Character Names – Getting it Right
Naming a character takes even more thought (and skill) than titling a book. Book titles always come to me in a flash. Oh, I may change my mind after the manuscript takes shape, but with a title, I always know when I’ve hit upon the right words. But names? That gives me fits. So many choices, and it can make (or break) a book to have the right (or wrong) name. Or worse yet, one that’s easy to forget.
I’m not sure if it’s harder for fantasy authors, since my books are all contemporary fantasy and I also have the same issues with more common names. I struggled with the name of the main character in Blood Faerie because unless you speak Gaelic, it’s pretty unpronounceable: Eilidh (AY-lee). I compensated for that by putting a “Fae Name Pronounciation Guide” before Chapter 1, but I’m still fully expecting at least a few people to complain about it. It’s one of those things that bothers some people. But it just felt right, and I had to go with my gut. I did consider spelling it Aylee instead of the proper Eilidh, but then I thought, won’t that be dumbing it down because I assume my readers can’t handle a non-English word? In the end, I decided I could trust you, my dear readers, to either figure it out or get used to it.
In real life we seem to accept what people’s names are without much comment. If a new neighbour moved in named Dudly and Florence Wabersinke (yes, that is a real surname), you probably wouldn’t think too much of it. But would you name a beautiful heroine Florence Wabersinke? I had a good friend with what I thought was a particularly obnoxious surname. I asked him if his wife hesitated to take it when they got married. He laughed. “No, possibly because her maiden name was Shitliff.” I told him she should have hyphenated.
Literary fiction seems to be full of real-sounding names, but when we write the lighter stuff (or create pen names for ourselves), we seem to want names that are strong, elegant, shmexy. (My first pen name was something of a stripper name. I did that on purpose though, because at that time, I had intended to write only for a smutty website, and it was appropriate to the tone of the website. But then I was encouraged to submit some of my stories to an erotica publisher, and it suddenly occured to me I could do this for realz. I’ve since retired that name, mostly because it was silly, like something you’d get out of the stripper name generator or using the well-known trick of your first pets name + the street you grew up on.)
I have nearly 800 friends on Facebook and over 200 fans on my author page. I looked at their names–almost all of them felt very real (along the Florence Wabersinke line) and it was very easy to pick out the pen names (along the Roxy deVane line). So how do you make characters’ names real without making them sound like Wanda Shitliff and appealing or sexy without making them sound like Fantasia Glitter? And there are even more naming traps out there than these. You don’t want a name that’s so common it’s forgetable, and you don’t want one that’s so weird that it sounds fake.
Here are my tips for naming characters:
1. Think about that character’s parents. Only, let’s say, adventurous people would name their darling, innocent girl Roxy. And would people really look at a little bundle of joy and think, “I know! Drake Killbourne Hardman sounds perfect!”
2. For surnames, I have started using the surname database. Obviously not every last name known to man is in there (and they seem to be largely European on this list), but it’s very helpful. It shows just how unusual those strong, pretty surnames are! Look on places like Facebook or LinkedIn where people tend to use their real names. There’s a lot more Gerbers and Smudges and Moodys than you might think. Plus I’ve found that the surname database often gives me a suggestion for a different spelling or similar name that I might not have though of. For example, if you were thinking of a name like White, you could also go with a related name Waite, Whit, Whitmore, Whitbridge, etc.
3. Watch out for overused names. There are a LOT of Damons out there playing the youre-the-only-woman-that-could-warm-this-cold-heart type of hero in romantic fiction. This is another reason to read widely in your chosen genre. I know that’s difficult, because there are a million books published every year and most of us could only read 50 of those at a maximum, but it’s worth knowing the trends in your field. I’m starting to see a lot of Zoes out there, and it’s enough to make me wish I’d named my Ordinary Angels heroine Francine instead.
4. Google your main characters’ names before setting them in stone. Obviously it’s nearly impossible to come up with a name that no one has used before. There’s just too damned many of us on the planet. But what you don’t want is to find out that your romantic character shares the name of someone who was quite well-known as an actor 20 years ago, or a serial killer, or a famous Nazi, etc. This goes doubly so if you’re choosing a pen name. (ALWAYS check on Amazon to make sure there isn’t already an author with the same name if you’re selecting a pen name. And if you’re going to publish under your real name, you might consider a pen name if your name is very common. If the other author writes erotica, and you write children’s books, you won’t want to see ANY crossover in your customers, and confusing readers is always a bad thing.)
5. Say name choices aloud, mindful of how they MIGHT be pronounced, even if it’s wrong. This is especially true with fantasy names, foreign words, or made-up names. Readers might pronounce Eilidh as AY-lee, EE-lid, ELL-ide. All of those were fine with me. I’ve heard of some authors making some rather embarassing choices though, when they didn’t consider alternate pronounciations of made-up names. Also consider that some readers skim pages, but others sound out words in their heads. You want to make sure you aren’t making them trip over your character’s names every time they see it, as might happen if the first name ends and the last name begins with the same letter, as in Morag Gentry. How many times do you say the G?
6. List ALL the character names in your book, first names AND last names. If you find you have a bunching of M or S names (the most common ones I see), spread them out over the alphabet. It WILL confuse readers, especially those who skim-read (like me), if you have a Catherine, Charlotte, Cecilia, and a Candice. And with ebooks, they won’t be able to flip back easily and see who was whom. I once worked at a gaming company, and I did the orientation just after people were hired. Part of the process was getting them to choose a name to use in our roleplaying world. After a couple of weeks doing this, I learned to say, “make it short, easy to spell, and PLEASE don’t make it start with M.”
7. Don’t get too attached. This can be said about all aspects of our writing, but be prepared to ask Beta readers what they thought of names, and if more than one says that Samantha Sue Smudge just didnt’ work for them, axe it. Beta readers are ALWAYS kinder than reviewers, and professional reviewers are always kinder than the general public.
So what are your naming techniques? Have you seen names you loved or hated in books? Noticed any naming trends?
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Great post, India, and so right! I spend ages on choosing the names of my characters, employing a lot of what you’ve listed above. Generally I’m quite fascinated by names anyway. It’s the first thing people know about you and yet you have no say in it! I remember meeting a friend for the first time twelve years ago and I said that I was sorry but rubbish at names and could she just remind me which was Joan and which Imogen. She looked at me with a certain amount of disdain and said, ‘Do I really look like somebody who’d call my daughter Joan?’ Ooops!
[ Follow me on Twitter: jaxbees ]
Point 6 is a big one for me. I seem to have a lot of characters with either their first names or surnames beginning with J of all letters. I’m not sure why, but I’m having to rename half my characters! I’m sure when I read through after the first draft is complete, I will find a complete mishmash of characters and I won’t know who is who!
[ Follow me on Twitter: rebeccajbradley ]
Great post! I have used two family surnames in my second novel and one in the first.
I have three tubs with little pieces of paper in them. One is full boys names, one of girls and one of surnames. If I get stuck, I play match the surname. I collect the names from various places.
I like to see the original spelling of unusual names. I often cannot say them, but enjoy seeing them on the page.
Fantastic post, India, and so timely for me–I spent about two hours yesterday doing exactly what you described for my new series: choosing names for everyone. I actually love the naming game and for some reason as soon as I hit on the right one it just feels… you know. How do writers describe it when they get it right? Just perfect, like the character finally whispered “Yes of course. And now that you’ve tuned me in, I’m going to get louder. Your own fault.”
[ Follow me on Twitter: PattiLarsen ]
oops! Missed the convenient Twitter tag at the end!
[ Follow me on Twitter: PattiLarsen ]
An excellent post, I really enjoyed reading it and found the tips all very useful. I do no.6 already, because I do have a tendency to overuse one or two letters, and I agree – it’s awfully confusing when character names sound too similar. Maybe that’s why I struggle with Scandinavian fiction so much – to me, all the names sound the same!
[ Follow me on Twitter: rinsimpson ]
Great post, and I too struggle with names. I like “strong, classic” names for my characters, so I go for the old movie star names instead of the flavor-of-the-day names.
Point #7 is spot on! Attachment to something as impermanent as a character name is just asking for trouble.
Thanks for a great list, India.
[ Follow me on Twitter: edenbaylee ]
A very helpful post! I struggle with naming, sometimes leaving blanks to deal with it later. I need to look into the surname generator.
Great post, India. In my character naming I ran across a very useful tip: maps.
When creating a character from a particular geographic area, I research city, state, street, and road names. You will always find something unusual and interesting when you do this.
Other times I will pick a trait and work backward to get to the name: i.e. strength -> rock -> Peter.
And I knew a lady named Fantasia Glitter. Very nice, but she did tend to wear a little too much perfume. Once a bird flew too close and died. True story.
Approximately.
[ Follow me on Twitter: WerewolfMike ]
There’s also various name generators available for various ethnics, e.g., Irish. You can find several sites that give the orgin of the names. You can pick a name with the orgin of “mighty fighter” for you superhero, “nasty deceiver” for your villian, etc.
With Irish names, at least, the name generator I use can generate traditional names or modernized names. Characters in the present-day stream get the modernized names while ancestors get the traditional ones.
Now, go write something great.
I confess, I just sit down and brainstorm unusual but simple names that would fit in science fiction and then pair them off with the right character. Takes me about an hour. I guess that’s just sad!
[ Follow me on Twitter: alexjcavanaugh ]
I have a ball coming up with names. It is a bit easier with Science Fiction as the names can be way out there. I try to not have the same first letters in any of the names of a novel it also stands true when naming planets… Awesome post India!
Great post, India.
Shitliff? Funny, in one of my other books (actually the sequel to The Lamdies Temperance Club’s Farewell Tour), my antagonist is a height and ethics challenged attorney named Herschel (Hesh) Lipshitz.
Great post!
As my current WIP is set in 1880 London, i went into my old friend “the ancestry database” and checked out the most popular names for girls born in 1865 London. I made a list and sorted out the ones that i liked. Some sounded too much like modern names (which i didn’t exactly want) and some too much like old fashioned fuddy duddy ones. I gave these to the servants. (Sorry but i did).
I made sure i had the most common names in there somewhere.
As for your suggestion about making sure you don’t have too many names that look the same. In this WIP i HAVE actually done this, for a couple of the girls that are in the background of the story and have a similar role. I needed both, but didn’t want to confuse the reader my two separate names. So they are similar. The reader probably won’t even know they are different and it doesn’t matter.
I made sure that the main characters all sound quite different to each other however.
Oh and I wanted my MC to be Edward, then rethought because I didn’t want to be compared to Twilight.
[ Follow me on Twitter: sarahketley ]
Great tips, India et al! I’ll bookmark this for future reference.
I usually choose my character names out of a baby book. God forbid I should ever have to name an actual child, LOL.
[ Follow me on Twitter: marjoriemcatee ]
That’s an interesting view on how to pick names. I never knew there was a database out there with surnames. I actually do the same thing with my sentences when I write them: picking the first word of each and seeing how many are the same or similar. It gives you a good view on what needs to be revised and helps the creativity process, I think.
Ava
I love finding names for my characters even though it takes me forever. I take into account their parents, their culture, their personality, etc. I also try to see if the name shortens into something unpleasant. Great post!
[ Follow me on Twitter: jenniferjoseph_ ]
Great post, India! I love coming up with character names. I go through historical lists, I google them, I skim through history and research books… It’s a fun process [g]
…should have hyphenated… made me laugh out loud. As for “the well-known trick of your first pets name + the street you grew up on”, my pen name would have been “Dammit Mike Elm-Street”.
— I’ve recovered from HELL WEEK and the smells of sulphur and brimstone washed away entirely. — Excellent post –
[ Follow me on Twitter: girlfrenkate ]
I do what Alex does when it comes to epic fantasy and took a step further. I have names listed in an Excel data base by alphabetical order and check off the ones I use. I make them up and utilize diphthongs & phonics to variate the spelling based on what the culture “sounds” like.
Had a ball spelling stuff backwards.
My name is Accebar Yawdaert. :p
Good post!
Step 1: Aidni Dnommurd..
Step 2: Ai’dni D’no Mur or D’nomu Idnia
It can be addictive and funny
Nede Eelyab
Ittap Nesral
Contemporary fic, I wait until their personality manifests, but my current WIP I’m making an “in” joke whereas many characters last names are local streets
[ Follow me on Twitter: creepywalker ]
Lovely post on naming characters. I always start with a filler name and then think of a suitable one that fits the character once the story is done, and all the character traits are clear.
[ Follow me on Twitter: damyantig ]