Did you read about the mom
who wanted to give her toddler a new name because the one given at birth just
didn’t work very well. Hmm. Seems weird, but it happens to authors all the
time.
Naming for me has never
been a big issue, but I hear from writing friends that they suffer with the
search for the right name for each character. So I know I’m pretty lucky. Of
course, I’m also a wimpy Libran. Mostly my characters name themselves and
announce that to me as I write. I don’t fight back very often. Mostly the first
name out stays in.
But if I did have trouble,
what would I do?
Just for you, I did a bit
of research on naming characters and found some good stuff out there. Okay, it
wasn’t an exhaustive search, but good enough to generate some ideas if you
struggle with character naming. When I googled “how to name book characters”,
112,000,000 sites popped up. I only got through the first million. (Only
kidding—you can go for it!)
1)
Unsurprisingly,
the most common advice given is know your character well and see how the
name fits his personality, attitude/outlook on life, background, and foibles.
It is so obvious, but Frank may not
be the best name for someone who lies for a living. Or maybe you want to play
off that bit of incongruity.
2)
Choose a
name you can turn into a nickname.
Umm. Maybe, but I’m not a nickname person (never had one, never used one with
my kids). Some say this personalizes your character, makes her more knowable.
Maybe. You are the one who knows your character best. I do have one character
with a nickname. She named herself with the nickname. I had to figure out what
was on the birth certificate.
3)
Make a list
of first names of all friends. Make
a second list of your friends’ surnames. Mix and match to find a wide range of
usable names.
4)
Make sure
the name is era-, ethnicity-, social status-, and age-appropriate. Even with the modern trend to past names, Agatha
is not a likely choice for today’s six year old. There are tons of lists of
names by decade to help you with this.
5)
Another piece
of common advice is to check out name etymologies. You may love Linda
for your villainess’ name (I know a Linda who fits the bill), but when you read
that the “lind” stem means “weak, soft, gentle, friendly”, you might want to
choose Imelda (from “hild” meaning “battle or fight”). For one of my books, I
searched etymologies for female Gaelic names so I could imbue my character with
those traits.
6)
At Debbie’s
blog, “Moon in Gemini”, I found a really useful catalog of options, some
of which I hadn’t seen before like a couple of baby naming sites. (It’s been a
while for me to need to update that resource.)
She also listed a site for Deep
South names that could work very well for certain genres and eras. Debbie’s
post listed nine naming resources: telephone book, movie credits, most-common
surnames in 1990 census, two baby name sites, two southern names
sites,
fantasy names site, and magickal names book. As I said, a great resource!
7)
It is suggested
that you take a few minutes and look around the room. What objects or
animals could become names? “Pen” could become “Penn”; “book” into “Booker”,
the dog is “Barker”, and so on.
8)
I’ve been told
a way one author names his characters is to get out maps for the setting and
find town names to put together for first and last names. For example on a
map of Louisiana, I found Goldonna Pollock, Clinton Mangham, and Erath
Patterson. What fun, too, right?
9)
A great
suggestion for naming that appeared a few times, was to choose and name and
then say it aloud. Is it harsh sounding? Can you see yourself saying the name
easily and often? Hard consonant sounds add strength to characters; soft
consonants can sound more pleasing to the ear.
10) Another idea I ran across for naming was to scan
books of a similar type to see what names are used. I think this would be
especially helpful in science fiction, historical fiction, and fantasy. Those
names can be quite unfamiliar to readers. I love how books with aliens use a
lot of consonants together to create unique names.
11) Several sources suggest keeping a master
list of names that strike your fancy. When stuck for a name, try your list
first since those are ones that resonated at one time.
12) A unique idea is to randomly choose two
words from the dictionary, maybe move some letters around, and voila!
13) I’ve seen people advise you to consider
your character’s occupation and choose a name that fits. Not that I named
my culinary mystery protagonist “Cook”; I chose “Wesson” as her last name. The
cooking oil. Get it? Sometimes I crack myself up!
Some caveats:
a)
Keep an
alphabetical list of your character names. Don’t use “C” for twelve people even
if the sound varies! (I’ve done it.)
b)
Don’t get names
from the newspaper to avoid lawsuits. Okay, so maybe I’m paranoid, but why risk
it?
c)
If you’re
writing historical fiction, make sure you know if last names were in use.
Generally speaking, 12th century and earlier didn’t have surnames.
When they did come into use, they were often reflective of birth place (“Cliffford”), occupational (“Carpenter”)
or demonstrating relationships (“John’s Son” became “Johnson”).
d)
Do a search to
make sure no one famous already has that name. Avoid the hassle by choosing
another name. There are a million options. You’ll find another.
e)
To save
yourself a hassle with possessives and plurals don’t use names that end in “s”.
f)
Don’t wear out your readers by using too many
odd names. Odd names can interrupt the reading of the story. Use with caution.
Sorry the post got wonky today. I fought and fought with the formatting. This is my best shot! If you enjoyed it anyway, please share this post with
others. Thank you!
Facebook:
Writers, do you have trouble naming characters? This list of more than a dozen
ideas is just what you may need. Check out Angelica French’s suggestions. http://bit.ly/2eLjnuo
Twitter:
#Writers, have trouble naming characters? Check out @RomanceRighter’s for sources for naming characters. http://bit.ly/2eLjnuo
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