| Shakespeare said, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Maybe. But would the story have worked if instead of Juliet, he'd named her Gertrude? Or Fred instead of Romeo? I think not. Names are important. Sometimes characters appear with names in place, but I've found that's rare. More often, I find myself spending a lot of time combing naming sites looking for the perfect name. Not only does the name have to sound right, but it has to mean something relevant to the character. Names are symbols. They come built-in with implied associations. Take the Gertrude vs. Juliet example. Say the name "Gertrude" aloud. Who do you see in your mind's eye? A slender, young beauty? Probably not. Chances are you imagine a prunish old spinster or a homely single gal with too many cats. I found a site where you enter in a name and, using numerology, it tells you about your personality. Whether you believe in such things or not, it might be useful for helping to analyze character names. For example, this morning, when I entered the name of my main character, Sabina Kane, I got this as part of the answer: Even though I didn't use this site when I came up with her name, I'm surprised how accurate this is for her. It's also a fun time-waster if you want to look up your own name or those of your friends. If you'd like to try it, here's the link. As for finding the names themselves, I actually use a site geared towards naming dogs. I like the way the site is organized by type of name. Most baby naming sites are hard to navigate if you're starting form scratch, in my opinion. I've also made up names. For example, there's a character in my series named Giguhl. He's a demon but he spends most of the book in cat form. I figured a demon cat would really hate to be called Mr. Giggles. So I came up with Giguhl (pronounced Gig-ool) as a respelling of Giggle so the nickname would work. To keep track of all my character names, I have an excel spreadsheet. There's a column for the name, country of origin and meaning of each. Not only does this help me keep track of everyone, it also keeps me from using names that are too similar. For example, I don't want a minor character with a name beginning with the same letter as a major character. And I don't want to confuse the reader by having a Stephen and a Stephanie. Do you pay attention character names in books? Or, for the writers out there, how do you come up with character names? |
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Cool site. Thanks for the link.
I look for patterns of character names in books--not psychotically, like counting how many letters are in each or anything, I swear--but if the author tends to lean toward a certain country of origin, mythology, or whatever the case may be.
It's always fun to hear about the work that goes into even naming the character. My main characters have always kind of started with a name, but all the secondary characters have taken work. Nothing quite as creative as Mr. Giggles though. : )
I check naming sites, to find a name with an appropriate mean, as well.
I like the first link. I typed my name in and part of it was cool. See below:
With the Soul Urge number 3 your desire in life is personal expression, and generally enjoying life to its fullest. You want to participate in an active social life and enjoy a large circle of friends. You want to be in the limelight, expressing your artistic or intellectual talents. Word skills may be your thing; speaking, writing, acting, singing. In a positive sense, the 3 energy is friendly, outgoing and always very social.
Wow. Cool. I might as well keep writing, since the Number God is with me. LOL
I love coming up with character names, but I've learned to be careful not to mis-date my characters based on their ages.
I like Jodi Picoult's character names. And Richard Russo. I don't know why they stand out for me.
You're welcome, Ericka. Glad to help.
Jackie, that reminds me. i forgot to mention that since I have difference races in my books--demons, faeries, mages and vamps--their names tend to be based on specific origins. For example, all faeries have plant or flower-based names.
Tom, the numbers are with you so tey must be true.
Chris, I'd imagine that's an important consideration when writing for kiddos.
thanks for the links Jaye theya re always a help. I do pay attention to the names in boooks, how they sound what they conjure in my mind!
As a writer I just look everywhere i can, today I found one on a church billboard that turned out to have a great meaning right in line with what i am writing.. You just never know.
I loving naming characters. I try to go for certain origins for certain types or sects of groups. Or else I'll go for personality. Or if I'm being really silly, I name it after someone I know. :) My husband's name is in a few stories... muwahaha..
Of course, for real life, I LOVE names. I know the meaning to tons of names and we already have baby names picked out for whenever we finally get preggers!! :) Names are definitely a hobby of mine.
Psynde, I've found a few from billboards too. Sometimes they just sound cool--meaning doesn't matter.
Melissa, I've used names of friends too. Of course, it becomes troublesome if the character meets some horrible fate.
I actually emailed the hubby the list of names (including origin and meaning) as an excel spreadsheet. He refused to go through the books with me, so I gave him a list to pick from. :)
Hey Firstname thanks for the link to this tool. I enjoyed it. After using it I stumbled upon another even better one which actually determines if your birth name is the right one for you, so that it provides you with the best luck in life possible. I love it! It's here: Numerology Tools
Hey , thanks for the link to this tool. I enjoyed it. After using it I stumbled upon another even better one which actually determines if your birth name is the right one for you, so that it provides you with the best luck in life possible. I love it! It's here: Numerology Tools