Annalise & Dare
What’s in a Name: The Secret Soulbond

What’s in a Name: The Secret Soulbond

And here are the hidden meanings behind the names in The Secret Soulbond…

The heroine is Lady Annalise Brigid Greysnowe, daughter of the Count of Greysnowe. Annalise is a formal-sounding name, combining Anna (“grace”) and Elise (“god is my oath.”) And a formal name suits Annalise because she’s distant with most people because of her secrets. The only nickname she bears is Lady Snow (on obvious play on her surname, which she encouraged so people kept their distance.) Also, Calatini’s first queen was named Annalise, and Annalise’s parents named her after that great queen because of their ambitions. Her middle name, Brigid, is an Irish goddess associated with healing (among other things), and in Damensea, Brigid is the name of the Spring Queen and first soul healer. However, Annalise’s parents didn’t choose this name because they knew about her powers, but because it is a common family name (since Brigid is their distant, distant ancestor.)

The hero is Darius Pearce Ravenstone, the Count of Ravenstone, but he goes by Dare. Darius means “possessing goodness”, and Dare means “a risky challenge”, and both of these traits describe Dare. He’s always genial with a core of decency, yet he’s willing to take risks to build connections with (and between) others (which is why he finds his family’s feud with the Greysnowes ridiculous and tries multiple times to end it.) His middle name, Pearce, means “stone”, which is a play on his surname as well as him being a nature witch. Pearce is also the name of the Earth King (the Spring Queen’s husband) and a nature witch like Dare. Unlike Annalise’s parents, his mother did choose this name because of them being nature witches.

With two families that had been feuding for centuries, their surnames had to fit well together. The first part of their surnames are on the same color spectrum (gray and black), and the second part are both natural items with a similar cadence (snow and stone.) These similarities show the feuding families are more similar than they’d like to admit. Also “snow” ties into Annalise’s icy beauty, and “stone” ties to Dare being a nature witch.

Character Boards

Annalise Character Board
Annalise = hobby: walking outside, flower: honeysuckle, color: electrum, season: spring, dessert: poached pears smothered in honey and cream, food: ambrosia, place: Wildewall, time of day: dawn
Dare Character Board
Dare = hobby: walking outside, flower: wildflowers, color: amber, season: summer, dessert: kranakhan, food: shokolat nut oatmeal balls, place: Wildewall, time of day: dawn

My Favorite Name Sites