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What’s in a Name? Giving Birth to your Characters
By Celise Downs
So you’ve got your plot outlined, a title lined up and the
research is done. You’re ready to start writing your novel. But
wait. Now comes the fun part: creating names for your
characters. One of the best things about being a writer—besides
the innate ability to create imaginary worlds—is giving birth to
a character and then bestowing a name upon him or her. True, you
didn’t carry the character in your womb for nine months
(especially if you’re male). But he or she could’ve been in your
head for nine months…or nine years. So choosing a name for your
characters seems almost as important as the one you would give
your own child.
The name you decide on will dictate the reader’s perception of
that character, so select wisely. If your character is an
agoraphobic scientist, he or she should not be named Brittany or
Rick. Does this bunch of hoo-hah sound familiar to you? Raise
your hand now, don’t be shy. I thought so. Now let me remove the
rose-colored sunglasses so you all can see the harsh light of
reality. The reality being that having a common name conjures up
a stereotypical image. What picture forms in your head when you
hear the name Tiffany? Pretty, popular, blonde-haired
cheerleader? What about the name Melvin? Skinny guy with glasses
and a pocket protector? Now what comes to mind when you hear
something unique like Lyric? Or Dax?
We as writers have been blessed with a wonderful gift. We are a
rare species unto ourselves in such a way that we can build
alternate realities for the public to enter. We are storytellers
that pull ideas out of our bu-that is-minds, invent our own
language even, and the only names we can come up with for our
characters are Johns, Susans, Kathleens, and Sams? Unacceptable.
These are perfectly good names, don’t get me wrong, but they’re
safe names. I used to be in an online critique group and someone
said that if your main character has an unusual name, the
secondary characters should have more common names; that way, it
won’t be so confusing to the reader. My initial response wasn’t
printable, but I can tell you that it sort of went a little like
this: “Who died and made you Ruler of the Writing World? Heaven
forbid we throw our readers a curve ball every once in a while.”
It’s called variety, folks. In the Dictionary, this word is
defined as “the quality or condition of being various or varied;
diversity.” If you don’t step outside your comfort zone and
offer your readers some different flavors, you’re not going to
sell any books. I decided from the get-go that all the
characters in my books were going to have unique names. I wanted
to stand out from the pack and dance my own little jig. So here
are some suggestions on finding primo names for your characters:
1)Books, Magazines, and Newspapers – These are wonderful
sources. In magazines and newspapers, a story, a self-help
column or even a product ad could house a name that would be
worth writing down. People use baby books to choose names for
their children, so why not do the same for your characters?
These books can be very in-depth, stating the meaning of the
name as well as its origin. I’ve used The Writer’s Digest
Character Naming Sourcebook (1994, Sherrilyn Kenyon with Hal
Blythe and Charlie Sweet). It features more than 20,000 first
and last names and their meanings from around the world: Norse,
Slavic, Teutonic, Arthurian Legend Names, and more.
I’ve also discovered the hidden cache of names in other people’s
books. I’m severely addicted to the adult romance books that
come out every month: Harlequin Blaze and Temptation, and
Silhouette Desire. And my favorite authors are Janelle Denison,
Kristine Grayson, Carly Phillips, and Julie Kenner. Every once
in a while, I’ll find a name in their books that I can add to my
continually growing list. Science fiction, time travel and
fantasy books are good for names as well.
2)Walk of Fame - Hollywood actors and actresses may have been
born with common names like Julia and Brad, but that doesn’t
mean their offspring have to suffer the same fate. Will and Jada
Smith’s children: Willow and Jaden; Demi Moore’s girls: Scout
LaRue, Rumer Glen and Tallulah Belle; Gwenyth Paltrow’s
daughter: Apple Blythe; John Travolta and Kelly Preston’s son:
Jett; Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke’s son: Ronin. Singer Brandi’s
daughter: Sy’rai; Thomas Jane (The Punisher) and Rosanna
Arquette’s daughter: Harlow.
Even some famous faces were lucky enough to have been born with
one-of-a-kind names: Keanu Reeves, Jude Law, Jada Pinkett-Smith,
Macaulay Culkin, Kiefer Sutherland, Oprah Winfrey.
3)Movies and Television Shows – This avenue isn’t as unorthodox
as you might think. I guarantee someone out there could come
forward and claim, “I was named after some character on a soap
opera.” Ridge and Thorne Forrester, The Bold and The Beautiful;
Topanga Morris, Boy Meets World; Teal’c, Stargate SG-1; Leelou,
The Fifth Element (my favorite movie of all time); Blade, Ellora
Danan, Willow; Teela, He-Man cartoons. Need I say more?
4)Daily Life - For almost two years, I worked the night shift,
keying medical claims. Due to that job, I now have a nice long
two-paged list of boys and girls names. You would not believe
how many wonderfully unusual names I came across every time I
flipped a page: Princess, Precious, Treasure, Oreo, Malachi,
Ashanti, Treyvon, Diabolique (for real!), Natividad…the list
goes on and on. Just think. You could be sitting at your desk,
standing in line at the grocery store/coffee shop/fast food
joint, listening to a song on the radio, eavesdropping on a
conversation, or talking to your neighbor and the next thing you
know, you’re bombarded with names for your characters. Being a
writer, one can only hope that you’re aware of your surroundings
at all times and can see a potential story in everything that
goes on around you.
5)Character Naming Contest/Vote – I did this for my third book,
which will be Book One in a teen series I’m creating. I had
about four different combinations of a name I was trying to come
up with for my main character. I sent an email out to my
co-workers, close friends and family, asking them to vote on the
name they liked best. The name that got the most votes became
the name for my character. In return, I’ll be including a
special thank-you on the Dedication Page of the book. Although
there are too many names to print, if they buy the book, they’ll
know they had a hand in choosing the name of the character. If
you go the contest route, offer the winner a free copy of the
book, a special gift, etc. If anything, you’ll get plenty of
names for future books.
I attended a book festival in Prescott, AZ last year. A mother
and daughter came up to my table, read the back covers of both
books, then walked away. A half hour later, they came back and
purchased my first book (Secrets and Kisses) because the female
character’s name was Skylar. For whatever reason, the name meant
something to that young girl. It could’ve been her name, the
name of her friend, a relative…who knows? The point is, your
readers are going to appreciate an “anomalous, exceptional,
extraordinary, far out, incomparable, inimitable, special,
standout, strange, uncommon” name. Now, you are ready to begin
writing your novel. Your character has been born, breathing
passages cleared (nice set of lungs there), weighed,
measured…and awaiting a name. Get creative, step outside the box
and remember… a rose by any other name should be something
besides Tom, Dick, Harry and Jane.
About the author:
Copyright © 2004 Celise Downs. Reprinted with permission. Celise
is a Young Adult fiction author and owner of Gemini Mojo Press.
Her books, “Secrets and Kisses” (Mar 2004) and “Dance Jam
Productions” (Sept 2004), are currently available on the
publisher website at www.GeminiMojoPress.com/.
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