More on character names...

Good grief, my mother actually hassled me that one of my character's mother died in a story.

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If people you know tend to see themselves and others in your characters, then your character having a different name probably isn't going to change their minds.

However, I would probably avoid using the names of people I know. I tend to like slightly unusual names, anyway, and therefore if I know someone with the name, it's not very unusual anymore. The only name I can definitely rule out is my own, which means unfortunately I do have to alter the name of a current character. It fits perfectly, but I don't want people thinking I modeled her after myself. That would make for very bad news.

I bought a baby name book and that has been very helpful.

My husband got upset because I killed the main character's husband in my first book. Go figure.

Perks said:

Any thoughts on this? Or anecdotes?

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Yep. In my new book, there's a teenage girl named Brook. She was named in a previous book, so I couldn't change her name.

The problem I'm having - my teenage son is currently dating a girl named Brook - and the character in my book ends up pregnant. I've been freaked that my son's girlfriend's parents (or at least mom) will read my book and be really mad at me.

So, I gave son's girlfriend an autographed copy that says, To Brook, who was NOT the inspiration for this character.

<sigh> And it had better not be a self-fulfilling prophecy, either.

Susan G.

I have a secondary character that has the same name/nickname as a friend of mine. She was named before I knew this friend and has no correlation to the friend whatsoever, but I did go ahead and contact the friend and say, "Look, is it going to be weird to you if..."

The friend said, "No. It's a common name. But, out of curiosity, what's she like?"

Yes. Yes, yes, and YES! Which is why I make up most of my names. I pick the chief characteristic of the character, and play with the letters until a name comes out.

I'm using the name of my niece for one character. She seems pretty excited about it actually. I keep telling her it's not really her but I'm just borrowing her name. Of course, this is the first draft and things are apt to change.

I don't use any names that belong to friends of mine, but some of the names I use are very commonly heard. It always bothers me to read a book with cumbersome character names. This happens a lot in SF/Fantasy pieces, wherein writers feel the need to invent names that no one's ever heard before. If a name causes me to stumble and interrupts my reading flow, then it's a bad choice.

Right now my MC's last name isn't working. I realized this when I had to pluralize it and it became a clunker. For now, I'm leaving it as-is, but I am going to have to do a find and replace and re-edit when I decide on a new one.

Perks said:

If you know a decent number of people, do you feel your "name pool" is greatly diminished? I feel inhibited to use some names for fear that my cousin, or co-worker or neighbor will wonder if I had them in mind when I use the name "Phil" or something (surnames are easy.) Good grief, my mother actually hassled me that one of my character's mother died in a story.

Any thoughts on this? Or anecdotes?

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I intentionally use the names and descriptions of people I know, friends, family, and the rich and famous.

I am particularly annoyed as a reader when the author goes out of the way to have a bizarre or partiucularly cutsey name. I still haven't forgiven Diane Mott Davidson for naming the MC in her mystery series Goldie Baer and the horrible play on ther MC's company name. I also don't like names I am uncertain how to pronounce.

I just pick up the phonebook and mix up first and last names as I poke my finger around the phonebook.

I absolutely DESPISE most fantasy/sci fi names and here are the top 5 reasons:

1. They're irritatingly unpronouncable

2. They tend to be predictably derivative, eg: tediously apeing Tolkien's naming protocols.

3. Appalling misuse of apostrophes.

4. Names tend to cheesily suggest the 'alignment' of a character: eg: in Star Wars, 'Darth Maul' and 'General Grevious'....sheeesh.

5. They hardly ever contract appropriately (eg: Robert = Bob), so that the writer has difficulty applying variations to the names to break up the repetition.

I'm writing a main stream/ young adult sci fi series, and the characters I've created have regular names like Ellie, Sal, Aaron. I'm trying to write something that would appeal to people who NEVER read science fiction.....and with that in mind, I think the worst sort of opening sentence would be something like:

'Th'algnu c'htah, stood proudly on the edge of the cliffs of D'argensta'al, and surveyed the sprawling landscape below.'

Garpy said:

I absolutely DESPISE most fantasy/sci fi names and here are the top 5 reasons:

1. They're irritatingly unpronouncable

2. They tend to be predictably derivative, eg: tediously apeing Tolkien's naming protocols.

3. Appalling misuse of apostrophes.

4. Names tend to cheesily suggest the 'alignment' of a character: eg: in Star Wars, 'Darth Maul' and 'General Grevious'....sheeesh.

5. They hardly ever contract appropriately (eg: Robert = Bob), so that the writer has difficulty applying variations to the names to break up the repetition.

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Bwahahahahahaha!! I am with you on this one. Love the fantasy/sci fi genre--hate the dreadful names too many of the writers come up with. So much so, in fact, that I pick through them on the shelves and discard the ones with awful names/place names.

I also agree with Tish, the Goldie Baer thing is just too cutesy-woosty for me and I really have to force myself to read DMD's books. A great shame because the stories are decent.

As for real names, my little sister is continually asking me when I'm going to put her in a book. I may use her name for a dog or something.

aadams73 said:

Love the fantasy/sci fi genre--hate the dreadful names too many of the writers come up with.

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Wow, now I'm going to look through my stories and just double check the names...I do know what you mean, though. If more than a few people ask how to pronounce it, it may not be the best name. I had that problem with a name I absolutely adored: Uland. No one who read the story could pronounce it, so I filed it away.

On real names: I only give my characters the names of real people if I'm meaning to poke fun at them, and I know that they share my twisted sense of humour.

Niapri said:

I had that problem with a name I absolutely adored: Uland. No one who read the story could pronounce it, so I filed it away.

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Actually, I don't mind that one. It's not too weird and unpronouncable. The problem with too many "derivative" names is that they make me confuse the characters, making each indistinguishable from the next.

I write fantasy most of the time so I don't usually use normal names, but I do try to keep character and place names toned down. The few that were a bit much I changed around a bit and spelled them phonetically so no one should have a problem with them. I also don't do obnoxiously long names that take 30 seconds just to pronounce (or attempt to).

For example, a name of a town I'm going to be using is Amberdale, and one of the main characters in the WIP is named Hilda. Nothing too complicated there, I hope.

Although I love her books, I find one of my favorite authors is guilty of the incredibly hard to pronounce character names. One of the main characters' names in the second book is Lleld Kemberaene, for example. That's the kind of name I try to avoid, as it's both long and has questionable pronunciation.

~DragonHeart~

I avoid using the names of family members, although really I don't think they would mind. On the other hand, I've used the name Elizabeth for several characters and it's my grandmother's name (actually both of my grandmothers are named Elizabeth); then again, it's also my middle name so maybe I feel I can appropriate it.

I love baby name books for character names. I remember once when I was in high school I was with my mom in a book store, and she noticed me looking through a baby name paperback. She turned quite pale and asked me if I was pregnant. (I still kid her about that.)

"Although I love her books, I find one of my favorite authors is guilty of the incredibly hard to pronounce character names. One of the main characters' names in the second book is Lleld Kemberaene, for example. That's the kind of name I try to avoid, as it's both long and has questionable pronunciation."


Lleld Kemberaene? Wow. And I had trouble with "Hermione."

zarch said:

Lleld Kemberaene? Wow. And I had trouble with "Hermione."

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This made me chuckle, because I have a brilliant friend with a whopping vocabulary who couldn't pronounce it either. We had a conversation about one of the early Harry Potter books, and I realized he was saying it incorrectly. He'd just never heard the name before, while I had.

Although I love Tolkiens work, a lot of his character names just....I dunno, felt silly and childish. I think in fact, that the Lord of the Rings started out inheriting the kiddy-targeting of the Hobbit, and gradually as his tale developed, he realised it was a more adult premise. But unfortunately, he was stuck with names like 'Merry' and 'Pippin', which quite frankly sound like the sort of names you might give a couple of fluffy-wuffy bunny rabbits.

I'm sure if JRR, had the benefit of Word for Windows, he would have done a global search & replace on one or two of his characters, once he'd realised where the tale was heading.

Garpy said:

Although I love Tolkiens work, a lot of his character names just....I dunno, felt silly and childish. I think in fact, that the Lord of the Rings started out inheriting the kiddy-targeting of the Hobbit, and gradually as his tale developed, he realised it was a more adult premise.

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I think I remember reading an interview by Tolkien once addressing that very issue. He started the Hobbit as bedtim time story for his children, but if I remember correctly he had the outline for TLOTR long before that. He defended his choice of names by stating that Meriodoc and Perigrin, Merry and Pippin's proper names are old English derivitives of surnames still in use. He said he wanted well respected and solid names for those characters. FRodo and Bilbo were products of his omagination. My memory may be a bit faulty so if any one remembers differently chalk it up to old age. (Can't help it, I'm a shameless Tolkien fanantic)

I always thought Merry and Pippin as names were far superior than Frodo and Bilbo, which sound dopey. Merry and Pippin may sound like bunny names (I love that!), but at least they're nicknames of perfectly sound real names, the sort of nicknames one tends to get stuck with. I know a grown woman, a psychologist, who still goes by the name Bunnie, speaking of bunnies. Frodo and Bilbo always sounded made up to me. What's wrong with names like Sam?

Also speaking of bunnies, in Richard Adams' Watership Down, the male rabbits mostly have names of plants or other objects (Hazel, Woundwort, Holly, Dandelion, Strawberry, even a Pippin), while the female rabbits mostly have names that are phrases in the rabbit language, like Thethuthinnang and Hyzenthlay. Since there are relatively few female characters the long names work and seem very feminine to me. But then that book is my "desert island" book, along with Meghan Whalen Turner's The Thief.

I do make up names for my characters sometimes, but I try and make them sound realistic and not too out of the ordinary. So I don't know why I bother, really.