Hi! I'm writing a book, and I've been struggling for ages to find a good name for one of the main characters. Now I´m turning to the experts who might find it in their heart to educate me. I am very sorry if anything I'm writing comes off as offensive, and I can only assure you that I do not mean to be so but still apologize if I am.
I got many nations represented in a the crew of a submarine in a near-future sci-fi setting. The officer of engineering will be of Turkish-Kurdish origin. Her first name is "Medina." While it's not a big topic of the book, I would love to have representation from someone that could have come from some contested Turkish-Kurdish region, but whose family has reclaimed their history and ethnicity. I would like her to have rejected her old Turkish name.
So if I've understood it all correctly: She might have been given the juridical name "Medina Yılmaz" at birth. But now she could have become "Medina Mala Kawa", or maybe "Medina Mala Welat".
So basically my questions are:
First off: Am I at all understanding how all of this work? Am I completely confused?
Second: What other beautiful names could go along with the first name Medina? Are the ones I suggest above bad ones?