandel chose correspond quite well with the people to whom they're assigned. The research I've done into their meanings has been quite fascinating. As names contain so much hidden meaning, it is both important and interesting to uncover their secrets.
Lastly, should you know a Philip, please inform him of the meaning of his name.
- A.M. Ham
