Naming Characters

[Rosemary Tea]

Ah, but you can always go back through with 'search & replace' and change them all to long ones!

And then you'll end up with stuff like "The robin bartholomewed its head."

 

[Rosemary Tea]

And then you'll end up with stuff like "The robin bartholomewed its head."

I just discovered something like that in one of my stories, not with character names though just as amusing. I'd been writing about a mage who has a magic lab, and I decided lab didn't quite fit the setting, I should call it a workshop instead. So I did a find replace, workshop for lab, and called it done.

Until I reopened the doc months later and found my character, who was looking for a particular potion ingredient, reading the workshopels on the jars.

 

[MJ The Werewolf]

Usually when I name my characters I go through a series of names until I find one that feels right. I consider things like, time period, location, and in some cases the meaning of a name.

I'm having a problem right now where I've settled on a first and last name for a character that I love. I can't imagine this character with any other name. I did a Google search of the name, which I sometimes do to see if there are any other prominent figures that already have the name. As it turns out, the full name belongs to a somewhat prominent supporting character of a game. I admittedly remember playing this game, completely forgot about this character, but now wonder if I became attached to the name because I've heard it before.

What would you do? Keep the name? Change it?

I'd maybe tweak the name a bit. Look for different variations of the names.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Hmm, I have a character with the nickname “Wolverine” and figured BFD. Poe Dameron I wouldn’t even begin to worry about unless my character was named Poe Dameron, as Mr Knox noted it’s close to Cameron, and if it came out of a phone book? Big fat hairy deal. Anytime the first and last name are the same and they are unique, I’d consider changing them. If a name was something like, oh, Voldemort… well, then it’s a goner, LOL. I would also take into consideration of the character, not just the name, is similar to that other character. That can be a big deal.

I have a character named Veldehar, I played an online game 30+ years ago and he was the highest ranking Barbarian in the game as an elf, and one day someone said my name reminded them of Voldemort. I was like… mmm, never heard of whoever that is. Veldehar had been around in game since about ‘92. It took years before I figured it out, LOL. I’d been using the name for my book plotting and Rolemaster games for even more years before that, and along came some godsdamned YA novel…

 

[scholar-in-distress]

That has been a really illuminating discussion there, guys! Loved it <3 and it is the my top thread to me as of now (I am currently involved in a study on place names, but I am already planning another one – on character's names).
I was a wee bit surprised that you focused on the phonetic aspects of the names (in addition to your associations and gut feelings) and did not discuss the meaningful/telling names like for Cornelius Fudge (the Minister of Magic from HP series) or Alustriel Silverhand (from Forgotten Realms). If I may ask, did you not consider those or is it just less of a problem?

 

[Demesnedenoir]

With some cultures I might do that, a little, such as a king with the translated ruling name of Ironwing. But in general, names like Fudge will stop my reading, so I don’t use them. Silverhand is fine, but when you really start finding meaning in names that are clearly author intrusion I’m not fond of it. Now, MG and YA, or various genre shifts I might do this, but for Epics I avoid this sort of thing.

That has been a really illuminating discussion there, guys! Loved it <3 and it is the my top thread to me as of now (I am currently involved in a study on place names, but I am already planning another one – on character's names).
I was a wee bit surprised that you focused on the phonetic aspects of the names (in addition to your associations and gut feelings) and did not discuss the meaningful/telling names like for Cornelius Fudge (the Minister of Magic from HP series) or Alustriel Silverhand (from Forgotten Realms). If I may ask, did you not consider those or is it just less of a problem?

 

[scholar-in-distress]

So I have noticed (that you don't fancy such names), I was wondering why. Fudge or Silverhand were but mere examples. Basically, every name has a meaning if you look far enough into the past, but I was not going to impose on finding a meaning in a name at all cost. I was thinking about associations that words have. Take Nathaniel Hawthorne, whose addition of "w" to his family name—despite the spelling—instantly evokes an image of a thorny shrub, the image that just wasn't there during the infamous Salem trials You don't have to deconstruct the names (although in the case of Fudge 'deconstruction' is a severe overstatement) to notice the author's wink to the reader. Unless, of course, you'd consider that to be an intrusion too... Seriously, idk, would you?

 

[Demesnedenoir]

It isn’t whether a name has meaning, it is whether it feels heavy-handed in explaining some heme surrounding the character, their personality, or whatever.Maybe cheap characterization? I don’t know Fudge nor Silverhand from boo. Or Boo. If Schwarzenegger means black plowman, great, but does that in any way define Arnold as a character? I tend to think of this sort of thing as the realm of YA, like Potter gibberish, or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Subtle name winks don’t bother me so much as hammers upside the head.

So I have noticed (that you don't fancy such names), I was wondering why. Fudge or Silverhand were but mere examples. Basically, every name has a meaning if you look far enough into the past, but I was not going to impose on finding a meaning in a name at all cost. I was thinking about associations that words have. Take Nathaniel Hawthorne, whose addition of "w" to his family name—despite the spelling—instantly evokes an image of a thorny shrub, the image that just wasn't there during the infamous Salem trials You don't have to deconstruct the names (although in the case of Fudge 'deconstruction' is a severe overstatement) to notice the author's wink to the reader. Unless, of course, you'd consider that to be an intrusion too... Seriously, idk, would you?

 

[FifthView]

but when you really start finding meaning in names that are clearly author intrusion I’m not fond of it.

I've seen it as some kind of a trend, a stylistic choice multiple authors have chosen. The first big slap across my face was Hobb's Farseer books and characters like Shrewd, Chivalry, Verity, Regal, Dutiful. I think this was explained as a cultural custom, for nobility to be named after a virtue. That is a more extreme example. One of the last books I read was a kind of Harry Potter knock-off that followed some of the same naming styles mentioned here. I've read book descriptions on Amazon that lead me to believe it's become something of a stylistic trend, although I usually stay away from any book that does it. (But those I've mentioned here, I read. And liked well enough. As I read them, I sort of "forgot" the in-your-face aspect, the way I forget seeing so many uses of "said.")

 

[skip.knox]

One of several reasons why I did not like the Farseer books is exactly that naming convention. It felt silly. It also felt, rightly or wrongly, rather lazy. Every time someone was named, it jolted me out, even after hundreds of pages.

It's a little silly of me, as well. I wouldn't have any problem with Duke Robert the Virtuous or Alex the Shrewd. But using the adjective as a proper name flat out doesn't work for me.

 

[Alison]

I have a character in a Later Book who went by the name Bella. And I changed that because Twilight happened and I was so, so worried about people making comparisons. But after all these years I don't think that change was necessary. My target audience and genre is totally different than Twilight and it's been long enough that people aren't going to immediately think "oh this is ripping off Twilight."

I sympathise!
I was working on a story for ages where one of the characters was an empath called Jasper. Then I read Twilight ...
My Jasper is now Tristan