Naming a Child
To me, naming anything--a pet, a child, even a boat--is an honor. And it involves great thought and responsibility. My newest pups are Dreamer and Cosmo, and each fits the name. My children all have names I consider beautiful. And when I picture adopting children someday . . . I imagine lovely names in my mind. Names are so important. I'm also lucky in that I have always liked my own given name of Erica.
Naming a character is a bit like naming a child. For me, having had four kids, I went through a very similar process. Baby name books. Endlessly. And now, I will go through THOUSANDS of names sometimes to choose a character name, just as I agonized over my kids' names until each one "felt right."
As a writer, I am also afflicted with a neuroses. I cannot write a book--even write past the first sentence, until the name of the main character has that resonance with me, like naming a new life inside of me. Worse, I cannot even do something like this for minor characters:
Tom [Fill in later] . . . blah, blah, blah.
No. There is no filling in later. First and last names must be decided on.
What are some of my favorite character names? Ava, Quinn, Teddi, Vince, Georgia, Billie. I use a lot of gender-neutral names for women, by the way, a sign of strength--like Billie Quinn. In my wips, I have Julian and Katie, in one book. And Eve and Mark in another (for some reason, I use Mark a lot).
In my last blog post comments section, Naomi mentioned her character "Scarlett." LOVE that name. I am always somehow jealous of names other people pick. And I love to hear the stories of how they came about. For me, it's all intuitive, mystical, a "feeling," much like giving birth.
An aside . . . every single time I have been pregnant, I have a dream in which an old man comes to me and tells me I am going to have a baby--usually tells me the sex too. And it's usually a dream WAY before a pregnancy test would tell me anything. Mystical but true.
Much like naming characters.
And you all?
Naming a character is a bit like naming a child. For me, having had four kids, I went through a very similar process. Baby name books. Endlessly. And now, I will go through THOUSANDS of names sometimes to choose a character name, just as I agonized over my kids' names until each one "felt right."
As a writer, I am also afflicted with a neuroses. I cannot write a book--even write past the first sentence, until the name of the main character has that resonance with me, like naming a new life inside of me. Worse, I cannot even do something like this for minor characters:
Tom [Fill in later] . . . blah, blah, blah.
No. There is no filling in later. First and last names must be decided on.
What are some of my favorite character names? Ava, Quinn, Teddi, Vince, Georgia, Billie. I use a lot of gender-neutral names for women, by the way, a sign of strength--like Billie Quinn. In my wips, I have Julian and Katie, in one book. And Eve and Mark in another (for some reason, I use Mark a lot).
In my last blog post comments section, Naomi mentioned her character "Scarlett." LOVE that name. I am always somehow jealous of names other people pick. And I love to hear the stories of how they came about. For me, it's all intuitive, mystical, a "feeling," much like giving birth.
An aside . . . every single time I have been pregnant, I have a dream in which an old man comes to me and tells me I am going to have a baby--usually tells me the sex too. And it's usually a dream WAY before a pregnancy test would tell me anything. Mystical but true.
Much like naming characters.
And you all?
posted by Erica Orloff at 4:45 PM
13 Comments:
Me, too! I don't know the character, unless I know the name.
I do have a character that I love, who somehow ended up with the same name as a very popular character in the same genre. (Subconscious at work, I'm guessing. Unfortunately.)
I've been stuck on the story ever since. I can't find a name, after the fact. She became her name. Now that I have to change it ... I just don't know what to do!
spy:
Something similar has happened to me. And once, I remember, I had a copy editor question two secondary characters as having names that were too similar (can't remember now--but let's say an Alex and an Allie). In my mind, the characters were wedded to their names, and I didn't find it disconcerting that they were mildly similar. And when my publisher asked me to change it, it drove me NUTS, changing it after the fact!
I go for favorite names. And they have to be unique.
la:
Would love to hear some. And do they just "come to you"?
E
Well in my Logan Wolf Series. There's Raiden, Paris, Arin some I thought was unique.
la:
Love those!! Unique and memorable.
E
I'm reading a book now with four men with names starting with a "C", plus a police Chief, called "Chief", two "K" female names, and three "M"-named female characters. The heroine's name begins with an "S", but alas the hero is one of those "C" fellows.
Talk about confusing.
My current manuscript is a revamp of an other work; therefore the main characters have evolved somewhat. Their previous names, which felt so right earlier on, no longer fit.
I search for names, online and via baby naming books, and when I come to the name that "fits", I know it.
But I do try to focus on names that aren't so much the same that the material becomes a struggle to read.
Kathy:
I sometimes find it confusing when names are complex, like historicals with tons of characters. Sometimes you need a map for all the royalty and relations.
I search online for names, too. And I sometimes scribble a good one down.
E
I have found that after reading your last few posts I know much less about my characters than I thought I did.
Usually I just go with whatever name pops into my head while I'm writing the character. Sometimes a name changes during the writing of the story.
Maybe I need to go back and rethink my processes... hmmmmm
ewoh:
You know, I think with names it's what works. I knew a writer who "collected" names in a notebook. If he heard one, he'd write it down, and he had years of names in there. Me? I'm more intuitive, I think, or more into how it "feels."
E
Holy cow, this is weird.
I, too, cannot start a book until the main characters' names resonate with me. And I cannot move on without a solid name for every secondary character.
AND I keep using Mark. He's been a villain TWICE. I'm consciously not using the name anymore, but it keeps trying.
My naming quirk is that I tend to use hard names a lot. Names beginning with K or M or S or R. Kira, Kennedy, Sophie, Sloane, Samantha, Reese. If they don't start with one of those, they often have a hard sound at the beginning or middle. Quinn, Brooke, Kelsey.
I have a series in which the hero in the first book is Ryc. There is a secondary character in that book named Rock Davis--they're almost never named together. But eventually, they were in the same scene in book 2, where Rock is the hero, and I couldn't change either name. I'll do it when the editor forces me to. :)
I keep a journal with lists of first and last names, too. I started collecting them when I was working in the medical industry and processing patient claims. Got some really cool names that way.
Natalie:
I think it's that somehow the characters aren't "real" to me until they have decided-upon names.
And I like Quinn too--used it twice.
E
I can't possibly begin a story of any kind without having exactly the right names for all the characters. I'll spend hours trawling through baby name books looking for different meanings to suit different characters.
I (obviously) love the name Scarlett too. Not just because of Gone With The Wind (although I adore both the book and the film). The character of Scarlett has been with me since I was about ten and first realised I really, really wanted to write books. She's like an old friend now. :)
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