Name help!

[allisnow]

Okay, I've been turning my brain inside out on this one for ages, and I need help.

In the story I'm killing myself with working on - last year's NaNo, actually - there's a reclusive female monarch who has an all-female cadre of bodyguards. This group features prominently in the story and I can't just call them 'the female bodyguards' so I need a name. As a placeholder last November I just called them "Guardians", but that's so pedantic and uninspired that I kind of feel ill whenever I type it.

I've been organizing other bodyguard organization to try and spark an idea. The closest I've come is the Indian National Security Guard which is also known as the 'Black Cats'.

So, anyone struck with the idea for a name? If it helps, the story is a fantasy and the setting is quasi-turn-of-the-20th-century.

Comments

[madjm.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking of something with guard in it. Redguard or something like that. But I'm afraid I may have stolen that from somewhere, I just don't know where ...

Alternately, something with "watch" or "shield" in it?

It's hard to say without knowing the story, so just throwing a couple things out. :)

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

I was thinking along those lines too.. I think I might have been influenced by 'Game of Thrones'' "gold cloaks" (the city watch). But thanks for the idea :)

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

Hm. Did you want to go with an animal theme as per the Indian National Security Guard? Or something more staid like Queensguard?

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

I liked the animal thing because it seemed a little different... definitely trying to avoid staid :)

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

I was thinking panthers - sleek, black and you don't see them coming, kind of thing.

Are there gods? Myths? Symbols that might be helpful in giving them a name?

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

I like Panthers except it reminds of the Black Panthers ;)

I can't think of any animals thus far in the mythology... the main religious belief is that God created the world by transforming his body into it. The dominant religion mostly comes from the north, though... I could see some animal myths or legends leaking into the culture from the south (which, actually, is where the idea behind female bodyguards came from).

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

Ah, so kind of Norse Viking and Chinese.

The Queen's Hawks? Or possibly Falcons? Birds of Prey? (I know, there's the magazine, but...)

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I like Hawks...

[majorsamfan.livejournal.com]

Sentinel?

Or if there were *always* a particular number of them - "the (number)"

Elite (guard or something)