Rachel Lee asked Jennifer A. Nielsen:

Hi Mrs. Nielson! I loved the Ascendance Trilogy and the unique names of the characters and places. Amarinda, Sage, Carthya, Avenia... and so many more! Anyways I was just wondering, where do you get your inspiration for the creative names and what process do you go through to name a character?

Jennifer A. Nielsen Hi Rachel, thanks for asking! I generally get names from one of three sources:

1) It's based off someone I've known, or has a symbolic meaning to me (the names Sage, Jaron, and Conner fit here). Sage also means "wise," but still has an earthy, non-royal feel. Jaron is a boy I actually knew as a teenager, who was an amazing kid and always seemed to me like a prince. Conner is a conman. Hence, his name.

2) It's a real name and probably comes from a baby name book (Imogen, Tobias). I know the name is right for the character in a similar way as how your parents knew your name was right for you.

3) I totally made it up (all place names, Amarinda, Roden, Mott, Cregan) by combining letters together until I like the sound of them. I try to vary the names with different starting letters and numbers of syllables.

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