trying to name a female protagonist

[laminy.livejournal.com]

What image first comes to mind when you picture someone named Marina? What about Holland? Age, look, job, personality...anything.

Comments

[redfield79.livejournal.com]

A boat

[pirahan.livejournal.com]

Fair skin. Auburn straight hair. Bangs. For some reason I've got her wearing a floral skirt and doc martins w a band t.

[smasharash.livejournal.com]

Wow, you just described my friend Marina!

[charuby.livejournal.com]

Marina:

I picture a blonde woman who takes pride in her appearance. Her clothing style is modern and stylish, but she is also modest and wears things that suit her body shape. Her style could also be described as smart, but casual.

She doesn't wear her hair loose, rather, she pins it up with a hair clip.

She would excel in an office environment. I would imagine her working as a receptionist for a law firm or a doctor's office.

Her personality is bubbly, outgoing, very confident and self-assured.

[lisasimpsonfan.livejournal.com]

Those sound like soap-opera names to me so I imagine a Dynasty style fist fight.

[maddiec24.livejournal.com]

When I think Marina, I see a woman in her 20s, pale skin, curly long dark hair, a very loving person.

Holland, not so much. I think icy blond, rich, and Holland is her mother's maiden name.

[blosmbee.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure Marina is a brand of IUD (birth control)? Or it's close enough that that's the first thing that came to mind...
Holland *shrug* I don't like it, really. It sounds very high society, pretentious, and cold, but I don't know what you're going for. Holland is BFFs with Gwenyth Paltrow and the kind of people that have vacation "cottages" in the hamptons that are actually 12 bedroom mansions.

[box-of-rocks.livejournal.com]

Marina - a quiet, sweet, dark haired girl who is pretty shy.
Holland - a tall, blond, Nordic guy.

[emily-elphaba.livejournal.com]

Marina Gregg is the name of a main character in an Agatha Christie novel, and Holland Roden is the actress who plays Lydia Martin on Teen Wolf. Just FYI.

[wolf-shadow.livejournal.com]

Marina:

from Last of the Summer Wine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Last_of_the_Summer_Wine_characters#Marina_.28Jean_Fergusson.29)

Holland:
The Netherlands. For me, it's a location and not a name, and if I was told I was meeting someone called Holland, I'd probably assume they were male.

[blueorange94.livejournal.com]

Marina: Latina, dark wavy hair, not too tall, small and curvy. Introverted, but feels the need to be outgoing because of the Latin stereotype. Only flirts when she's serious about getting involved. Very slow to temper but when she blows, look out!

I've always thought of Holland as a masculine name.

[satunian.livejournal.com]

Holland to me is someone who was most likely born after 1995, probably blonde, trendy, possible jet-setter or jet-setter wannabe.

Marina can go so many different ways. I've known a lot of Russian girls with this name so for me that's the first thing that comes to mind for me (so I imagine her an immigrant or first gen Russian girl, unless the story takes place in Russia of course). I imagine dark wavy hair, light hazel eyes. I don't know why but I imagine she's be somehow involved in the medical profession, maybe a nurse, maybe a surgeon, maybe just a receptionist but somewhere in that area. She could be any age, though, she could be 16, she could be 65 (older/younger, too). Probably hard-working, focused, maybe a little serious but not a stick-in-the-mud. She probably likes animals too.

lol hope this helps!

[cremepuff.livejournal.com]

Like most on here, I always think of Marina as someone with dark hair. Lively personality, bubbly and cheerful.

Holland is a tall, wiry Caucasian man--nowadays he would be of very old age. Of course, this is probably set in my mind because my husband had an ancestor named Holland who fit that description. He went by Holly.