Names Again

[Peg Herring]

How do you choose names for your characters?

It often bothers me when two characters in a novel have names that are too similar, and I try not to do that in my own work. I also try to use interesting names, or at least names that interest me. I can't make myself do the name-symbolism thing, like "Brick" or "Steel" for the alpha male character. I suppose my choices are limited somewhat by my upbringing, which is among mostly white, mostly European descendants. Lots of German, Irish, Polish, and Scots.

I don't think I consciously choose names. They come to me as the character does, sort of out of the mist. I have changed a name partway through because it didn't seem to fit once I got to know the person. Now there's a place where fiction is better than life, because in the real world there are people whose names just never get into my head because "she doesn't look like a Nancy." If she were a character, I'd simply change her name to Olivia and be done with it.

[Peg Herring]

I like the homage idea, but my husband would pick up on the military base thing right away.

[D K Gaston]

In one of my books, to pay homage to the authors that inspired me, I used their last name. I sometimes used military bases, Knox, Schofield, Bragg, for example. But most of the time, I use interesting names I come across at work or on the Internet.

[Dana King]

I don't use their full names. I mix and match last and first. As for the Sicilian names, maybe I'll make them an offer they can't refuse.

[Peg Herring]

Thanks, you guys. I love the ideas, but I think Dana's gonna get sued...or get to sleep with the fishes.

[Dana King]

My WIP takes place in a fictionalized version of the town I grew up in, so my high school yearbooks were a big help.

Last year's story had a large organized crime contingent. Many of the names were towns in Sicily.

[John McFetridge]

I have characters from Russia and Iran and Romania and England and so on, so I look at the rosters of their World Cup Soccer teams for names.

A name sometimes jumps off the page for me if it seems out of time, so I also look at what names were popular the year the character was born.

[I. J. Parker]

Yes, Peg gets me interested, too.
I have to pick Japanese names carefully (from primary texts and history books) because they have to fit the historical period and the character's station in life. It can get incredibly complicated. Readers hate the names because they are strange unless you're used to reading novels set in Japan. They have the same attitude towards Russian names. Actually, I have simplified for myself. Japanese characters used to have three separate names: a childhood name, and adult name, and a posthumous name. I differentiate only for rank and clergy. :)

[Jon Loomis]

I want to say, Peg, I love these blog posts of yours. Great topics, thoughtfully started. A real service to the site, IMO.

[Jon Loomis]

I work at names a bit--sometimes a character will have three or four before I settle on the right one, although there are also names that just pop onto the screen and seem right from the get-go. Because my books are comedic, I allow myself to have some fun with names--so, a homophobic preacher gets to be the Rev. Ron Merkin (a merkin is a pubic wig), a real estate developer is Serena Hench, a stalker is named Duffy Plotz (plotz is Yiddish for "explode"), a male porn star is named Bobby Cavalo (cavalo is horse in Portuguese), and so on. But yeah, tough-guy names that sound tough are an instant turn-off for me, as are masculinized women's names: the girl cop is named Samantha, but everybody calls her Sam. Why can't the girl cop be named Tiffany?