Arbiter was published on December 27, 2012. As some of you know, at the ending of Arbiter, a new character was introduced. This character was meant to be part of a sequel hook for the next book, because if you read the novel, you’ll understand why her name (specifically her surname) is significant. That character is named Kieri Firithan. On December 29, 2012, I walked into a Books-A-Million and came out with a copy of Oath of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon. And some of you already know where I’m going with this.

That’s right. Kieri Phelan. Now, since I live under a rock and had not read any Elizabeth Moon before, I had no idea that her main character and my sequel hook character shared surprisingly similar names. In fact, it was seeing the name Kieri on the back of the book that prompted me to read Oath in the first place, because hey, what were the odds? After reading Oath of Fealty and loving it (It’s an awesome book and fantasy fans should all go read it), I reconciled myself to the fact that Kieri and Kieri were just going to have to have the same names. I mean, it happens. There’s only so many syllables you can string together to make fantasy-sounding names, and the two characters are as different as can be. Moon’s Kieri is a tough male half-elven mercenary leader-turned-Duke-turned-King and my Kieri is a small,  female, completely human assassin. Besides, by this point, Arbiter was already out and I couldn’t change the name. So, I braced myself for potential incoming Kieri vs. Kieri comments (especially considering it’s fairly obvious from my Goodreads page that I am now reading Oath of Fealty) and moved on.

Coincidences like this happen, strangely enough, and it’s not like lightning strikes in the same place twice, after all. It’s not like I was going to find anything similar with my new work, The Color of Fire, right? I mean, they’re fantasy names. There’s got to be some combination out there that’s unique. It’s not like the same thing is going to happen with my main character from The Color of Fire, Lenalia Sabriel, right?

Oh, wait.

Garth Nix- Sabriel

Yes, that is a book titled Sabriel. From another well-known fantasy author. In which the main character’s name is Sabriel. And which I’m probably going to go read for the same reason that I read Oath of Fealty. It showed up in my Goodreads recommendations because the internet is run by a troll.

This is the part where the creative process grinds to a screeching halt and the author goes “Oh crap!” inside their head.

Why, Lena?! Why couldn’t you have a more unique name?!?

So now I’m sitting here wrestling with the dilemma of whether or not to change Lena’s surname so I don’t get known as “that author who steals names from more popular authors”. Thank you, Lena. Thanks a lot. At least Sathiri Kiran is safe, besides those both being totally real names according to Google.

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 Arbiter by Elisa A. Bonnin is available on Amazon for Kindle. It can be found here . Pay no attention to the YA rating, adults. It was written for all audiences to enjoy.