u/bulbasauriscutie

Adira

Adina

Bluma

Aluma

Bryna

Livia

Mia

Mili

Mina

Rina

After MONTHS of waffling about my pen name, I have finally decided on one. I brought a few different ones here and thanks to the feedback I got, I was able to narrow it down.

I can't use my real name because its recognized in my particular day job industry, and also want to stay unknown to family and friends unless I choose. A pen name is no guarantee of that, but I do feel a bit better with one.

I am still in the querying trenches, but have had wonderful feedback from beta readers and am part of a small online group run by some published authors of the genre. I feel like I am well on my way!

So now, the reveal. My pen name is...

Minna Aster.

Minna, because M names feel like me. Because it feels sort of vintage but also gentle. Because it has ties to my heritage.

Aster because I used to pick pretty asters for my grandmother in the field of wildflowers near her house when I was a child. I loved them, and purple is my favourite colour.

Thank you name nerds for helping me *not* choose Minka, which is cute but also, as I have learned, reminds people of a woman's nether-regions or a merkin, lol.

No hate at all to Filipino people. My community has a lot of Filipinos and I have some Filipino friends.

Also, this isn't a critique, just genuine curiosity.

Filipinos seem to name their kids a wide variety of things. I have noticed that cutesy names are really popular. I knew twins named Hershey & Honey, a woman named Bumbum. That was not her nickname but her government name.

I knew a toddler named Princess Mary and her father did not like when anyone simply called her Mary.

The most intriguing one for me is non-Filipino surnames used as first names for Filipino children. I know a Filipino teen boy named MacGregor. Wouldn't that be like a white person naming their child Wang or Ling?

I also know of a Filipino woman named Irish. Wouldn't that be like an Irish person naming their child Filipina.

Either way, I think people should name their kids whatever they like (within reason like as long as the kid won't suffer lol). Its nice seeing unusual names!

I think its cute and underused.