Current events may have ruined a name I was going to use

Question

In the middle-grade series I'm working on, there are two organizations: one led by the antagonist, and one that opposes them, which the protagonists join. In the setting of the series, a very small percentage of the population are born with genes that enable them to develop powers after exposure to a solar eclipse. Since eclipses are so important in the books, I decided to give the two organizations eclipse-themed names: the antagonists are in a group known as the Umbra, while the group the protagonists are in is called the Corona.

I was all set.

And then the Wuhan coronavirus broke out, even coming to the town where I live. I don't think naming an organization the Corona would be a good idea anymore.

Do you guys have any ideas? I'm looking for a name that has something to do with a solar eclipse.

Update: Thanks for answering! Most of you have reassured me that I'll be fine, so I'm going to keep the Corona as it is. However, when someone suggested the name Prominence, I found that I really liked that. I've decided to rename the Umbra the Prominence, as it fits with the solar theme while also fitting with their ideology of people with powers being put on this world to "fix" it.

Answer 1

Worry about this later

Names are easy. A quick run of Find/Replace, and suddenly, every mention of Corona is replaced with Prominence, or Flare, or whatever you want. Write your story using whatever name you are most comfortable with, and worry about the name once you get closer to publication.

You should make note of any instances of the name that won't be easily caught by find and replace (such as the name getting cut short, puns on the name, or symbols based on the name, etc) so that you remember to change them later.

That said, you probably don't have much to worry about. It sounds like you have clear sun related imagery in the book, so unless Corona is the first sun-related name mentioned in the book readers should have no problem making the proper associations. This is particularly true if your story is set in a secondary world, which will further isolate the readers from associations with real current events.

Give yourself some time to wait until the current crisis is past and the media frenzy has died down, then give your book to beta readers and see if they comment on the name. If your beta readers report that the name Corona is pulling them out of the story, then worry about changing it. Not before.

Answer 2

Corona in Latin means halo or crown.

The coronavirus was first documented in the 1960's.

Toyota manufactured the Corona from 1957 to 2002 - for 45 years.

Corona has been used in botany for oh, I don't know how many years. As it comes from Latin, I would imagine hundreds.

By the time it's all said and done, I doubt that this coronavirus outbreak will seriously blacken the reputation of a word with that much history.

Answer 3

In your specific case you can probably ignore it. "Coronavirus" is the temporary, generic name. It's about to be given a real one: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51371770

The virus theme relates to a previous "it will fade away" answer. The story I heard mentioned previous news-making coronaviruses: SARS, MERS, N1H1. I think today you could name a dog Mers or Ni-Hi, and no-one would think twice

Answer 4

Penumbra
Totality
Antumbra
Chromosphere
Diamond (like the diamond ring shape)
Prominence
Saros (you'd have to get specific with some aspects for this one)
Shadow/Band(s) of Shadow
(This is a good website I found with some vocab: https://eclipse.aas.org/eclipse-america/eclipse-glossary)

You could use the sciency words and go off of those, whether they are about the sun and moon specifically, or what happens to animal life, etc. You could mix them together or with other words. You could think about what feelings eclipses evoke and tap into those. If the Umbra is the antagonist group (great name by the way), what's the opposite of Umbra for the protagonist group? Is there one?

The Corona is a great name. This current event stuff (tragic) will lose publicity once enough time passes, so maybe you shouldn't even worry about it. Or you could modify the spelling to steer readers' brains away from the virus.

Not sure if this will help - but good luck and have fun.

Answer 5

I would never associate the Corona with the Corona virus, even though the media are going wall-to-wall with coverage of it right now, and I happen to be reading all of those publications in The Economist, Time, The Wall Street Journal etc, which never fail to have something on it. So relax. Also, consider this: by the time you actually have the book published, chances are, the virus will have been long forgotten.