I was in Anderson, SC, on Friday morning, visiting my parents after talking to the Sisters in Crime’s Greenville chapter on Thursday night.
My mother likes to listen to a local talk radio show in the mornings. I didn’t pay any attention at all to it, so it was a sort of white noise in the background for me as I read the newspaper.
Suddenly my mother turned up the volume a little. “Let’s see what Pork Chop has to say,” she said, under her breath.
“Excuse me?” I asked. “What did you say?”
“I said that I wanted to listen to Pork Chop.”
“His name is Pork Chop?” It was hard to wrap my head around.
“Well, that’s what he goes by.”
Yes, I am a Southerner. Yes, there are names like Pork Chop here in the Southern US. I come across them all the time. They are not made up. You can’t make stuff like this up.
I also come across amazing names almost every day—first names and surnames. I got a truly incredibly surname the other day from someone who emailed me. I added it to my collection. I love my name collection Word file. Some of the names immediately evoke a particular image.
Sometimes? I get caught.
“Is that my name in your book?” I’ll be asked.
Well, it’s a name they share with the character, I’ll tell them. Sometimes I can’t even remember where I collected the name….TV? Radio? Newspaper? An acquaintance mentioned the name?
And I need a lot of names in my books. There are five suspects. There’s a sidekick and a sleuth and various supporting characters. Some characters make return appearances in books…some don’t. I always need fresh names for each book.
One thing I always make very, very clear—the characters are not the people whose names are used. I always make a point that they’re nothing like the character. Because people wonder…if I used their name, what else did I borrow?
Do you borrow names? Do you have a name collection like I do? How do you handle it if you use the name of someone you know?
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behindthename.com, my wonderful resource for names. The other fun thing about it is the random name generator, especially great for odd names.
When I first started writing, I had a terrible time with names. I thought it would be easy but it isn’t and I like the idea of a name file. Thanks for sharing, enjoyed the post.
Elizabeth – What a good idea to have a name file! I should do that. I don’t have a collection like that now, but it would be a great resource. So far, I’ve not had a lot of cases of people noticing their names in what I write. And when I am inspired by someone’s name, I try not to use both first name and surname. That way it’s less likely anyone will feel uncomfortable.
I’ve actually had two people ask me to use their names in my writing, and both times, I obliged (first names only).
I’ve never even thought of having a name file and that really would be so handy when I’m racking my brains for a name for a character. Thanks for the idea. Also off to check out the behindthename.com site too.
Way back when I was at Clarion, I was told to keep track of names I found, so that if someone decides to sue because I accidentally used their name, I could point to where I actually got it.
(They recommended using a phone book, actually, and then mismatching first and last names.)
Yes, I borrow names and like you if I get caught I make sure the person doesn’t bear any resemblance to the character. I also look in phone books and obits. Obits are wonderful. My partners and I are always needing names for our murder mystery business. Sometimes one just sticks and has to become a recurring character – my fave is one I have played ‘Ninette Beazley, nose of the north’. She is a very nosey investigative journalist – such fun to play. Also we’ll use joke names in the mystery biz, names like Augusta Wind, Herb Pate, and so on…names are sacred. And once a main character tells me his or her name, I get wild at those who try and disuade me.
Oh, yes, I use people’s names all the time. Sometimes I make slight changes. I still fictionalize them. The real person didn’t do ALL the things I wrote about. If I use a personality that I don’t really want to consult, I change the name!
Funny, names was the topic for the FFW yesterday! Since I write science fiction, my character names aren’t earthly, so I have to brainstorm unique names.
I spend a lot of time coming up with names because I find myself totally unable to write about a character until he or she has a proper name (I may change names later, but I must have the right sort of name from the beginning).
For my cosy mysteries the name game is an important part of the fun. Most of my “Cosy Knave” characters are edible – biscuits, candy bars, cheeses etc. In my new mystery the women have flower names, and all the locals are named after Yorkshire villages – Giggleswick, Askwith, Featherstone, Micklebring etc. So the naming part is definitely not why I got stuck in that story :)
It’s hard to invent good names. In my so-called novel (sometimes in progress) i took all the names from the member list of the San Antonio Rotary Club. Except the protag Tom Snare. If you’re into drumming, you know what it means >:)
Cold As Heaven
I love to watch for names and keep a list. Sometimes I make them up.
Heidi–Thanks for the tip! I *really* like unusual names.
Whalehugger–Looks like a great site, doesn’t it? Hope you end up with a great name file. :)
H.L. Banks–Hope it helps! I usually end up changing a character’s name at least once in the process.
Jan–I love them! Fantastic names you’ve got. :) And–I’d forgotten about the obits! I’ll have to wade through those soon.
Margot–Good point…yes, we can’t use *exactly* the same name.
No one seems to want their name in my books! Too deadly, I guess.
Mary–Sooo many good names out there.
Alex–You have to put more time in to it, for sure. :)
The Daring Novelist–Oh definitely! No first *and* last names. Mix and match! And the characters will, on purpose, be nothing at all like the person I took the name from.
Dorte–I think I probably do it backwards, most of the time. I have to sort of get to know the character as I write, to finally find a name for him or her (although some names do come right away.)
Those names are wonderful! Good enough to eat!
Cold As Heaven–Good place to find names! I’ve done it with the Junior League (similar idea.) Hmm…no, I don’t know much about drumming, but I know there’s a snare drum, right?
Thanks for the list idea and the Behind the Name site. I’ve used the obits, phone books, the society pages, as well as books and web sites listing baby names. When I needed names for men and women born from 1910-1940 and didn’t want to use relatives’ names, I found lots of sites giving the most popular names by decade. It’s pets I have trouble naming, so in keeping with the list idea, I’m going to start collecting human and pet names from Face Book and so forth.