McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Character Names
Kali:
I have to have the right name before I can write. The name cements the character idea, for me. Like when I wanted to write about a witch who is NOT uber-powerful/uber-sexy/uber-OMG-everything, I wanted to pick a nice, normal name. Something that would emphasize that she's basically just this woman who also happens to be a witch. Nothing named after an animal, a jewel, or a Shakespearean character. So I went with Rachel.
On the other hand, I have used Shakespeare from time to time. ;) When I wanted to contrast a strong, independent woman against peoples' first impressions, I gave her a name loaded with preconceived notions: Ophelia.
Also, I wouldn't fret too much over how the meaning of names is going to impact the reader. Abstruse said earlier:
--- Quote ---If I name a minor character "Aiden", then you'll think of fire (Aiden means "Flame-bringer" or something like that).
--- End quote ---
No I won't. ;) Aiden, to me, is a soft-sounding name. A little feminine, someone who's sensitive and gentle maybe. If I knew someone named Aiden, the name would make me think of him or someone with the same general personality traits. The meaning of a name only matters if you look up the meaning of the name.
It can be a good tool for the writer. Abstruse, for instance, knows the name means something like "flame-bringer", so that's the association for him. But as a reader, I'm going by 1) anyone I know who shares the name (including famous actors or a well-known character -- say "Quincy" or "Angelina"), or 2) the sound of the word.
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: Kali on February 15, 2007, 01:22:59 PM ---Also, I wouldn't fret too much over how the meaning of names is going to impact the reader.
--- End quote ---
The problem with that is illustrated by such books as Diane Duane's Tale of the Fire series, in which a major character's name, an innocuous foreign-sounding monosyllable in English, turned out entirely accidentally to be an extremely rude word in Norwegian (I think it was).
Dread Pirate Sayessa:
--- Quote from: buckarama on January 15, 2007, 05:44:10 PM ---Terry Brooks is very adamant about names, to him a name means everything.
--- End quote ---
That's HILARIOUS because I always wondered why he got so much grief for naming a bad guy after a city in Washington... "What do you hate about Pe Ell enough to name the bad guy after it?"
--- Quote from: Abstruse on January 21, 2007, 08:44:19 PM ---My main reason for changing the surname was the poet Robert Frost...
The Abstruse One
Darryl Mott Jr.
--- End quote ---
You could use that to your advantage, as MaryJanice Davidson does in her vampire books. The main character goes by Betsy because her real name is Elizabeth Taylor. Lots of good lines about the grief she's gotten over that name happen in the books. Not that I'm suggesting you rip off how she did it, but if you can't think of him as anything other than Robert Frost, I'm sure you could work the name into the story somehow.
I do agree that names are important, so if it's a real name I need, the phone book or a baby name book or website often work well. I tend to write fantasy so my names aren't as important. The story I wrote for NaNo's main character is a dance mage, and the most powerful dance to her people is the Grey dance, so her name is Grey. Her suitor is a horse mage, so his name is Hup. I decided they take their names from what they do well, or are known for. Her old beau has beautiful eyes, so his name is Hazel. Sort of a take on Native naming stereotypes.
Grey's best friend is not of the same people, so for her I took a name I really liked (Alyssa) and stuck a C in front of it.
The sticking word sounds together also works well for me. I call it "Scrabble" naming. I pick out random tiles (well, when I had a scrabble set) and move them around til I come up with something interesting. Of course, that meant I inadvertently named a character "Inadrin" and by the rules I'd made up for their language, when she is in hiding as a man her name became Nader. Yeah, like the seat belt guy. Took me forever to figure that one out. Oh well, I still like the name and like you, I've thought of her as Inadrin/Nader so long I can't picture her as anything else.
swalizer:
I guess I'm lucky, character names usually just come to me. Occasionally I'll need to do a bit of research, though.
For example recently I had the idea for a character of Russian descent who operated a bar. I knew I wanted to have the bar named after him, so I googled 'russian surnames' and came up with this page:
http://www.gaminggeeks.org/Resources/KateMonk/Former-Soviet-Union/Russia/Surnames.htm
I then went through and tried out each surname as a bar name until I finally settled on Zubov for the character's last name, and Zubov's for the bar. The character's full name is Anton Zubov. The Anton part just came to me and it sounded right so I kept it.
Maybe I'm odd, as characters usually spring into my head mostly formed. For example I knew as soon as I thought of this guy what he looked like, what he acted like, generally who he was, I just didn't have a name for him.
[beatle mania]:
I usually either find the names randomly or steal them from places. My characters' names are all over the place. xP!
Here's a few and their origins, for comparison.
Simon Murphy - 'Simon' or 'Si' as he likes to be called, is named after Sick Boy from Trainspotting, whose real name is Simon. The Murphy is from me being lazy about finding an Irish last name. It has nothing to do with the Lt.; I've been using that last name since before reading Dresden.
Taichi Schwartz and Yamato Seiburem - These characters' first names are after the two main characters from the first season of Digimon, because that show was AWESOME. 'Schwartz' means 'black' in German, which fits Taichi's insanity. 'Seiburem' was the mangled translation in a bad fansub of Rem's last name from Trigun.
Aleksei Tchaikovsky - 'Aleksei', to me, is just a really really sexy Russian name that fit my character. 'Tchaikovsky', of course, is the dude that wrote the 1812 Overture.
Severin - My favorite demon character, freaky as hell- ...the borderline luminescent, blue-tinged white skin is transparent enough so that all the superficial arteries and veins carrying black demon blood are visible. -was named, simply, after the Velvet Underground song "Venus in Furs"
Sünde Verrat - His name means, literally, 'Sin Betrayal' in German. This goes against his lovable and loyal self. xP!
I have characters named after biblical figures (A Cain, Abel and Seth respectively), rock stars and even movie/book characters. And then I have random translated words, and names I hear and think are cool. I really don't have any funky fantasy names, only random Japanese ones. I actually have a Maeve (last name is 'Slate', lawlz), who was inspired by Jim!Maeve except for the fact he is male, a cannibal, and enjoys stabbing people to death while having sex with them. 8D
...okay, maybe I should stop talking about my characters now. xP
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version