"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
So Shakespeare's Juliet says, but I can't say that I agree with her. Take the first immortal line of Melville's Moby Dick, "Call me Ishmael." We're involved with this character right away. Why? Ishmael is in dire straights, it's true, but it doesn't hurt that he has an interesting name.
And what of The Three Musketeers? If Alexandre Dumas had used the names Art, Phil, Bert, and Abner instead of D'Artagnan, Porthos, Aramis, and Athos, would we be as intrigued with his story? I don't think so. Dumas chose wisely. His musketeers sound strong, mysterious and noble. They enhance the musketeer legend without doing a thing. Art, Phil, Bert, and Abner do not. They'd fit in nicely on an episode of The Office, however.
It's a lot of responsibility choosing a name. Yet, the success of your work may depend on it. Have you ever found yourself irritated by a main character's name when you're reading a book? When the monikers are too trendy, it drives me crazy and distracts me from the dialogue, plot, etc. I find myself changing their names in my head as I go. No writer should put their reading audience through that. Here's what I mean by trendy. What if we used the currently popular Addison and Burke for two legendary lovers? They sound like a law firm or a handbag, for heaven's sake! I can't get past their labels to see the story. Oh, and I don't want to imagine I'm someone named after a food or a town or tree either. And please, don't do the funny spellings. It messes with my concentration.
Think of the stories that stay with us over time. Wuthering Heights . . . We are haunted by this dark tale of obsession and romance. Thank you Emily Bronte for giving us Heathcliff and Catherine instead of Lulu and Mortimer. Jane Eyre . . . Jane and Rochester are perfection. Hortense and Reginald wouldn't be.
'What's in a name?' Much.
I know whereof I speak on this. I have been saddled with my own name for over four decades. (Let me tell you, the elementary and teenage years were not easy.) It doesn't matter that I was called after two remarkable women among my progenitors of over a hundred and sixty years ago. That fact bears little weight now. Today, I know more pets named Roxy than I do people.
Tell me, gentle readers, now that I've finished my rant. How do you decide what to call your characters?
If it's any consolation I don't care much for my name either. I think it's boring. I want to be Elizabeth instead. To decide on a name, I write it and ponder it, changing as I go. Until finally there's no doubt in my mind that the name is absolutely perfect.
ReplyDeleteI'm really terrible with picking names and titles both, so I usually wind up changing characters names a dozen times before I'm satisfied. Sometimes I use baby name websites to look up meanings of names and see if I can find one that way.
ReplyDeleteI'm exactly like Sonya - I have a hard time picking names for my characters and they usually change multiple times throughout the first draft.
ReplyDeleteOooh that is a tricky one, I don't really know what name they will have until I get to know them better. until I do I give them some generic name that I like. Then it hits me and I say "Hey, I know you!"
ReplyDeleteHeathcliff, Catherine, Jane and Rochester. . . I want to read those again :)
I don't like trendy names in books. "Bella" in Twilight bugs me. I'm reading Shiver, and while the female protagonist is Grace, the male protagonist is Sam. I feel like there are so many Sams in the world and it's a big picture book name, so I wish the author went with something else.
ReplyDeleteI spend a lot of time choosing my characters' names, and often try to make their names fit who they are or some hint about the book.
In Accidental Tourist, I like the names Macon and Muriel.
I like Roxy! It's got style and verve!
ReplyDeleteNames are so important. I like names to match the time frame and generally to be 'shortenable'. I like to use nicknames in real life and I want my characters to have that option as well.
Haha... I would probably annoy you with my names. All of my main characters in everything have uncommon first names. Usually I make it part of the plot, so at least they recognize how weird it is. I don't know... I get tired of "Jack" and "Charlie" being the protags of every book. But I've always been odd, so this is just a little quirk of mine. :)
ReplyDeleteI like the name Roxy, also. I just met a third grade student with the same name, spelled the same way, and I thought of you. ;)
I still have my characters named Girl, Boy, Friend and Evil. Temporarily of course. I just haven't found the perfect names yet. I want them to fit and mean something. Great post!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, you don't like Hortense? That's my great grandmother's father's sister's... nah. Kidding. :) Names are definitely tricky. In my current WIP I totally felt like the characters were mocking me behind my back until I got their names right. I honestly had the feeling that they already knew their names and were withholding them from me for fun. I probably shouldn't admit so much crazy. :)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, Roxy is an awesome name. Lindsey is ok... I liked it when I was a kid and no one else had it, but now it's more common, and since mine is not spelled the way most people spell it, it just gets spelled wrong more often.
But names have always interested me. When I was a kid I spent hours pairing fist and middle and last names to see what I liked best. Again, the crazy. :)
About 85% of the students in the school where I teach are Indian. Their names were, at first, incredibly foreign to me (no pun intended), I'd get my list and trip over the pronunciations for a while. I'm not trying to be funny, they were difficult for most of the teachers. Now we are quite used to it, I could tell you the most popular boys' and girls' Indian names. Many of them have very rich and interesting histories like yours.
Names are a big deal and I agree that they can be perfect or eh or distracting. Oh, the pressure! Alyson, I love Girl, Boy, Friend, and Evil!!! Reminds me of my daughter, who calls every villain in every movie or show "The Mean"! :D
Honestly, how lame is it that I just go with what pops in my head first? LOL
ReplyDeleteI just realized my characters names start with A, B, C, and D. Opps. I'd better change them. =) I agree, names are super important! =)
ReplyDeleteI am totally struggling with a character name! I changed one, because it didn't feel right, but I loved the way it sounds. I picked another that suits the character more, but it doesn't flow through the narrative as easily.
ReplyDeleteGreat post.
Shelley
Well, my name is Viva, which I hate, so I use VR. But Viva was my grandmother's name and she loved it. Having a name I despise has made me uber-aware of character names. I tend to name characters after people I know, which in hindsight has proven a pretty lame way to go. LOL!
ReplyDeleteBTW: There's a little something waiting for you over on my blog.:)
This may be bizarre, but my recent WIP started with a name and a title even before the plot was born. Polly Sterling. It says so much to me (but I'm way biased, of course!)
ReplyDeleteDagnabit, I was sooooo hoping you were going to tell me the magic formula for choosing just the right names.
ReplyDeleteI keep changing my names as well. I originally had Faith and Jackson, but Faith is a little too whack-you-upside-the-head since her faith is tested, and I like the name Jackson, but I've been seeing it everywhere so now I wanna change it, but to what?
Considering changing Faith to Kipling (for reasons to be revealed in the book...) and I've got to come up with TWO names for Mr. Evil cuz he's pretending to be someone he's not you see...oh, the pain never ends.
Gimme a jingle if you come up with that magic formula! Can some software genius create a naming engine please?
I usually look around the room and end up with characters named "Ticonderoga" or "Coffee Mate." I do not recommend this method.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to change a character's name since I have too many characters whose names start with the same letter. I think it's harder to change a name later than it is to come up with one in the first place.
ReplyDeleteIt depends on the characters. The main character names just came to me. Sounds hokey, but they told me their names.
ReplyDeleteAs far as secondary characters, once I knew their background, I searched for baby names of their origin.
I always want to pick names that have meaning. Either in another language or have a famous character's or person's background to fall on. But then I feel like that's saying way too much about the character. It feels forced. Names are hard. Usually they just come to me and I roll with it.
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteI wish I could be as inventive as some of my fave authors!
I do love Thomas Hardy character names: Gabriel Oak from Far from a Madding Crowd was as his name suggested - he stood resolute and strong and true in the face of proud Bathsheba Everdene's vanity!
And what of Tess of the d'Urbevilles? What a name! Destined for tragedy!
And what about Charles Dickens' character names? Mr Ebenezer Scrooge - does what is says on the tin. David Copperfield - apt for the many adventures and tragedies and ultimate redemption he went through. And barmy Miss Haversham and houghty Estelle.
:-)
Lovely!
Take care
x
I
It drives me nuts when character names don't match their ages. In Ireland especially, traditional and saints names dominated for so long that if I read an Irish novel with a 60 year old character named Dylan or Tristan I would probably kill someone.
ReplyDeleteI tend to choose my character names by the character's age and background. www.behindthename.com is great, it lists most popular names by date for a lot of countries, including the UK and the US (their Ireland lists don't go back very far, sadly).
I don't like my own given name much, I think it's too old-fashioned (I'm 26 and I think I sound about 80). But I was named after my father's mother, an extremely inspirational woman whom I sadly never met, so I'll never change it. I love my surname, though, and I'm never changing that either :)
Oh, names. Names... The greatest obstacle between me and my writing.
ReplyDeleteHere's the truth: I come up with one or three girls' names and use them over and over (with minor variation, depending on the fit) for years at a time. That's how hard it is for me to come up with names. And two of these names I made up myself, so...
See, names are a big deal to me, because my name is so odd: Cherokee Summer. I'm pretty sure the mental picture you get of that name is not a pasty-pale, 5'3, UK-descended girl, right? Right.
I like names that are familiar, but not overused, and I abhor ridiculous spelling.
So funny you mention this, today! After querying an agent last week, I realized my MC's name is the same as one she used in her debut novel. I freaked out and worried she would think I was a crazy fan or something. I hope I'm just overthinking this one, but something tells me I'll get a big R from her.
ReplyDeleteLesson learned: always read (or at least scan) the agent's book before submitting to them. Have a great Humpday, Roxy! Tory
I browse baby name websites and sometimes I think of ethic origins for names: like I'll google Chinese names, or African names. Sometimes I just make the names up!
ReplyDeleteI get many of my name ideas by looking at the social security site. You can search the most popular 500 names by year. For the "relatable" character, I try to choose from the top 100 for their age (mid-1990s for a contemporary teen) and lower on the list for more "stand out" or oddball characters.
ReplyDeleteOh, I KNOW about name issues! ;o) I agree with you 100%. Names are crucial.
ReplyDeleteI love naming my characters and they come easily to me. (HATE coming up with book titles, though. SO stressful...the pressure!)
I too hate weirdly spelled names where you aren't sure if you're pronouncing it correctly throughout the entire book.
I also hate when a writer has several characters with similar names, or that start with the same letter. It get's confusing. (Tom, Tim and Ted. Are they kidding me?)
I hope everyone is feeling better. :o)
Gotta admit to using the names database at SSA.gov -- they show you the most popular names by year and decade. That or I ask a ballet mom for her favorite name during The Kiddo's dance class. :-)
ReplyDeleteI've written one story in particular that required a sexy Spanish vixen with a noble heart. I did something I'd never done before and asked my husband to name this unknowing seductress. He gave me Roxana. It worked perfectly.
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ReplyDeleteI choose my characters names by thinking about what their lives tell the reader. Then I go with that theme. Sometimes. Other times they choose their own names.
ReplyDeleteI once met a girl who was called Jane Eyre. Seriously. She was an English major at my university.
Jai
Names are SO important. I usually don't have too much trouble coming up with names for my characters. Sometimes they come fully formed, name and all. Other times I troll around in my trusty baby name book (I have the best one eva!) until I find one that IS the character. Because they will not let me write about them until I know their names.
ReplyDeleteSo far I have no method. The names just came to me and they seem to fit my characters. I agree they are so important. The good ones are the ones that stick with you.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a creative namer. I usually just throw in a name as a place holder thinking I can change it later on. I do change a few names by the last draft but I keep most of the originals because I'm just used to them.
ReplyDeleteThe naming of the characters is great fun. In fact, I named one Roxy. She's the artist. A little undecided on her coffee drink, but fabulous with a putty knife and bold colors. Lolly's the grandma. Laura has five kids. Aubrey cuts hair and has sass. Jewell is in need of a make-over. She's a little too sweet.
ReplyDeleteWhen I wanted to name a teenage girl for my drama, I went on a teen's girls FB page and looked at the most common names of her friends.
I love the name Roxy! There's so much personality to it. I'm not as creative as I should be when it comes to characters' names. And I often have to cycle through a whole lot of possibilities before I find the one that feels right. I also have this tendency to want to call all of my male characters "Jonathan"!
ReplyDeleteI'm not so enamored of my name either, but there you go. Laurel (my CP) is HUGE on making names mean something. I'm starting to agree with her. The right name adds depth and layers to a narrative, and allows the reader to draw conclusions about the characters before anything of substance even happens in the book.
ReplyDeleteSure takes a while to get the names right, though. Sheesh.
Hmm. I just pick a name. Like naming my children, I just find one I like. Occasionally, it will have a special meaning or mean something special. At times, a name is picked that isn't my favorite, but it has more to do with variety. My latest heroine is Stacy. Not really a name I would pick for one of my children...not a name that I particularly like, either, but it just came to me with the story and stuck. :)
ReplyDeleteAlways so hard. I'm with you, I hate when I have to reread a name a dozen times to figure out what it actually is. Nice blog!
ReplyDeleteRoxy! A fabulous name for a fabulous dame! Ironically, though, it was our late poochi's name. Actually, his previous owner had named him Rox (his Pomeranian step-brothers were named Scotch and Water), but we affectionately lengthened it to Roxy on most occasions. He was a great dog. We miss him.
ReplyDeleteI was coming up with cool names for my female characters, but one critter complained my male names were all short (less than 6 letters) and all-American. What can I say? They fit the characters.
ReplyDeleteThank you for those awesome comments! You have given me some great ideas. In spite of my dubious feelings on the matter, I do appreciate your support of my own name. I especially like that Aleigh had a dog called Roxy. And it was a BOY! I am glad he was a great dog. Hilarious! Love that. I am sorry he is no longer with us however. Have an excellent writing day, everybody!
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