There’s an interesting phenomenon that happens at the pool or the playground.
One child calls, “Mom!” and about ten women swing around.
Not a good thing to have in our books, though. It’s really distracting when I’m reading a book and wonder who the character is because there’s a Sam and a Sid. And sometimes the author doesn’t give little helpful hints to help me know which character he’s referring to (“Sam the accountant. Sid, who works at the barbershop.) I try not to have names starting with the same letter in my books.
I also try to find appropriate names for my characters. Right or wrong, there’s definitely baggage that comes along with certain names. If I were going to write a beauty queen, I probably wouldn’t choose the name ‘Gertrude’ unless I was trying to be funny. I wouldn’t name my intellectual Biff…again, unless I was trying to make a point. It would be too much work to try to undo the readers’ quick leap to stereotype.
Every book I seem to change a character name at least once. After eight chapters, they may not be the same person I thought they were in chapter two. By chapter eighteen, they might have changed again.
The last book I submitted needed a character name change in the 11th hour—the name was already taken by a real person…an actual author at another publishing house.
I’ve had fun playing around with names with my Myrtle Clover series. Some characters’ names have literary or historical references.
Name generators are also useful. The one I usually use is Seventh Sanctum.
Some names just fit particular characters beautifully. My favorite is Voldemort. Have you got any favorite character names? How does your character naming process work?
Voldemort is a great one.
A name has to suit the character. My friend’s wife looks like a ‘Karen’ to me, and I cannot for the life of me remember her real name. I have to wait for it to come up in conversation.
I refer to a baby naming book that has origins and meanings to help me choose the right one. Of course, I’m often enthralled by some meaningful but unpronounceable Celtic name. Fortunately, my husband–who prefers Alex, Rose, John etc– keeps me in check.
I just kind of roll character names around in my head until I find one I think works. I really only google my primary characters, though. Sometimes I change them during the process as well. It’s amazing how much personality influences their names!
Elizabeth – You are so right! Names really do have baggage, don’t they? Very often, names just occur to me, and I don’t usually have problems with them. I have to think about what you said, though, about having names that start with the same letter. I do that sometimes, and I can see how that might be confusing for the reader. The trouble is that once my characters are named, that’s who they are. Their names become part of their identity; for me, it’s hard to change those names. Definitely something I should think about…
Usually for me, the birth of a character begins with a name. Then their personality evoles from the feelings I associate with that name. This isn’t always the case though and occasionally I have bit part characters running around with various names in various chapters and I have to sit down and really think about their names.
I’m a big believer that names are important and they tell you a lot about the character. I still remember Ruth Park had a character who changed her name after her parent’s divorce to Abigail to get back at her father (of course, Abigail means ‘My father’s joy’ so it was an interesting decision). I try to check what names mean before giving them to characters just in case someone else knows what the name means and just to make sure the name doesn’t totally put the reader off of the character.
Thanks for sharing this post.
I keep a very simple spreadsheet with the alphabet in 2 columns: one for first names, one for last names. That way I can see at a glance if I’m overusing a specific letter of the alphabet.
I’ve refined it a bit with notations or colors to indicate if it’s a walkon or a POV character, or an important recurring character.
Jeremiah Healey avised authors NOT to use the same initial letters, first OR last name, of the protagonist for any other character.
It can get dicey, especially if you’re writing a series.
I grew up in a very white bread area, so I like very boring or very chauncey sounding names. I have to stop myself before naming all my characters Brad or Crawford! Of course, this is also something we talked about a bit back, keeping ourselves out of our writing-it was either you or Elspeth.
I use SeventhSanctum, too. Great resource. I like a lot of what Cassandrajade said, but I don’t look up the meaning. Maybe it’s because I didn’t look it up for my own children, so why for my characters? Maybe I’ll create a chracter someday for whome this WILL be important, so Cassandrajade has given me something to think about…As have you, Elizabeth, as usual!
Michele
SouthernCityMysteries
I hadn’t realized the 2 protagonists of one ms had the same 2 letters beginning their first names. I knew who they were, so it didn’t bother me in the least :) Thankfully, one of my crit buddies pointed it out. I’m much more careful now!
An interesting post and a most helpful resource site.
In reading, I know sometimes a character will stay with me. If the same first name comes up in another book, I find myself comparing it to the previous character I’ve read about.
An example: from now on if I read a book with Myrtle in it, they will be compared to Myrtle Clover because she is a strong character that I enjoyed.
I think character names do play a big role in the plot.
I also do a little chart with the alphabet to make sure I don’t use the same starting letters.
Here’s a great site to get names that were popular in different generations (ie, you might not want to name your 65-year-old character Madison) SSA Site
I can’t have the first letter (or first sound!) of any name either!
Which makes it tough when I have to change a character’s name. If I want to change an “E” name to an “A,” I have to go through the whole cycle and change everybody!
We’re the mad scientists of letters, we writers.
LOL :)
I love Myrtle Clover–it so fits the character. I have never tried to name characters since I haven’t written fiction yet, but it sounds like it could be fun.
karen
When I leave here, I’m going to try Seventh Sanctum. It’s new to me. Thanks. The naming process never ends. And it’s so important.
Once a protagonist started with one name. I never could get a grip on her, so I changed her name. Worked wonders.
I use a mix a current names, family names all mixed up, names of streets and towns. Whatever sounds good and fits the character and story.
Since I write historicals, I have the challenge of keeping my names appropriate to the time period. Not much room to shoot the moon! But I usually find LOTS of interesting names in biographies and records of the time period I’m studying. Even if it’s not the most interesting name, it fits! For example my two MC’s in my contracted book are John and Elizabeth! But at that time nearly everyone was named that!!
I’m terrible–I tend to use names of people I know. Oddly enough the MCs of my last two books have both had names that started with A (male) and S (female). And that was totally accidental. A sign?
But my favorite character name is probably Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights. If you can forget the silly orange cat, it’s actually a brilliant name. Great post.
Like Cassandrajade, my characters begin with the name.
And names just come to me. It’s funny, because with a series of five books, I look back at Book I and wonder from where that name came.
I tend to stick to simple names. Many are Biblical, such as Sarah, Michael, and James. And like you, I try for a variety so names don’t get mixed up.
My favorite? Matt. Simple, strong, sensitive. If I’d had children, our boy would’ve been nameed Matthew.
I’m trying to read a biography about Jane Austen, and between the family names that start with the same letter (Hastings and Hancock) and the fact that everyone used the same first names over and over and over again (George, Cassandra, Jane, John, William, etc.), I’m tearing my hair out trying to keep people straight. And I’m maybe 20 pages into the book. :P
My secret weapon for naming characters is Beyond Jennifer & Jason, Madison & Montana, a baby name book by Linda Rosenkrantz and Pamela Redmond Satran. What I love about it and find really useful is that the names are presented by topic, country, era, type, etc. The section I use the most is A Concise History of American Baby-Naming, which gives the most popular names for different eras and make it really easy to give characters a name that fits the time they were born in. I also love the Nature and Virtue names lists, as well as the lists of popular names in different countries. It beats any other baby name book I’ve ever tried.
I’ve discovered if I’ve named the character incorrectly I can’t write them. Voldemort is one of the all time great names; it just sounds evil.
I try to use names that won’t leave people puzzling over how to pronounce them, mainly because it drives me crazy as a reader!
I use baby lists for the year of the character’s birth, but thanks for the link to that generator. It looks interesting.
Elspeth
Do people who read and don’t write, really know the painstaking details that one must keep track of to write a novel or fiction of any kind? They just sit down unsuspecting in a quiet comfortable place to read not knowing about all this. :)
I name my characters very carefully. I think of their age, if they are city or country people, kind and cosy types or spiteful and mean.
Sometimes it is difficult for me to select an appropriate name when I write stories in English, because I don´t know enough about what the various classes called their children in this or that decade.
As long as I write funny stuff it doesn´t matter too much (anyone can make up silly names), but if I had to write a serious piece in an American setting, I would certainly have to ask some of my blog friends.
I read a book where two characters had the same first name. One was a main character and one had a very minor role. I thought the author was going to somehow work a reason for the same name into the plot – he didn’t. It ruined the book for me. I felt the author wasn’t creative enough to think up a different name.
I start out with a character name, but like you my names often change as the story and character develops.
I haven’t heard of the Seventh Sanctum name generator, but I am going to bookmark it for future use. Thanks.
Naming is everything to me. I am not happy until everyone has a name that works. My sister didn’t like the name of one of my four main characters in my first novel. I did. She got so pissy about it – was very bizarre. The name meant bitterness and I wanted it. It is there with a slightly different version – it went from Moira to Maura, a bit softer. My protagonist in my murder mystery series is an RCMP officer named Kitty MacDonald. I got a bit of grief from some readers on that name – come to think of it my sister again – grrrr. But I’m sticking to it. It is her full name – not a nickname – and of course it caused her all sorts of grief in training and with some of the guys she works with but she’s come to appreciate it for that and so do I. I really try to make the last names suit the places I choose. There are lots of unusual family names in Nova Scotia – Outhouse, Barkhouse, Zwicker, Oickle, Zinck, etc… I do get stubborn with names though I will change them under certain circumstances. I have a gardener in the one I’m working on now, who told me her name was Shyla Thorne. My husband thought that was a bit much so I changed it for awhile but she insisted so I changed it back.
Loved the pirate ship name generator at Seventh Sanctum. I don’t really have a use for a pirate ship name right now, but it was fun! Thanks for the link.
Lorel–I LOVE Celtic names! But they can be hard to read, can’t they. I’ve had to ditch most of the ones I’ve chosen.
Kristen–Personality does make a different, doesn’t it? Makes me feel like we should name our kids after we’ve known them for 4 or 5 years, instead of when they’re newborns!
Margot–Oh, I know what you mean. Certain characters I could NEVER change. But I was asked to change quite a few with “Pretty” by my editor at MI and I just shrugged and went with it. But it’s easy to do because some characters tell US their names!
Cassandra–You’ve thought a lot about naming! You’re so right though. Some people will definitely associate different names with specific things, even after many years. Lizzie could remind someone of Lizzie Borden. Using names that celebrities might share is dicey, too. Good points.
Corra–Right…sounds, too, I forgot about that. We ARE mad scientists, aren’t we?
Terry–Wow! I didn’t even consider carrying it out that far, but I can see where that would be important. And if someone is knocking out a series, reading one right after the other…we have to keep up with it from one book to the next.
Michele–I know what you mean! I can’t use my college yearbook for names for that very reason (all preppy.) I can use my high school yearbook, though.
Jemi–I know what you’ve mean. It’s easy not to see it, isn’t it?
Diane–I like Matt too. And I’m fond of uncomplicated names like Biblical ones (well, like *some* Biblical names. Wouldn’t want a Ezekial in my book or something. :) )
Mason –Myrtle will stick with you! :) Too funny…I think she’d like that. Good old-fashioned Southern name.
Alan–Cool! Thanks for the site. You’re absolutely right about the name thing…I’ve just used names of very elderly friends and family…but I’m running dry. Thanks for the link.
Jane—I know what you mean. Little things like that can trip you up as a reader. Seems like the editor would have said something.
Jan–That is SO funny about your sister! People get really keyed up about names, sometimes. I have a cousin who was SURE that I’d used her name for a victim in my first book. She was not amused. But honestly, I didn’t even think about her when I was writing the character.
I would have never imagined there was a name generator- how fabulous! I’m definitely going to take a stab at it.
I do have at least one character that I know needs a name change.
As always a relevant post for me, thanks Elizabeth!
I love the name generator (Sanctum)! Cool site thanks for the tip.
One thing for me is that I want multi-cultural names/characters. My writing is set in Toronto and this city is incredibly diverse; and I want to reflect the diversity (there are over 100 daily or weekly periodicals printed here in a language other than English).
But, I don’t want names that readers cannot pronounce, so this can be a challenge. And I want “realistic” names.
Often what I will do is use the first name of a friend or acquaintance (or the bank teller who handled my transaction this morning or the waitress who served me at a restaurant yesterday) plus the surname of a different friend or acquaintance.
Whatever the method, I do put a lot of thought into it – the names have to feel right!
Cheers, Jill
“Blood and Groom” is now in stores!
http://www.jilledmondson.com
My wife was complaining about this very point in an audio book she was listening to just a couple of months ago. I think it’s even more of a problem in audio books.
Best Wishes, Galen.
Karen–I think it’s one of the most fun things to do as a writer. And it’s pretty easy, too!
Jill–That really IS a challenge. You want the realistic multi-cultural names, but not the pronunciation hassle.
I’ve mixed and matched names, too. And when I come across a really cool name, I’ll jot it down for later.
Carol–Funny how a little thing like a name change can make all the difference! Mixing and matching is fun…lots of different sound combinations to try.
Jody–Very hard! But then, you’re used to research with historical novels. I bet it IS hard to get away from John and Elizabeth! Too funny!
I spend a lot of time picking out character names. But I’m not cemented to a name. If I come up with a better one that fits the character, I’ll change. It sometimes will take a while to remember the new name, though.
Helen
Straight From Hel
With fantasy I get to make up my names–so yeah! I also love baby name books. As for favorite names, I’ve always loved Dickens’ use of Uriah Heep.
Helen–Ha! You’re right about that…sometimes I still think of them with the old name, so I’ll have them called Michelle/Mildred in my ms until I’ve finished writing it and can do a find/replace.
Carolina–I do that some, too. But it’s gotten me in trouble before. I assure people that even if it’s their *name*, it’s not their *character*.
Heathcliff was *perfect*! Heathcliff and Catherine…the perfect pair.
Kit–Ohhh, that would be so confusing. Does the biographer at least tag the characters so you know who he’s/she’s talking about?
And thanks for the tip on the resources–I always need names, so I’ll check them out.
Elspeth–Too funny! It’s true…it’s like the character has rejected his name and won’t be written. I’ve done that before, too…had to change the name.
Teresa–I’m thinking they don’t! I guess if we writers have done our job well, it should read really effortlessly. But so much work goes into the effortless feel.
Dorte–That would be really tough. It would require so much research to find appropriate names from different countries. I’d probably have to cheat and use popular TV or movie names from that country (pairing the name with a similar type of character in my book) and hope somebody at the publisher would stop me if I got too far off-track.
Janel–Isn’t that fun? We just never know when we might need something like that… :)
Tamika–Hope it helps! I read your blog post today–hope you feel better soon.
Galen–I didn’t even think about that, but you’re so right. Then you can’t even flip back to see who’s talking.
so true. Names do have a lot of baggage behind those seemingly lyrical arrangement of letters. We cannot help but affix stereotype images of certain personalities from the mere sound of their names. Voldemort is a very clever name indeed. And of all the books I couldn’t think of any other character name that could top this because it really stands out! It’s evil-sounding, unique, fantasy-related, and magically ancient at the same time.
Distressed–All the elements are there for the perfect bad guy. :)
Great blog. Thanks for the reminder. Names are quite important in a novel. They reveal character, whether we want them to or not. And you’re right about mis-naming on purpose. I named a character Manly when he was nothing less than.
Tara–Oh my gosh. LOVE Uriah. Well, I love to hate him. ‘Umbly’ this and ‘umbly’ that! He was perfect and so was his name. And *Scrooge*! Dickens was such a genius.
Sylvia–So ‘Manly’ just poked fun at his ineptitude in that department. I love it!
Getting names right is really important, and not as easy as it seems. If a book is set in the present and in a recognisable location, it’s also important to avoid libelling real people unintentionally. My pet method of doing this is to use the surnames of well-known footballers and other sportsmen who are not associated with the book’s setting as a source.
Martin–That sounds like an excellent method of getting surnames. And they’re in a completely different world than the literary world, so no problems with recognition there.
I accidentally named a minor (but important) character “Edna Kravitz.” I picked the first and last names separately and didn’t notice until later that that was the name of the nosy neighbor on Bewitched.
Now, of course, that name is fixed in my head, and the character is more of a Euro-trash version of “M” from the recent Bond movies. Sigh….
A friend of mine on Twitter recommended a Mac generator (download from the Apple site or the direct link to the Apple page is http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/productivity_tools/namegenr8er.html). It’s been very handy for me! You can even specify how “obsolete” or unusual you’d like to aim for.
Voldermort is one of my favourite character names too – just the name conjures pure evil.
I’m hopeless at names – normally just pick names at random from people I know. And as they evolve, their names often change.