When I was in high school, this famous Dickens scholar came to speak to our school and he said that Dickens had three rules for writing that he had learned from his childhood nanny and her penchant for telling him horror stories. Now, for the life of me I can’t remember the other two, but I do remember his obsession with character names. Now, sometimes Dickens gets a tad outlandish with his names, but he can get an awful lot of play out of names with the right sound and cadence, if not out and out meaning. There’s a reason that “Scrooge” has passed into the lexicon.
I love character names. I spend a lot of time thinking about them. Every time I’ve worked in an industry where I come across names on a regular basis (say, a mail room, a publisher, an insurance company), I take note of names I think are interesting and different for use in later situations and stories.
Despite this, both of the main characters in my published/contracted books have names that came to me fully formed. Amy Haskel was Amy Haskel from the get-go. And I knew Astrid’s name was Astrid before I knew anything else about her (other than the fact that she was a unicorn hunter). The fact that both of these characters have names that start with A is a coincidence, though. I have no special interest in A names.
I have other strange stories about naming characters, though:
*I once wrote a character whose name changed in the middle of a page. I didn’t notice, and kept typing along, using the new name. When I finally realized what I’d done, I succumbed to the universe and went with the new name. His character was much better for it. When his name was Victor, he was a different person than when his name was Vincent. Still not sure why, since I don’t think the names Victor and Vincent necessarily have the connotations his character ended up having when I gave them to him. It may be like certain colors against different skin tones — they do totally different things to the base.
*That character had a sister, and though her name didn’t change, the spelling did. When I wrote the synopsis, I spelled her name one way. During the writing of the story, I became friends with someone who had the same name, spelled differently. When the character made her first appearance, she spelled her name like my friend. After finishing the story, it occurred to me that this character, who was not American, would actually pronounce her name quite differently. I still have a problem thinking of her in that way.
*I’ve since removed her from that story and put her in a different book, and as a nod to her prior incarnation, I’ve given her a name that’s a play on her old one.
*Poe didn’t have a real name for most of Secret Society Girl. True story. I never even use his name until Under the Rose.
*I once changed a character’s name three times while writing him (and after selling the story he was in — boy was I nervous to tell the editor I’d changed his name!) This one was on purpose. None of the other names stuck. The third one was the charm.
* Malcolm Cabot’s original last name wasn’t Cabot. The name I gave him belonged to a real politician (unbeknownst to me) and it was decided that we’d best change it, for legal purposes.
This is all very much on my mind, as I am grappling with the naming of a new character. I’m not quite sure what to call her. I’ve considered a bunch of different names, but none of them fit right yet. I’ve even given her a placeholder name for plotting purposes, but I still don’t like it. Every time I type it, it grates, like a sharp stone inside my boot.
For the readers amongst you: what do you think of character names? Do you like unusual names? “Normal” ones? Does it bother you when too many names in a story are too similar (same starting letters, same sounds or endings)?
For the writers, how do you choose character names?
February 20th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Well, for my wip, I’m just going with something that flows – it’s SF, so there’s plenty of room for made up.
One of the names is actually based on a friend/co-worker who I keep telling I am going to kill him in my book. The name is a mash-up of his, but the nickname is what is sticking with the character.
Ike.
I’m trying to work another friend in similarly, but I don’t plan on killing his character.
Usually, when a new character pops up, I try three or four names, to see if one sticks – then I move on.
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February 20th, 2008 at 10:25 am
I should say, anyone who does read my book, should it make it that far to first readers and such –
I have no specific plans to kill Ike yet, I just like telling my friend his character is going to die. Horribly.
It’s a running joke. Probably not funny to anyone other than me.
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February 20th, 2008 at 10:30 am
I name characters after friends. I have a running joke with one of my friends that I always put her in stories as “the other woman.”
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February 20th, 2008 at 10:59 am
I always have a tough time with character names. I got a lot from TV and playing with combos.
I’m working on something new right now and the main character’s name has changed three times and I suspect it will change again since it’s still not flowing for me. The Hero’s name has changed too, but I think I’ve finally got it right. I can really see him responding to the name I’ve given him. For her, I imagine calling the name and someone else turning around so I know it won’t fly.
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February 20th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
I search the net for names and meanings. I’ve learned early on not to become completely attached to the name until after the 3rd chapter. If I can’t remember the name or something else keeps popping in my head during that time, then it’s gotta change.
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February 20th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
I just recently had the rock in the shoe experience, Diana. I’ve never had so much trouble naming a character–especially a heroine. I wanted a name that could be shortened to a boyish nickname so I started with Jacqueline and shortened it to Jac. That didn’t work for me at all. I ended up with Sam/Samantha, not one of my favorite girl’s names, but it worked perfectly for my story. Good luck naming your character!
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February 20th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
David Drake suffered a particularly severe case of name-change-itis in “With the Lightings.” The back cover refers to “Lt. Cassian Daniels,” but in the book he’s Lt. Daniel Leary! Even the summary on the book’s Amazon page has the wrong name.
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February 20th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I try to pick a different letter of the alphabet for each character name. If the same letter does get used twice, it’s usually for one character’s first name, and the other character’s last name.
And I’ve always had a harder time coming up with masculine names than feminine names. Don’t know why.
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February 20th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
I love that Poe was only Poe for all that time. Then when his real name comes out, it’s like that one episode of the Brady Bunch where someone actually said Alice’s last name.
And no, I won’t say what that was.
Great post, D! I love to hear about how other writers grapple with names.
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February 20th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
I find myself drawn to using unusual names, but I try not to make them too trendy. And as a rule, I never use names that start with the same letter or even ones that sound similar. Usually, I come up with character names and a title before I begin writing.
It’s fun to cut out pictures and think up names that suit what I think their personality is like. I’ve quite a collection; now I just need to write their stories.
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February 21st, 2008 at 9:15 am
I also try not to make my names too similar — vary the first letter, the sounds and the syllables. Half the time I succeed
In FHT the main characters name was easy. And then I named a few characters before I realized that I wanted their names to have some significance. I think the hardest was one that I couldn’t get just right and I was whining to Diana about it and she made it perfect 
I still don’t really choose names for their meaning, but I like to find out their meaning after I choose them
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February 21st, 2008 at 11:45 am
I think you secretly have a thing for A names and want to name this character Annie
My one pet peeve with character names is if I’m not sure how to pronounce them. I spend too much time mulling over different pronunciations and it makes the story too choppy for me.
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February 21st, 2008 at 11:54 am
Ha! The only question I’ve ever gotten with the SSG books and names is about Odile, which is pronounced:
Oh-DEAL.
I named her after a friend of mine from college, who I thought had a beautiful French name.
But people have said to me “Oh-di-lay” and etc.
I think that’s why JK Rowling explained how to pronounce Hermione in book four of Harry Potter, because she was tired of people pronouncing it like Victor Krum was.
The names are a trifle more unusual in the unicorn book, though it is set in this world. Mnay of the names are more common overseas, though.
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February 21st, 2008 at 7:15 pm
I’ve been thinking long and hard about where I get my names, but the answer is… I don’t know. I look through baby name websites and books and if a name strikes me, I’ll try it on the character to see if it works.
For Unbecoming, Jacey and Noah were just there in my head and I have no idea why.
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