There's something about Mary
Jul. 16th, 2007 09:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pbrayFind the right names for your characters isn't an easy task. People ask me where I find my character names, and the true answer is everywhere. Over the years I've taken names from street signs, telephone directories, the town where my postcard supplier was located, alluded to genre tv shows, scoured lists of Olympic athletes, and even used the name of a popular manufacturer of plumbing fixtures.
Earlier this year I wrote about character naming, and for those who are interested I'm posting the article here under the cut.
Choosing the right names for your characters is vital. Names set reader expectations, as much if not more than the physical descriptions that you provide. Just think of the images that come to mind when you compare the names Jack Archer and Clarence Witherspoon. Which one do you pick as the romantic hero? Will Jack be more likely to be attracted to Sydney O'Malley or Tiffany Devine?
It's important to find names that fit both the characters' personalities and the story that you are writing. Guillaume may be a lovely name for the hero of your medieval romance, but if you are writing a contemporary romantic comedy, you'd be better off with William.
Sometimes names can be used to reveal character. Think of Sara Paretsky's character V.I. Warshawski--a private detective doing her best to live down her given name of Victoria Iphenigia Warshawski. Here the author used the character's name to tell us something about the character--showing us someone who refuses to allow others to judge her by her gender.
When picking names for my characters, I'll consider the meaning of the name, as well as how it sounds when read aloud. Jane Sedgwick was the perfect name for a Regency country miss, a woman who embodied practicality, and was unused to high society. When a later book featured a wealthy and sophisticated heiress, I chose to name her Lady Felicity Winterbourne.
When I needed a name for the hero's best friend, someone whom every woman treated as a younger brother, I gave him the name Lord Frederick, known to one and all as Lord Freddie. Here the nickname was a clue to his character arc, as he struggled to be taken seriously by those around him.
Beware of using names that are too similar, especially for minor characters that make infrequent appearances throughout the book. If the reader has to pause to try and remember whether Harold is the family black sheep or if that was Howard, you've just jerked them out of your story. In real life, you may go to a cocktail party and be introduced to three Michaels and two Jennifers--not mention Harold, Hayward and Howard--but in your writing you should strive to avoid such confusion.
So, how do you find the right names for your characters?
What's in today
If you're writing a contemporary story, your best friend is a book of baby names. I gravitate to books that include ethnic origins as well as meanings. There are also numerous websites offering collections of baby names, but I prefer to page through a book as I'm collecting potential names.
For last names, there's the ever popular phone book. I'll also write down interesting names as I see them, from newspapers, sporting events, television credits, et cetera.
Beware of mixing and matching names from different ethnicities. If you don't know the ethnic origin of a name, do a little checking before you decide to use it. Consuela Murphy, whose name combines a Hispanic first name with an Irish last name, may be the product of a multicultural family, or simply named after her mother's best friend, but it's unusual enough to be noticed. For similar reasons, Hiroshi Wang, which combines a Japanese first name with one of the most common Chinese surnames, is also an uncommon pairing. There's no rule that says you can't combine names in this way, but it should be a deliberate authorial decision, one that is consistent with the character's back story and family history.
Writing about the past
Madison is a popular girl's name today, but before the movie Splash, it was unheard of. To give your story an authentic period feel, you need to research names from that era. Most baby names books don't mention when a name first came into general use, but the more scholarly references will, such as the invaluable The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names by E.G. Withycombe.
If you are writing about the recent past, there are websites that list the most common names for the past century. For other periods, you may be able to find census records, lists of tax rolls, genealogies or even entire newspapers on the internet. And remember to jot down potential names as you do your general research, especially when you have access to primary sources such as letters or diaries.
Writing about a place that never was
For my first fantasy novel I needed to create two very different cultures. The first was that of Duncaer, where my hero Devlin was from. After being exiled from his homeland, he travels to the rival kingdom of Jorsk, which has its own language and customs. To give the feeling of a common culture, I used Celtic sources to create names for people, places and things in Duncaer. For Jorsk, I used Scandinavian names, referring to Viking sagas and lists of royal genealogies to find appropriate names. Because the names in each culture share the same linguistic roots, they sound natural together. Devlin is clearly from a different culture than Solveig, Drakken, Oluva and King Olafur. I don't have to keep describing his alienation from his hosts, their very names provide subconscious clues to the reader that Devlin is a man out of place, far from his home and everything familiar to him.
This is where a name book that groups names by ethnicities, such as Sherrilyn Kenyon's Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook, is invaluable.
Here a Grimes, There a Grimes
When I was writing Regencies, I would sometimes find that I needed a name for a minor character--someone the viewpoint character would know by name, such as a housekeeper, the gentleman seated next to her at dinner, or the family solicitor. I would pause while writing to think up a name, and inevitably the character would be given the name Grimes. A solid, British sounding name, one that would disappear into the narrative. Except, of course, if you've populated your book with six different characters named Grimes. In this case the astute reader will detect a conspiracy by the Grimes family to infiltrate all levels of Regency society.
Fortunately I caught the problem during the revision stage. To prevent this from happening again, I began making lists of potential names for minor characters, and keeping that list next to the computer. As I use one of the names, I cross it off. When I start to run low, I begin trolling through my research books to come up with new ones.
When I'm working on a multi-book series, I find it helpful to keep a style sheet that lists each character. A typical entry is: Chenzira, Lieutenant Imperial Navy, illegitimate nephew of Proconsul Zuberi, Ch17. This tells me the brief facts about the character, and when they were first introduced. I can also sort the style sheet alphabetically to see which names I've already used in previous books, so I'll know not to accidentally reuse them.
So where do you look for help in find the right name for your characters? Here's a sampling of the resources available:
Books
A Dictionary of Surnames by Patrick Hanks, Flavia Hodges
From Aaron to Zoe: 15,000 Great Baby Names by Daniel Avram Richman
The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names by E.G. Withycombe (out of print--check libraries or used bookstores).
Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook by Sherrilyn Kenyon. The one naming book every writer should own.
Internet
Most popular names by year of birth (covers United States from 1879 onward): http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/
Most popular names for selected years (United Kingdom): http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nscl.asp?id=7557
Nameyourbaby.info: website from the author of From Aaron to Zoe: 15,000 Great Baby Names http://www.nameyourbaby.info/default.asp. Note, as of July 2007 this website is no longer active.
Recent popular names by country/region: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_popular_given_names
About the author
While researching this article, Patricia Bray added a new book on names to her collection, but she swears she's not addicted. A multi-genre author whose career spans both romance and epic fantasy, Patricia's latest novel is THE SEA CHANGE, which will be released by Bantam Spectra in August 2007. For more information visit her website at http://www.patriciabray.com.
This article originally appeared in the May 2007 issue of STARbursts.
Copyright 2007 by Patricia Bray. All rights reserved.
Earlier this year I wrote about character naming, and for those who are interested I'm posting the article here under the cut.
There's something about Mary: Find the right names for your characters
by Patricia Bray
Choosing the right names for your characters is vital. Names set reader expectations, as much if not more than the physical descriptions that you provide. Just think of the images that come to mind when you compare the names Jack Archer and Clarence Witherspoon. Which one do you pick as the romantic hero? Will Jack be more likely to be attracted to Sydney O'Malley or Tiffany Devine?
It's important to find names that fit both the characters' personalities and the story that you are writing. Guillaume may be a lovely name for the hero of your medieval romance, but if you are writing a contemporary romantic comedy, you'd be better off with William.
Sometimes names can be used to reveal character. Think of Sara Paretsky's character V.I. Warshawski--a private detective doing her best to live down her given name of Victoria Iphenigia Warshawski. Here the author used the character's name to tell us something about the character--showing us someone who refuses to allow others to judge her by her gender.
When picking names for my characters, I'll consider the meaning of the name, as well as how it sounds when read aloud. Jane Sedgwick was the perfect name for a Regency country miss, a woman who embodied practicality, and was unused to high society. When a later book featured a wealthy and sophisticated heiress, I chose to name her Lady Felicity Winterbourne.
When I needed a name for the hero's best friend, someone whom every woman treated as a younger brother, I gave him the name Lord Frederick, known to one and all as Lord Freddie. Here the nickname was a clue to his character arc, as he struggled to be taken seriously by those around him.
Beware of using names that are too similar, especially for minor characters that make infrequent appearances throughout the book. If the reader has to pause to try and remember whether Harold is the family black sheep or if that was Howard, you've just jerked them out of your story. In real life, you may go to a cocktail party and be introduced to three Michaels and two Jennifers--not mention Harold, Hayward and Howard--but in your writing you should strive to avoid such confusion.
So, how do you find the right names for your characters?
What's in today
If you're writing a contemporary story, your best friend is a book of baby names. I gravitate to books that include ethnic origins as well as meanings. There are also numerous websites offering collections of baby names, but I prefer to page through a book as I'm collecting potential names.
For last names, there's the ever popular phone book. I'll also write down interesting names as I see them, from newspapers, sporting events, television credits, et cetera.
Beware of mixing and matching names from different ethnicities. If you don't know the ethnic origin of a name, do a little checking before you decide to use it. Consuela Murphy, whose name combines a Hispanic first name with an Irish last name, may be the product of a multicultural family, or simply named after her mother's best friend, but it's unusual enough to be noticed. For similar reasons, Hiroshi Wang, which combines a Japanese first name with one of the most common Chinese surnames, is also an uncommon pairing. There's no rule that says you can't combine names in this way, but it should be a deliberate authorial decision, one that is consistent with the character's back story and family history.
Writing about the past
Madison is a popular girl's name today, but before the movie Splash, it was unheard of. To give your story an authentic period feel, you need to research names from that era. Most baby names books don't mention when a name first came into general use, but the more scholarly references will, such as the invaluable The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names by E.G. Withycombe.
If you are writing about the recent past, there are websites that list the most common names for the past century. For other periods, you may be able to find census records, lists of tax rolls, genealogies or even entire newspapers on the internet. And remember to jot down potential names as you do your general research, especially when you have access to primary sources such as letters or diaries.
Writing about a place that never was
For my first fantasy novel I needed to create two very different cultures. The first was that of Duncaer, where my hero Devlin was from. After being exiled from his homeland, he travels to the rival kingdom of Jorsk, which has its own language and customs. To give the feeling of a common culture, I used Celtic sources to create names for people, places and things in Duncaer. For Jorsk, I used Scandinavian names, referring to Viking sagas and lists of royal genealogies to find appropriate names. Because the names in each culture share the same linguistic roots, they sound natural together. Devlin is clearly from a different culture than Solveig, Drakken, Oluva and King Olafur. I don't have to keep describing his alienation from his hosts, their very names provide subconscious clues to the reader that Devlin is a man out of place, far from his home and everything familiar to him.
This is where a name book that groups names by ethnicities, such as Sherrilyn Kenyon's Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook, is invaluable.
Here a Grimes, There a Grimes
When I was writing Regencies, I would sometimes find that I needed a name for a minor character--someone the viewpoint character would know by name, such as a housekeeper, the gentleman seated next to her at dinner, or the family solicitor. I would pause while writing to think up a name, and inevitably the character would be given the name Grimes. A solid, British sounding name, one that would disappear into the narrative. Except, of course, if you've populated your book with six different characters named Grimes. In this case the astute reader will detect a conspiracy by the Grimes family to infiltrate all levels of Regency society.
Fortunately I caught the problem during the revision stage. To prevent this from happening again, I began making lists of potential names for minor characters, and keeping that list next to the computer. As I use one of the names, I cross it off. When I start to run low, I begin trolling through my research books to come up with new ones.
When I'm working on a multi-book series, I find it helpful to keep a style sheet that lists each character. A typical entry is: Chenzira, Lieutenant Imperial Navy, illegitimate nephew of Proconsul Zuberi, Ch17. This tells me the brief facts about the character, and when they were first introduced. I can also sort the style sheet alphabetically to see which names I've already used in previous books, so I'll know not to accidentally reuse them.
So where do you look for help in find the right name for your characters? Here's a sampling of the resources available:
Books
A Dictionary of Surnames by Patrick Hanks, Flavia Hodges
From Aaron to Zoe: 15,000 Great Baby Names by Daniel Avram Richman
The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names by E.G. Withycombe (out of print--check libraries or used bookstores).
Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook by Sherrilyn Kenyon. The one naming book every writer should own.
Internet
Most popular names by year of birth (covers United States from 1879 onward): http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/
Most popular names for selected years (United Kingdom): http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nscl.asp?id=7557
Nameyourbaby.info: website from the author of From Aaron to Zoe: 15,000 Great Baby Names http://www.nameyourbaby.info/default.asp. Note, as of July 2007 this website is no longer active.
Recent popular names by country/region: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_popular_given_names
About the author
While researching this article, Patricia Bray added a new book on names to her collection, but she swears she's not addicted. A multi-genre author whose career spans both romance and epic fantasy, Patricia's latest novel is THE SEA CHANGE, which will be released by Bantam Spectra in August 2007. For more information visit her website at http://www.patriciabray.com.
This article originally appeared in the May 2007 issue of STARbursts.
Copyright 2007 by Patricia Bray. All rights reserved.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-16 05:47 pm (UTC)I've discovered recently that (a) it's a mistake to start naming your characters before you've had a good think about the cultural contours of their world, and (b) sometimes they just name themselves and there's no re-naming them, no matter how hard you try. My book has a character in it whose name is Joanna -- a nice, ordinary English name, and perfect for her, except that it comes from Latin via Greek and Hebrew, and, as it turns out, my characters are all happily pagan, and the Jews and Christians of my world are small, unassuming sects with little outposts around the Mediterranean, considered by the "civilized" (polytheistic) peoples around them to be eccentric and misguided but mostly harmless.
So I tried to change it, of course (and I did succeed in changing the names of several minor characters -- a Jack became a Gautier, an Evans-Jones became an Evans-Hughes), but Joanna was having none of that, in much the same way as I had intended her to be a minor character and instead she elbowed her way to centre stage. So instead I had to think about the implications of her having that name, and out of that grew two rather nice and interesting scenes that shed light on other things. I like those scenes, but every time I think about them I also remind myself that one should always look up the origins of names before allowing characters to take possession of them!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-16 06:23 pm (UTC)I completely understand about Joanna. Minor characters can be renamed, of course (see Grimes, above). But if it's a POV character, once I've found a name that fits, there's no changing it.
Like, oh, say, Josan, whose name is linguistically completely off the map of my world building: Latin/Roman (old nobility), Italian (lower class), Egyptian & Greek (new nobility), and French (Seddonians).
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-16 06:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-16 06:53 pm (UTC)So if I was a famous and self-important author I'd insist that it was planned that Josan's name be completely different, to illustrate that the monks aren't really part of the dominant culture, they are instead iconoclasts in their own little world.
But since I'm not a famous author, I'll cheerfully fess up that he did a Joanna. His name was already fixed before I did the worldbuilding.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-16 07:24 pm (UTC)You mean like this?
*
“Master,” said Gray, having gently extricated himself from Joanna’s too-enthusiastic embrace of his midsection, “please allow me to introduce Miss Joanna Callender. Joanna, Master Everard Alcuin, usually of Merlin College.”
“Joanna,” Master Alcuin repeated, studying her and tugging thoughtfully at his beard. “A most unusual name.”
“Joanna is a most unusual young lady,” Gray told him dryly. Joanna sniffed – but Sophie thought she looked rather pleased.
“It is a name used among Christian sects of the Mediterranean and the Orient,” the don continued; “a Latinisation of the Greek Ioanna, which comes from the Hebrew Jokhanan, meaning, roughly, ‘gift of God’.”
“Which god?” Joanna inquired, frowning.
Master Alcuin chuckled. “Most Christians believe there to be only one,” he explained.
“How peculiar,” said Joanna. “He must be terribly busy.”
“Interestingly,” the Master replied, clearly warming to his subject, “there are other sects whose belief is that their one god is a tripartite entity – in essence, not unlike the concept of—”
“Master.” Gray’s tone was a curious blend of impatience and affection. “Another time, perhaps.”
“Of course, of course,” his teacher said, looking rather comically chagrined.
Joanna did not seem interested in pursuing the matter; but Sophie, being more inclined toward the metaphysickal, could not help remembering her mother’s words on the occasion of Joanna’s birth, and wondering.
*
It still needs work, but, as a solution to the problem, I'm rather fond of it...
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-16 07:35 pm (UTC)Loved this!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-16 07:39 pm (UTC)You must admit, it's a logical supposition ...