One of the small satisfactions in writing is finding the perfect name for a character, the one that brings the character to life. Sometimes the right name comes to you with the character idea. Other times you have to try out several to get the right one, or use a placeholder for so long that you start thinking of them as [insert name here].
But before we get into that, a reminder that it’s National Novel Writing Month, and even those who aren’t participating are cheering on our fellow writers. Leave a progress report in your comment, and I’ll update as we go.
Aashirs nani: has written 12,586 new words in revising 11 chapters.
A Citizen: short sci-fi story collection
AlanC: 1086 of 50,000 word goal
bonetti: 30,303 of 50,000 word goal
Dconrad: 25,080 of 50,000 word goal
lolsilently: 13,000 of 50,000 word goal
mettlefatigue: 2099 words of goal “any writing at all”
Mt. Baker Dem: 7344 of 50,000 word goal
Nolana: 2 of 25 chapters revised
Not a lamb: 4550 of 500 words a day
quarkstomper: outline and roughs done of all pages, six page comic (25% done)
reppa: research and prep for DaKoWriMo.
strawbale: rework a neglected story for OFPMFP. 350 words done.
Some writers can fit a whole lot of character description into a name. Dickens gave us Martin Chuzzlewit and his cousin, Mr. Pecksniff. The latter was such a perfect embodiment of the moralizing hypocrite that “pecksniffian” entered the lexicon to mean “hypocritical benevolence.” And no character name ever conveyed “not warm and fuzzy” better than J.K. Rowling’s Severus Snape, which manages to suggest sever, severe, snap, and snake. In general, though, punny names are best left to side characters. (I will admit to having named a main character’s love interest Beau Dangere.)
Some characters fit easily into a common name (how many action heroes are named Jack?). Science fiction and (especially) fantasy authors love to go for the unusual, sometimes getting carried away into the unpronounceable. (I say this as someone who unrepentantly named an alien Nlubglub.) There’s probably a German word for the special angst of coming up with the perfect, unique name, then googling it and finding that it was in another author’s debut book last month.
Some writers like to use baby naming books or websites. Some of those resources also explain a bit about different cultures’ naming customs (for instance, a common Italian custom is naming the oldest son for paternal grandfather, while Jewish custom frowns on naming a child after a living person).
It’s now easy to look up the popular names for any historical era. I remember being driven slightly crazy watching The Tudors, because most of the men were named either Thomas or William, not to mention three of Henry’s wives being named Katherine. When I was working on a novel about my horse thief ancestors, I wound up renaming several real-life characters because too freakin’ many of them were named William.
Someone here on dailykos (and if it was you, raise your hand!) suggested the following method for naming characters from another country. Find a movie from that country, and check out the names of the film crew in the credits. That will give an interesting variety of names to choose from. Of course, it also helps to pay attention to the era: a writer might look at an old US book or film and decide to name their teenage girls Edna and Mildred, and the male characters Shirley and Marion. Which, if it’s set in the present day, isn’t gonna ring true.
Sometimes there’s a certain amount of typecasting. For a character with a lot of stereotypically masculine qualities, I wanted a short, cowboy-ish name, so I went with Roy. His boyfriend was more androgynous, so his was Jesse. Upper-crust characters got names like Augustine, Monica and Bianca (the latter has the bonus of meaning “white”). Other times, a name goes for irony, like naming a badass vampire slayer Buffy.
Sometimes I’ll run across an interesting name and decide I want to save it for a character. I found the name Krishnamoorthy in a medical record, and used it in a story. Much later, I was speaking with someone who mentioned that same doctor — “I really liked her.” Um...her? Because Krishna is a male figure in Hinduism, I’d assumed it was a man’s name. I ran to the bookstore at lunch hour, and dug through name books until I confirmed that Krishnamoorthy could be a man’s or woman’s name.
A special category is the nameless character. In The Handmaid’s Tale, the narrator is called Offred (literally “property of Fred,” and also a pun on “offered,” like a sacrifice). She has a real name, but we never learn it: it’s one of the many parts of her identity that have been stolen from her. (The TV series gave her a name, and it’s significant when someone uses it instead of Offred.) Similarly, in Slavena Drakulic’s S.: A Novel About the Balkans , the characters living through civil war and genocide are referred to by an initial only. The exception is when S. has finally been freed from the Serbian prison camp, and she gives birth in a Swedish hospital. Her roommate has a name — because she hasn’t been through the horrors that S. has experienced, she still feels herself whole.
What are your tricks for naming characters? And if you have methods for naming places, brands, or other items in your stories, share those too!
Exercise: your characters have to name a baby or pet. Or, they have to go incognito and choose an alias.
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