Character Names:

CJ.Wolfe · Oct 20, 2012

I just realised I have three characters with similarish sounding names.
Stevie (or Stuttering Stevie)
Freddie
And Genevieve who is nicknamed Genie (by Freddie who is her brother)

Freddie was originally named Evander, but I felt it was too old fashioned so I chose Freddie instead, and it suits him surprisingly well. So I guess I'm just wondering, are they too similar?

TheIT · Oct 20, 2012

Hmm... all three names end in "-ie" but start with different letters, plus two are male and one is female. I don't think those would confuse me too much. Just don't add Eddie, Teddy, and Betty into the mix...

You could spell it "Freddy" if you want. Or "Stevey".

Zeprimus · Oct 20, 2012

There's no set rules on things like this, but it depends on how things are laid out on the pages and whatnot. If the names are too close together and the reader gets them confusing (the sound alone could do that), then it might be a problem. However, like TheIT said, they are different names, so as long as they don't distract they should work fine. In the end, if the name doesn't need to mean something (cheap example, somebody named 'Chris' representing Jesus), then it doesn't really matter.

Susan Coffin · Oct 20, 2012

Stevie and Freddie changes Genie into the apple orchard while Eddie, Teddy, and Bettie stood by laughing.

Seriously, I don't have a problem with the names.

blacbird · Oct 20, 2012

Character names matter, but they don't uniquely matter, IMO.

Item 1: Stupid character names matter, in a bad way. If you're writing Fantasy stuff, and have characters named Stormbringer Thundergod, I'm probably going to throw that book in the trash right quicklike.

Item 2: Ditto the above, in the case of the unpronounceable, like Quxvilazgm.

Item 3: Real similarities involving very common names: a story containing a Jennifer, a Jean, a Jane, a Kate, a Kathryn, a Keith, a Kyle, a Kevin, etc. Be a creative writer, and do better. Some weeks ago I watched a major league baseball game, on TV, involving the San Francisco Giants and the Cincinnati Reds, and among the 18 starting players were five named Brandon. Even the normally staid announcers noticed this. Try not to have five Brandons in your story.

Item 4: If you really want to be symbolic or portentous with names, at least try to be subtle. Most literary names that become famous are distinctive, but do so almost by accident. I'm pretty sure there are a number of British citizens actually named "Harry Potter". On the other hand, "Atticus Finch" is likely unique among Americans, but it works.

Item 6: Eschew the name "Kate" at every opporunity. I have taught classes for several years at the local university, and I don't think I've had a "Kate" in any of them. Yet, somehow, that female name seems as abundant in fiction as fleas on a stray dog. I've had a class with three "Rachels" in it, others with many duplicates, including two "Deborah Beasleys" and two "Michael Arndts", in neither case related or knowing each other. Go figure. This fall I have a class with two "Alexas" in it (kind of a neat name, and never had another one in any class). Naming characters in fiction is not cosmological physics; choose names that won't confuse your readers.

Item 6: No name conveys exact meaning to a reader. I don't know how many times I've seen posts here that maintain, with vigor, that a given character named something like "Angela" cannot be named anything other than that, because she fits "Angela", period. I've known a dozen Angelas, none of whom fit any stereotype. What you, dear author, identify with a given name, is by no means what your reader will identify with a given name. Forget that crap, and write your story. What "Angela" does is a hell of a lot more important than what her name is. We can identify "Ted" with"

Ted Kennedy
Teddy Roosevelt
Ted Williams
Ted Bundy

caw

Foozle · Oct 21, 2012

blacbird said:
Item 4: If you really want to be symbolic or portentous with names, at least try to be subtle. Most literary names that become famous are distinctive, but do so almost by accident. I'm pretty sure there are a number of British citizens actually named "Harry Potter". On the other hand, "Atticus Finch" is likely unique among Americans, but it works.

Item 6: No name conveys exact meaning to a reader. I don't know how many times I've seen posts here that maintain, with vigor, that a given character named something like "Angela" cannot be named anything other than that, because she fits "Angela", period. I've known a dozen Angelas, none of whom fit any stereotype. What you, dear author, identify with a given name, is by no means what your reader will identify with a given name. Forget that crap, and write your story. What "Angela" does is a hell of a lot more important than what her name is. We can identify "Ted" with"

Ted Kennedy
Teddy Roosevelt
Ted Williams
Ted Bundy

caw

These two things stick out in my mind as great things to think about when naming characters. I have had plenty of times where I got stuck when it came to naming characters, and I think in the end we as writers are just so cynical over our choices when it comes to naming schemes.

Another basic rule of thumb would be to make sure there are no truly "out in left field" names, ie... you have characters named Tim, John, Matt, Becca, Stephany, and then you have a character named Rahkon or Arkanae. They just feel extremely out of place and, unless they are from a different world, time or faraway place, just don't feel the same as a good basic name.

angeliz2k · Oct 21, 2012

One thing to watch for as far as name confusion: Our brains skip the middle parts of most words, so if more than one name begins and ends with the same letter/sound, you might confuse your reader. I don't think these names will confuse anyone, though it might come across as slightly repetitive if everyone's name ends with -ie or -y or -ey.

TheIT · Oct 21, 2012

angeliz2k said:
One thing to watch for as far as name confusion: Our brains skip the middle parts of most words, so if more than one name begins and ends with the same letter/sound, you might confuse your reader. I don't think these names will confuse anyone, though it might come across as slightly repetitive if everyone's name ends with -ie or -y or -ey.

Good point. That's also how I survive reading fantasy novels with extremely complicated names. When I encounter a new name, I try to pronounce it. If I can't, then I learn to recognize it just by spelling or pattern recognition, usually by looking for first and last letters.

I once tried to read a book that had characters "Odette" and "Odile". Drove me nuts. I could never keep the characters apart.

CJ.Wolfe · Oct 21, 2012

Thanks for all the advice guys

I'm usually pretty good at naming characters, but I was reading something I had just written and realised that I had four names that ended with the same sound. None of the other characters have that same ending sound, and I've written it down so I don't forget and accidentally add another.
The one named Genie is actually Genevieve, and only gets called Genie by one character, so I figured that could be okay. And if worse comes to worse I'll just shorten Freddie to Fred (whose full name is Frederick anyways)
I'd really like to keep the others though, because in my head that's already what they're called

Thanks again

Lady Ice · Oct 23, 2012

TheIT said:
Good point. That's also how I survive reading fantasy novels with extremely complicated names. When I encounter a new name, I try to pronounce it. If I can't, then I learn to recognize it just by spelling or pattern recognition, usually by looking for first and last letters.

I once tried to read a book that had characters "Odette" and "Odile". Drove me nuts. I could never keep the characters apart.

That's Swan Lake. Both roles are danced by the ballerina and they're meant to have a strong resemblance.

As for those "ie" names, it might come across as repetitive. I would also get confused by the fact that Genie and Freddie are meant to be brother and sister but Stevie isn't a relation, as the "ie" thing looks like it's telling me they're related.

dangerousbill · Oct 23, 2012

blacbird said:
On the other hand, "Atticus Finch" is likely unique among Americans, but it works.

According to howmanyofme.com , there are over 1500 people in the US named Atticus, but 'one or fewer' people named Atticus Finch. (These are from census data.)

I'm a little surprised that none of the 34,641 Finches cared to name their children or themselves after the hero of TKAM.

dangerousbill · Oct 23, 2012

It took a skilled critiquer to call my attention to the fact that I'd given nearly all the characters in my first novel single-syllable names beginning with 'M': Mike, Mark, Mary, Mag, etc. (However, for several other reasons, this first attempt at a novel sits comfortably in my trunk.)

RemiJ · Oct 23, 2012

blacbird said:
Character names matter, but they don't uniquely matter, IMO.

Item 2: Ditto the above, in the case of the unpronounceable, like Quxvilazgm.

/QUOTE]

The exception being Slartibartfast of course.

Sonsofthepharaohs · Oct 25, 2012

Just to add my two cents...

I LOVE the name Evander! It's old fashioned, yes (Evander was a character in the Aeneid, so you can't get much older than that really) but it's splendid. If you really wanted to, you could shorten it to Evie... then you'd have Evie, Stevie and Genie, LOL!

RemusShepherd · Oct 25, 2012

Well, crap. I just wrote a new post (in my text editor) about naming characters, and I come here to find that this thread exists. If you don't mind, C.J., I'll hijack a little. But let me offer some advice first...

CJ.Wolfe said:
I just realised I have three characters with similarish sounding names.
Stevie (or Stuttering Stevie)
Freddie
And Genevieve who is nicknamed Genie (by Freddie who is her brother)

Freddie was originally named Evander, but I felt it was too old fashioned so I chose Freddie instead, and it suits him surprisingly well. So I guess I'm just wondering, are they too similar?

I think those names are okay. If at any point in the text the rhyming gets too much, or if you want to exaggerate the seriousness of some dialog, you can refer to Stevie as Steve and Freddie as Fred. I find that it's mostly important to avoid names with the same starting consonants. 'Stewart' and 'Stevie' would be a problem.

Incidentally, I wanted to change my main character's name, but I'm having a hard time finding the perfect replacement. I thought I'd ask here.

Currently her name is 'Suna', which I made up because it sounded right. She's a hard-nosed reporter of mixed black/asian ancestry, and she is an exotically beautiful woman.

There are two problems with 'Suna'. First, althought I did not know this, it *is* a name; it means 'duck' in Turkish. A Turkish name has no connection to her ancestry at all. Second, I have another character in the story named 'Stan', and I try to avoid duplicating first consonants when creating characters, which is a little novelist trick I learned long ago.

(For reference, other names in the story start with D, E, H, K, L, and R. I particularly want to avoid colliding with the other female names that start with D and K.)

A name I've been considering is 'Jeta'. It's Australian/indonesian for 'black jewel'. Her black heritage could be Australian aboriginal, that works for me. But I worry that the name is a little on-the-nose for a pretty mulatto.

One name I really like is 'Yumi', which sounds cute and exotic. It means 'beautiful' in Japanese, which could tie into her ancestry. But it's even more on-the-nose, which reduces the character to a caricature. It's going to be difficult to avoid that, on the other hand; most female names translate to some variant of 'pretty', especially in Asian cultures.

I *am* overthinking this, I'm sure.

But what do you all think about any of these names, the reasoning behind them, and my methodology for naming my characters? Any other names that you'd suggest?

dirtsider · Oct 25, 2012

Remus, why does the character's name has to mean anything? I can understand why she might be given a name according to her heritage but are the meanings really necessary for the story? What purpose do they serve? Would the parents really go through all that research for a name?

blacbird · Oct 25, 2012

Kallithrix said:
I LOVE the name Evander! It's old fashioned, yes (Evander was a character in the Aeneid, so you can't get much older than that really)

Well, you can, but I wouldn't recommend naming your character Gilgamesh.

Maybe Gil, for short, though.

caw

RemusShepherd · Oct 25, 2012

dirtsider said:
Remus, why does the character's name has to mean anything? I can understand why she might be given a name according to her heritage but are the meanings really necessary for the story? What purpose do they serve? Would the parents really go through all that research for a name?

It doesn't have to mean anything. I do have two reasons for looking at the meaning, however.

One, I tend to look at the meaning for foreign names, because I have no other basis on which to judge them. I associate 'Marge' with a husky and maternal woman, and 'Greg' with a bearded portly man. I have no mental images of people with foreign names. Attaching a meaning to a name helps me visualize the character and get into their head better when I'm writing them.

Second, this particular story has a subtheme about myths. The people in it are, or will become, legends in their world. So I feel that their names need to be chosen carefully, as they will become part of the myth and must add to it rather than subtract from it. Suna (or whatever her name will be) will be remembered in myths as an exotic beauty who solved a great puzzle. I want the reader to instantly associate her name with the right image. Names have mythic resonance in all stories, but in this one more than most.

As an example, some other names in this story are:

Leon -- short for 'Chameleon', he's a cypher and a fast-thinking, slippery guy.
Stan -- usually called 'King Stan', he's aiming for mythic stature but his clipped, proletariat name is a clue that he's just posing in the role.
Kristi -- a weak-willed woman. Names that end in the diminitive '-ee' feel weaker, and the subtle connection with 'Christ' foreshadows her tragic end.

Yes, I put too much thought into character names. It's all part of meticulous outlining. But if you're suggesting that I pull a random name out of a hat for her, that's one way I could go. Might not be a bad idea.

angeliz2k · Oct 25, 2012

Yeah, Remus, in my book, you're over-thinking it a bit, though I understand why you want the names to have meaning for your particular work. Readers are not going to instantly associate these names with anything except your character. No one is likely to know that Suna is Turkish for duck unless they seek that information out, and how many people will actually do that? It adds a nice layer, but I don't think it will have quite the impact you're thinking it will.

I tend to pick names out of thin air, with little regard to any meaning they might have. I choose names that seem appropriate instead of meaningful. The name Pike struck me for some reason. My MC's son ended up with the name. It was only later that I realized how well it worked; the explorer Zebulon Pike was big news in my MC's day and age, so she could have named her son after him. Similarly, the male MC in the same story is name Everett because of the famous orator Edward Everett.

Sonsofthepharaohs · Oct 25, 2012

blacbird said:
Well, you can, but I wouldn't recommend naming your character Gilgamesh.

Maybe Gil, for short, though.

caw

True, but I was being (mildly) facetious. Anyway, I write ancient Egyptian novels, and all my characters' names are older than that... :tongue

Sonsofthepharaohs · Oct 25, 2012

angeliz2k said:
I tend to pick names out of thin air, with little regard to any meaning they might have. I choose names that seem appropriate instead of meaningful.

Me too, although I write HF so this is probably even more important. I bring up a list of common names from the period/culture, and then pretty much just pick the ones I like the sound of

HystericalHistorian · Oct 26, 2012

I chose names that seemed to be appropriate for the character yet the opposite of the characters' personalities, if that makes any sense.
When I hear the name Blake, I always think of some uber-cool jock who is destined to save the world. In my story, Blake is a nerdy loner who isn't trying to save the world, but to save himself.
When I hear the name Lily, I imagine a proper, polite girl in a frilly white dress skipping through a Victorian garden. In my story, Lily is a brash, rebellious delinquent who makes a great effort to be anything but ladylike.
IMO, names should have a meaning of some sort. A parent is going to be calling their child their name for the rest of his life, so why not make an effort to give it a little meaning?

TheIT · Oct 26, 2012

HystericalHistorian said:
IMO, names should have a meaning of some sort. A parent is going to be calling their child their name for the rest of his life, so why not make an effort to give it a little meaning?

This. Meaning, yes, but meaning as decided by whoever names the child. Unless the character later chooses another name, the name will reflect the parents' choice rather than the character's.

angeliz2k · Oct 27, 2012

Kallithrix said:
Me too, although I write HF so this is probably even more important. I bring up a list of common names from the period/culture, and then pretty much just pick the ones I like the sound of

I write HF, too. It's always important to have appropriate names, but with historicals it's a real necessity.

Just yesterday, I pulled another name out of thin air. For no good reason, I named a minor character Ophélie. She's really fun for having a bit part, so the fun name fits! Also, I made it a "thing"--I didn't just blithely throw out the name without addressing the fact that it was slightly silly for Georgia in 1858.

Corinne Duyvis · Oct 27, 2012

blacbird said:
Item 6: Eschew the name "Kate" at every opporunity. I have taught classes for several years at the local university, and I don't think I've had a "Kate" in any of them. Yet, somehow, that female name seems as abundant in fiction as fleas on a stray dog.

That's so weird. I know an ABSURD amount of Kates online. (That is: Kate x100, Katie, Katey, Kat, Cate, and on and on and on...)

Sarahs and Michaels are similarly common. IRL, I know a good number of Helens and Ronalds.

Possibly irrelevant. Sorry.

I once made the mistake of having a Merel and Mariel in the same MS. That didn't occur to me until several drafts in. *facepalm*

Character Names:

Close your eyes and jump

Infuriatingly Theoretical

slowly learning about adverbs

Tell it like it Is

never mind the shorty

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Makes useful distinctions

Retired Illuminatus

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Still writing the ancient Egyptian tetralogy

Not so new, really

never mind the shorty

Still writing the ancient Egyptian tetralogy

Still writing the ancient Egyptian tetralogy

Overlord of the Bunnies

Infuriatingly Theoretical

never mind the shorty

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