What’s in a name?
According to studies, quite a lot.
Have you ever been either attracted to or repelled by a book description because of the character’s name? I Have. Names that are too ‘trendy’ or especially ‘place’ names give me an impression of a young writer who is likely to show me a shallow character. Fair or not, that’s the effect it has on me.
Names can give an impression of era. Not just the obvious like choosing outdated Victorian names for a Victorian era novel, but the subtleties of baby naming trends. The first thing I do when choosing a name for a character is to work out how old they would be in the year the book will be released and look up top baby names for the year they would have to be born to be that age. For example, for 2019 releases, if I want a young adult character, I might look up popular baby names from the year 2000. My search engine of choice is usually ecosia.org, because they use profits to plant trees.
The second thing I consider is name meanings. How does the name fit the personality of the character? I wouldn’t name an aggressive character Kevin, for example. He’s more likely to have a harder sounding name, something with a ‘K’ in the middle perhaps but no ‘V’. Kevin is far to sensitive a name for someone like, say, an assassin, unless you’re going for incongruity.
I’ve always tried to make the name meaning fit the nature of the character in some way and find I’m pretty satisfied with the choices I make. The characters tend to settle into their names like a good fit and develop at least close to how they were intended.
Fantasy character names are a different kettle of fish. Those who have read this genre over the years will already be familiar with the two main methods of coming up with fantasy character names: Totally making them up or adapting a more familiar name to fit. Occasionally a writer might choose interesting sounding foreign names.
The trouble with the made-up names is they can become too elaborate. I’ve seen many comments in reader groups from people who won’t read Fantasy because they can’t work out how to pronounce the names. I’ve read books that give weird spellings for made-up names and it can really throw the reader out of the story.
Some of the most clever adapted-from-ordinary names I’ve seen are in the Songs of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. Arya, one of the most popular characters, has become a commonly used name now but in India the name Aarya was already well-established. Jon, of course, is a simple one. But names like Eddard (close to Edward), Catelyn (similar to Caitlyn), Androw (Andrew), Victaria (Victoria) and Petyr (like the Russian version of Peter) strike a familiar note, while taking us into that touch of other worldliness associated with Fantasy fiction.
When I choose names for new Fantasy characters, I’ve got in the habit of finding a name with the right meaning in the ordinary baby name lists, then putting it through my own Goblin Name Generator which is one of the games on my website at http://jaqdhawkins.com/name.php
This is where I got the name for Lesana, a female Alchemist character who came into existence in my story, The Wizard’s Quandary, which was included in the anthology, Dreamtime Damsels & Fatal Femmes [https://www.amazon.com/Dreamtime-Damsels-Fatal-Femmes-Anthology-ebook/dp/B07WFWSQ26]. This anthology has a theme of strong female protagonists. The response to that story convinced me that Lesana and her world needed a new series to further develop, which is scheduled into my 2020 writing plans.
Names are regional to an extent. If I’m setting my story in England for example, I might well have some names that are found in all English-speaking countries like Michael or Jonathan, but as soon as a character called Nigel enters, the reader is firmly placed in the UK. Conversely, if instead a pair of sisters named Crystal and Lacey come into the story, the reader will be transported to the American South.
How do you go about naming your characters? Do you always use names you like, or do you look for evocative names for the bad guys to create a negative reaction as you write them? Let’s get a discussion going in the comments.
Jaq D Hawkins
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Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog 
Thanks for sharing, Rosi 😃
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This is fascinating. You’re using almost the same method I do to name your characters! 🙂
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Reblogged this on Author Don Massenzio and commented:
Check out this helpful Guest Post by Jaq D Hawkins on naming characters from The Story Reading Ape blog.
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Thanks Don!
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You’re welcome.
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Thanks for sharing, Don 😃
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You’re welcome.
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Now I would give the bad guy in a story I am writing the name, Kevin. But only because I used to know a Kevin at school who was a bully. I know that can be dangerous because we don’t want anybody we know thinking a character we have named is based on them. I do that by giving the character a different surname (or even middle name) and make sure that none of the real person’s personality is shown in the character I have created. Something else I do is shorten a name if I am basing the character on a real person I have encountered during my lifetime.
However, mostly, I instantly gave a character a name and usually stick with it (unless my editor tells me to change it because I’ve too many characters with names all beginning with the same letter). Names usually come easily to me, although something else I do is look at names of football players who have scored a goal, write them down and then mix first and surnames up.
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I’ve never modelled a character after someone I know, though I did name one after a bf and give him some of the real person’s attributes for fun once. I have a friend now with a name I just have to use on a character, but the character won’t be anything like my friend!
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Names are really important, in real life as well as fiction. Choosing them is so difficult and I often give my characters a number until they tell me their name…
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That’s a clever approach!
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Works for me, and the characters!
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Reblogged this on Plaisted Publishing House and commented:
Naming Characters by Jaq D Hawkins
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Thanks for sharing, Claire 🤗
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Welcome. It’s a good read. 🙂
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Thank you!
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Welcome
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The problem with names is that they can mean things to people as well. As the Kevin that springs to mind for me was/is best described as a thug, that impacts on how I see the name 🙂
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That will always be an unavoidable problem. Any given reader might know someone with the chosen name and have associations very unlike the character.
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And there’s nothing that an author can do about it. But I think that your blog was something I wish I’d read ten years ago rather than having to learn the hard way 🙂
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Fantasy, now, we can make up new names in that genre and not have the issue. 😉
I often use the Goblin Name Generator on my website to work out Fantasy names.
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yes, I always say them out aloud, so that they are at least possible
Actually it can be wise to google them as well 🙂
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Most of my character names just emerge from somewhere. If I need a name from a particular ethnic group, I sometimes do a search in the catalogue of the Library of Congress for the history of the country or region and pick a given name and a surname from authors from there. I like your idea of working out when a character would have been born and looking up popular names from that time.
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I’m a habitual researcher. When I was naming a film character who was meant to be Mongolian (a vampire, so centuries old), I learned that a first name gives a family background and called him Barolas Qadan, which to someone who knew would identify him as a relative of Ghengis Khan. 😉
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