Greetings Everyone!
From a wild, windy and rain-lashed corner of Britain, I've been thinking about one of the aspects I adore about writing. Naming characters!
My notebook is full of first names, surnames, pet's names - gathered from all kinds of influences. Shakespeare is a welcome source (I have Miranda, Orlando and Ophelia) as are place and road names (Fitzpaine, Violetta Bungalow, Headley Chase) I've even named two villians from Blogger's word verification! In a short story Romance, I used the names of two beloved, late rellies. Their spirit living on somehow.
Something that I've found oddly therapeutic, is naming a rotter after a real person in my life. I don't consider myself particularly vindictive but I've found a couple of old ghosts well and truly exorcised. A former very close friend betrayed my family most cruelly and the hurt lingered for a long time. She actually has a very pretty name so I kept her first name and gave her a slightly comic surname, which means 'greedy' in Old English. She has a small role in my NaNo novel and I ended up treating the character quite sympathetically. An interesting exercise in archetypes and providing a DIY in Jungian therapy!
I'd love to hear your own naming dilemmas and experiences. What infuences you when you name your characters?
Have a great Wednesday x
I both love and hate finding names. Some come to mind almost immediately, like Morwenna Maddocks and Lucian King for The Devil's Song. Other times they refuse to name themselves, and I will spend hours combing naming sites until one catches my attention. Talking of blogger word verification, yesterday it gave me the name of a rather sinister character for my Cosmic Seed WIP. Don't you love it when that happens!
ReplyDeleteI love finding names, they seem to pop into my head to fit the character, though I've just realised I names one Claire Sinclair!
ReplyDeleteI like your idea of using an old Nemesis as a villian in a story. Excellent! Only wish I could remember their names now LOL! :O)
Sometimes I will just think of a name, either one that already exists or that I made up, but sometimes I find myself doing a lot of research. When I can't think of one immediately, I Google the kind of name I want--Arabic, English, Chinese, Italian, etc.
ReplyDeleteLOL. I've never deliberately named someone after a person in real life; if someone was horrible enough I just might, though.
Yes - I've had some bad experiences with almost every Deborah in my life, so that name's come up a few times for my baddie. I'm in the US, so I often cruise the Social Security site for popular baby names in the birth year, if I want a character's name to scream "I'm 25 (or whatever) years old." Or I'll figure out a family theme.
ReplyDeleteLove your idea of using the WordVerify!
HA! Name karma! I love playing around with names; sounds and meanings and combos. And using a name of someone you don't like is so much fun!
ReplyDeleteLike Madeleine, character's names just pop into my head, but I have huge problems coming up with satisfactory, imaginary place names and so always either imply or use a real place. I'm aware too that there is a regional bias for surnames so might search one of the surname maps if I'm dealing with an unfamiliar area.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should keep a notebook. I usually just take an hour to brainstorm unique alien-sounding names and use the simple, short ones.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of a something I saw on a t-shirt once.
ReplyDelete"Be nice to me, or I'll write you into my next novel."
For the main characters, I try to create meaningful names that reflect their personalities or strengths. The only thing I'm careful about is making sure the names are easy to pronounce. Long, contrived names are a no-no.
I love names too - the captcha screens have thrown up a few good ones, and because I'm writing fantasy I'll mess around with some real ones to get some new variations. I get very excited when they fall in your lap - on the train home yesterday I passed a house called King's Acre - brilliant! Gonna use it in the WIP. Think I surprised the old gent next to me when I shrieked and plunged into my bag for a pen and notebook!
ReplyDeleteOh I wouldn't dream of naming my characters after someone I detest - simply because I'd never tarnish my story with their ilk! But I will use their characteristics and quirks and destroy them in my stories! LOL!! Yes, I am vindictive that way! LOL!!!
ReplyDeleteTake care
x
The post in itself is interesting about names, but the comments are fun. I'm seeing lot of my friends here trying out names of people they don't like, and writing them in stories.
ReplyDeleteWhat about as a challenge, pick a person's name whom you don't like and write about that person making him a good character? A person whom you can start liking?
What a fun post... How nice of you to be sympathetic toward your villain at the end. It goes to show you what a kind person you are.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE names. Sometimes they just come to me and other times I research a bit. In my first novel I knew the MC would be Amber because of her honey-toned hair. And I named her best friend Nina because she is petite and I always associate that name with someone tiny.
Others I pick because I just happen to like the name and I mold the character to it. Other times I just know the character must be named ....
In my second novel the name Danny just spoke to me for the blinded student.
Names, for me, have to have the right colour. Bad characters usually have names where the colour are so mixed it's awful, or dark green names. Characters I like usually have names with colours that match their personalities in some way. A character I created recently is called Fletcher Mardle - Fletch/Fletcher is a mostly light brown name, with a hint of baby pink, which matched him perfectly as he's rather cautious but likes to give the appearance of being confident in himself. Mardle is air-force blue and has a teachery sense, which works because he teaches magic (also blue) tricks to my main character. Anyway, names are fun. :)
ReplyDeleteAt one time I hated this entire business of naming characters. But, now I love it. I am always on the lookout for interesting and unique names.
ReplyDeleteI love naming characters and I always try to find a name that reflects some aspect of their personality.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought of keeping a notebook of names - and I like the idea of naming a character after a rotter. Most of my character names just come to me as I'm brainstorming.
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