Naming Characters

[squarejohn]

How much thought do you give to naming your characters, giving them a name that can size them up neatly before any other characteristic about them is mentioned? I suppose I should say, "stereotyping" by name. For a crude example:

Peanuts stepped through the open door of the office and said, "Boss, there's some guy going around asking a lot of questions about you."

Carlo, in the act of lighting a long black cigar, completed that ritual before replying, "Send Joey and Red to go talk to him."


As opposed to:


Mr. Peabody stood at the open door of the office, and made a soft coughing sound to get his employer's attention.

His employer, Mr. Charles, put down the object he was examining with a jeweler's loupe and looked at Mr. Peabody with an inquiring smile.

"The man you expected called, and said he is staying at the Drake, sir, and that he has the photos," Mr Peabody announced.

"Would you ask Michael to call on him? And tell him to bring Raymond along." Mr. Charles directed.

What phantasms do each of these above examples invoke in you?

I often have a difficult time selecting a name for a character and when I do finally select what I think is the suitable name, when the story is finished, the name doesn't really "fit" the character. Anybody else have this problem? Thank God for Find and Replace.

 

[mynameisben]

How much thought do you give to naming your characters, giving them a name that can size them up neatly before any other characteristic about them is mentioned?

A lot, actually, and for the reasons you've illustrated. Names carry with them an inescapable inherent bias. It would never do, for example, to name a woman burdened with great responsibility Pussy Galore or Sarah Palin.

 

[sr71plt]

Didn't we just have a long thread on this question recently?

 

[PennLady]

Character names

I don't usually give a lot of thought to it. It's not that I don't care, it's just that most times, I'll write and the name will come to me. I don't always go with that first, instinctive name, but I often do. My problem is that if I spent a lot of time on the name, I'd run out of time to write. And really what trips me up is usually surnames, not first names.

 

[Stella_Omega]

There are two kinds of names: the ones that your mother gave you, and the ones that you or your friends give you later in life.

Mommy almost never thinks about what their precious bundle of joy will be like as an adult. If she does-- that says a hellalot about mommy.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I like to use alliterative names for stories and sometimes for characters. Otherwise, I use fairly generic names, such as Rachel or Ashley etc. For older women, I might use Virginia or some other name that is rather old-fashioned now. BTW: Old fashioned is as OF does. Rachel and Sarah were considered old-fashioned names before they came back in vogue.

Married couples often get names of famous married couples, such as Fred and Wilma or Fred and Ethel. If I am writing a story for a female reader, I use her first name and, if she asks, the first name of a specific man she wants me to use. I use full names and send a copy to her and, usually, change the surnames on what is posted here.

Sometimes I try to use names that fit. Cindy Lou is a woman from Alabama who is an ongoing character. I would not use that name for a New York woman unless she came from the South.

 

[Bebeslut]

I make up the names of my characters on the fly; most of the time I think they're pretty good.

 

[SweetMerry]

The names of my characters usually come fairly fast. I do try to match them to the theme of the story, though. For example, I'm currently working on a story set in the 1940's, and I chose Evelyn and Frank as the main characters. They're not overly unusual names, but I think they have that vintage feel.

 

[JackLuis]

A Rose by any other name would fuck as well.

 

[EmeraldKitten]

Sometimes a name pops into my head, other times I have to think about it.
I'll check out baby name sites and look at the meanings if all else fails.
I don't think any of my characters names describes them beforehand though.. hmm.. might have to try that with the next one.

 

[Firebrain]

I name them using social factors. Some names, for example, are decidedly middle class. Some were more popular in the 70s when the character was born.

www.nymbler.com is good -- you put in a few names that you like and it suggests similar ones.

I'm not a fan of naming characters after traits or destiny or whatever, though I can understand why you might do this to make them sound cool in fantasy etc.

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

Baby names that your partner rejects for your own kids, or variants of these names? That's what all of my characters are now. If the kid can't have that name, I may as well give it to a character.

But I really agree with this:

I'm not a fan of naming characters after traits or destiny or whatever

One of my biggest pet peeves (and this might fit well in that old cliche thread) is authors who try and be sneaky or clever with their names, and end up ruining part of their own plot.

For example, if you've given the group of women in your story names like Sarah, Rachel, Emily, and Susan, and then you introduce a Tyfanee, we know something is up. We aren't going to be shocked when Tyfanee turns out to be the slutty ex who tries to seduce the hero of the story.

 

[sr71plt]

For example, if you've given the group of women in your story names like Sarah, Rachel, Emily, and Susan, and then you introduce a Tyfanee, we know something is up. We aren't going to be shocked when Tyfanee turns out to be the slutty ex who tries to seduce the hero of the story.

Well, since the hero of the story would be named Elmer, we'd be thinking that Tyfanee got her comeuppance.

 

[Babeslady]

People you know

My biggest problem is that names of people I know seem to pop into my head at inopportune moments. Suddenly my character has turned into one of my friends or someone I see all the time. That is not always a good thing!!!!!

I agree with the earlier comment surnames seem to be the hardest. I do tend to think that a name does suggest certain character traits.