Support for Indie Authors discussion

Hey all!
So, I have a fun little dilemma on my hands here. I can't think of a name for a war. I'm sure we've all had trouble with names at least once before, so please take pity on me and share some of your wonderful opinions!

A little background: All of my novels take place in an alternate history of our world, where the main divergence is that the Holy Roman Empire thrived for far longer and managed to unify most of Western Europe. Then, it collapsed. Three of the major states who rose from the ashes (for simplicity's sake think of them as Spain, Italy, and Germany) developed some territory issues and eventually wage a massive war on each other. Anyway, this war is a huge historical event that impacts most of my novels. But I can't decide on a name! I called it "The Great War," but I have had overwhelming feedback saying this confuses the "fake-ness" of the history, and only makes the reader unsure of the setting (it conjures up ideas of WWI, which is not too far off in terms of scale and timing). I've come up with a list of alternatives.
Triskele War
Triskelion War
Triperion War
Triperium War
Triquetra War
Any feedback or opinions would be much appreciated! Thank you all in advance!!!!

Ah, it also may help to know about the logic behind each name. They aren't just made up for giggles.
Triskele/Triskelion = Two different names for the same symbol motif. Greek roots meaning "three-legged." The symbol is three spirals or other "appendages" rotating into a middle meeting point.
Triperium = Latin roots meaning "three-empires." No known historical context/made up by yours truly.
Triperion = Alternative spelling/adaptation of Triperium. Also made up by me.
Triquetra = Latin roots meaning "three-cornered." Symbol is three leaf shapes overlapping, often interwoven, to form a triangle. Adding a circle makes the familiar Celtic Knot. Symbol is common in multiple religions.
Don't know if that helps your decision, just letting y'all know!

Triperion seems the easiest to read, in my opinion. Plus it is quite Roman/war-like, so it would seem fitting.

I concur with Triperion, sounds good to me when I read it. Triperium is not bad either but rolls off a little awkwardly.

*raises hand for Triquerta*

Basically any of the above except perhaps the first which reads oddly....

I think any of them could work. If it was me though, I would call it something easy to identify geographically-speaking but still non-specific in time i.e., the Pan-Euro War

So we're digging the Latin roots, cool.

M.L., I'm not opposed to Pan-Euro or something similar, especially since that is the most applicable in terms of geography. Although it does feel a little clunky.... Hm, I'll have to think about that one.

Just a personal curiosity, why is there is a symbol for the war?

I like Triperium because it's the only one that doesn't conjure an image of cooperation and it rolls off the tongue -- that is if I'm pronouncing it right, haha.

I have hit the same sort of thing. I stuck strictly to English, even though I slip in classical languages in other places.

I have an "Age of Three Empires" with the "Boundary War" in the middle where the empires realign, then an "Age of Six Empires" which ends in the "Long War".

Two ideas spring to mind, either the "War of Three States", or pinching from Rome the "Trevi War" (three roads).

K.A. thanks for pointing out that I was a little unclear. The symbols I mention are existing symbols that have those names (so if you google search the names, those symbols come up).

R. sounds like your poor empires are going through a similar identity crisis as mine! I like Trevi, since I do pull a lot of Latin roots out for political names throughout the novels.

Yes, identity crisis is it. "No winners, just not enough people left to do any fighting."

I'd say the name would depend on a couple things.

For starters, who's talking about the war. In the US's Civil War, Confederate troops named battles after towns, while Federal troops used geographic names (mountains, valleys, rivers, etc.). So we simultaneously have the Battle of Antietam and the Battle of Sharpsburg for the same battle.

Secondly, depending on the POV/narrator, the war would be named by the victors. And of course the name of wars changes with time. The Great War was later rebranded as World War One.

Also during an actual war there are almost always different names used for it. Most people in normal conversation will simply say "the war" meaning the war going on right now. Or "the war in [insert location]."

Again, the US Civil War was not usually called that during the war itself. After the war in the South it was called The War Between the States. Wikipedia has this to say about it:

During and immediately after the war, historians often used the term "War of the Rebellion" or the "Great Rebellion", while the Confederate term was "War for Southern Independence". The latter regained some currency in the late 20th century, but has again fallen out of use. Other terms often reflect a more partisan view of events, such as the "War of Northern Aggression" or the "War of Southern Aggression". The "Freedom War" is used to celebrate the effect the war had on ending slavery. In several European languages, the war is called "War of Secession". In most East Asian languages, the war is called "Battle between North and South side of the United States" or more commonly as "American (US) North-South War", depending of their languages.

My point is that for verisimilitude, it would be nice to offer several versions of the war's name depending on who is speaking and when. The narrator should stick to one name, taking in consideration the POV of the narrator.

Micah wrote: "I'd say the name would depend on a couple things.

For starters, who's talking about the war. In the US's Civil War, Confederate troops named battles after towns, while Federal troops used geograp..."

That is a very good point.

I agree, that is a good point, and one I have considered. Since my novels thus-far take place after the war, they refer to it by a general/historian-applied name. This is largely for two reasons. 1. I need to maintain a sense of the shared history of my books. For that purpose most historical events are referred to by one name, except in the rare instances where a character was taught a different name (the reason for which is then elaborated); and 2. I try to avoid heavy segments of narrator-delivered exposition, so details about the war and history are usually delivered by a small handful of characters. In my first novel especially, most of this information comes from one person, and he adheres to the sort of "academic standard" name.

The thread seems to have moved a little past the original multiple choice question, but I'm casting my vote for Triperion War. If that helps.