Among the questions people ask me about being a writer, I often hear “How do you name your characters?”
Fortunately, naming fictional characters is more fun than naming real, live children. There are no worries about real-life consequences like lovely Ariella hating her name because in high school Anatomy class everyone notices the similarity of her name to “areola” and she must suffer through the rest of her high school career with an unwanted nickname.
No, instead, I can name my fictional heroine Ariella, and maybe she hates her name for above reason, but in fiction we’re actually supposed to torture our characters. So the unwanted nickname can become part of her backstory.
Okay, but back to the question… The truth is, I have no method for naming characters. Often, as I’m brainstorming, an appropriate name will pop into my head. I try to give characters’ names that reflect their personalities in some way. And if I don’t, there’s a reason. Maybe the heroine’s overly boyish name serves to make her more feminine–that sort of thing.
Occasionally I name a character for humorous purposes. One book featured a secondary character named Buck Wild. He was an aspiring rap star with a much less flashy name on his birth certificate. And I sometimes give my hero and heroine very romance-novelesque sounding names, because I think such names are deliciously evocative of our genre. Also they’re fun.
But I’m not above flipping through phone books and searching internet name sites to find the perfect name. Sometimes my characters will have to try out several names during the writing of the novel before I settled on The One.
A good character name is memorable. Who could ever forget the name Scarlet O’Hara, for instance? It’s unique, and it gives you a strong sense of what kind of woman the character is, without knowing anything else about her. And how about Hannibal Lecter? I can’t think of a more perfectly named character.
Do you have any pet peeves regarding fictional character names? Do you find certain kinds of names distracting or particularly appealing? What’s your favorite fictional character name? And finally, if you were going to pick out names for the hero and heroine in a romance novel, what names would you give them?
Entries (RSS)
My pet peeve is when the names all begin with the same letter or are very similar. I get the characters confused!
Yep, Todd and Troy should not be the hot twin brothers in the romance novel.
My ideal romantic couple? Ebenezer and Dorcas.
I have no problem with my heroines. Their names always pop into my head. Heros are agony for me. Long perusals of my baby names book every time. No idea why.
Isabel
LOL, Isabel, let me know how that Ebenezer and Dorcas book sells, ‘kay?
I think men’s names are harder because there are fewer good ones to choose from.
I got my son’s name from a hero in a romance I read more than 16years ago, Brendon, the name in the book was actually Brandon, but with a surname like Lee, I thought everyone is going to think I got it from Brandon Lee, but even now people think that…
… I just smile ! 
Brendon is a really nice name!
One peeve is if there are brothers and one brother has a really cool name and the other is not-so-cool.
Fave fictional name I think would be Kinsey Millhone from Sue Grafton.
If I were to choose names – short ones so they are easier to type!
LOL, yeah, Marcie, I agree, and it’s especially not a good idea to give one brother the lame-o name when your editor later suggests you give him his own story.
I usually go through a couple name changes until i find th perfect name for my carachters of course. I know now to never ask my husband for name advice he always gives me the same names over and over.
for the guy he thinks his name should be “Gern Blanston” how’d you like to be saddled with that name??
for the heroines its usually something like “candy” for obvious reasons. but i just want the name to very evocative of the carachter, to have the perfect fit for their life, actions etc. of course some times the opposite is very cool to.
i guess what works, works!
jody
LOL, Gern Blanston. That’s truly bizarre. Reminds me of a Simpsons episode when Homer changed his name to Max Powers and wanted Marge to change her name to something like Chesty LaRue.
Hi Jamie! I love looking up those baby names sites now. I like finding out what some names mean, more so used in paranormals and fantasy when it comes to meanings I find. But love too to figure out how they are said, LOL. As I can’t hear, I make up the way they sound in my head. And when I ask, I’m more on the correct side than wrong (patting self on back (I) ) I remember a hero in a historical, that they called him ‘Wicked’ because his name was Lord Wickham and he was wicked, LOL. Love this! Thanks for a fun post Jamie!
I agree, baby name sites are just way too much fun. I also have some baby name books I love to look through, even when I’m not in the midst of naming a character.
Hey Jamie.
First names for my characters are never a problem, they just kind of come to me, usually the first things I know about my characters, but last names are sometimes a struggle. That’s where I end up pulling out the phone book for ideas.
I like simple, classic names a lot of the time, and ethnic names. I think of them as “real people names.” I like unusual names, like Kinsey or Sookie, if they fit the character, like those do.
I tend to not like names like Storm, Breezy or Flower. LOL Those are bad examples, but you get the idea. (For instance, as much as I love Castle, I cringe every time he says the name of his new heroine that’s being based on the female detective in the show, Nikki Heat — ugh — I know they mean it for the laugh, and I guess in that respect, it work). Oh, and weird spellings — as if the world hasn’t seen enough of that by now… I mean, in real life, I have a very unconventional name, but at least it’s spelled right, LOL.
Okay, I’ll stop. LOL
Sam
Yeah, I try not to give my characters weird names unless there’s a very good reason. A heroine in one of my upcoming books is named Soleil, and I am not sure I’m happy I went with that name, but I did have what I thought was a good reason…The heroine had a total hippie upbringing and I just couldn’t imagine her mother naming her something normal like Jane.
I must apologize for being late posting my blog entry yesterday. I let the holiday weekend get away from me!
What a fun topic!
My heroine, Kiki, in my recent Blaze submission, Virgin Territory, got her name specifically because it was a name I didn’t like. LOL I wanted an offbeat name with a lot of personality, something that would fit her and *not* me. It worked. Kiki was very much her own woman by the end of her story. 
I’ve never done that again, strangely enough…usually the character’s names come to me as soon as the characters do themselves.