Names you hate?

[Colleen Thomas]

You mean what her mum would have named her? A valid point, I suppose. It just never made sense to me. I would think that mothers would look up actual African names, not politically correct ones. But I grasp what you mean, I think.

Precisely. I'm not a Nazi, but if I wrote story set in Berlin in 1941, I couldn't do it without mentioning htem. That's the way the world was then. In today's world, if I am writing a character from a certain ehtnic background, in a certain situation, inner city school teacher for example, I would be ignoring reality if the name I chose for her was inappropriate. Moehisa Jones might fly, where Helga Schwartz probably would not.

As author, I'm not making a statement on the naming process, I'm simply acknowledgeing reality.

 

[3113]

That statistic is. Just bizarre more than scary, I should say.

Actually, it just means that a lot of African-Americans name their kids Plato, Hector and Aphrodite. Not so bizarre if you think about it.

Meanwhile, the American-Greeks, being Greek Orthodox and perhaps more traditional, likely go for more Christian names like Peter.

 

[Aurora Black]

Actually, it just means that a lot of African-Americans name their kids Plato, Hector and Aphrodite. Not so bizarre if you think about it.

Meanwhile, the American-Greeks, being Greek Orthodox and perhaps more traditional, likely go for more Christian names like Peter.

I actually meant the more traditional/religious Greek names, but I'm sure there are a lot of little brown Platos or Aristotles running around.

 

[MysticIrishEyes]

names

It's hard to say that I hate a name because I know I'll end up needing one fo them at some point. Nothing is worse than having to bite the bullet and use one you hate.

Ones I "strongly dislike": "Brittney", "Christy", "Kristy", "Jenna", "Stan"

One I love: "Mike," "Michael", "Tyler," "Jason", "Corey (for a man)", "Savanna," "Sienna," "Athena" (it's so unexpected ... she's the Goddess of Justice),

On the fence about: "John," -- sometimes that can be so impersonal. "Mark", "Angela"

 

[3113]

"Athena" (it's so unexpected ... she's the Goddess of Justice)

I think when Athens started to rule the islands, they heaped everything they could on their patron goddess--their way of sticking their tongue out at everyone else (Our Goddess kicks ass! She's super-goddess!). Which is how the goddess of wisdom ended up being also the goddess of war, the arts, industry,skill and justice.

Just to make things more confusing, there were two other Greek goddess of Justice: Dike, for human justice, and Themis, her mom, goddess of Divine Justice.

 

[Aurora Black]

I think when Athens started to rule the islands, they heaped everything they could on their patron goddess--their way of sticking their tongue out at everyone else (Our Goddess kicks ass! She's super-goddess!). Which is how the goddess of wisdom ended up being also the goddess of war, the arts, industry,skill and justice.

Athena was indeed well loved. For whom else was this monster built?

 

[Guest]

I'm just pondering what it is that makes us use the names we do, and the kinds of things writers might think of when creating characters and coming up with names. For instance

Immigrants to new countries will often adopt names and name their children with what they think are names native to their new land in order to fit in. The desendants of immigrants will name their children with what they think are the names of their forebears to connect to their roots. (I keep thinking of the line in the movie "Local Hero" where Mac says his parents were Hungarian and adopted the name, he can't pronounce their original name, and they thought McIntyre was American -- this piece of info points out a lot of things about the character that are amplified later).

Why are some names "for boys" and some "for girls"? I mean, they are all just sounds, words, with no gender but the one we assign to them -- which can be a little arbitrary and can change over time. We've decided certain sounds are more "female" and some are more "male" but the rules are not consistant. (John and Joan are very similar sounding If we pick a name that is typically/traditionally for the opposite gender from a character, what are we trying to tell about that character? What are we trying to do?

I've had writing instructors suggest picking names at random from a phone book so as not to get too stuck on a name, and say not to load a name with symbolism. Others say that a name shapes the character, setting up expectations in the reader.

 

[JamesSD]

I just don't want my characters to have distracting names. My men are all "classic", top 25 boy-type names. With the women I look at the list of top 50 baby names from the year the character was born and pick one I haven't used lately and appeals to me.

There are a lot of strong, differing opinions on names. I strongly disagree with a lot of the opinions stated in this thread, and agree with a few of them.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Party pooper, and here I had my pony girl outfit ready

*comes to groggily from a dead faint*

Warn me before you wave an image like that in front of me ... not that it doesn't make for some wonderful visions of the hereafter.

(And the names are lovely - I just wanted an excuse for chastising you. )

 

[BlackShanglan]

I have a collection of Baby Name books, about 50.

They don't make naming my characters any easier because I have thousands of choices.

I have several such books (no where near your collection!) My favorite is a book of names from famous works of literature, with little snippets about the character named. Sometimes I leaf through it and some character will pop up and say "Oh, that's me! that's me right there!" -- rarely having anything to do with the snippet I read, but apparently connecting somehow!

Sometimes I get inspirations from lists of authors or historical figures from the place and time I want to write about. I've also used anthologies or works with bibliographies to get a list of names to wander through. Sometimes, too, I will use language engines and find words that have sound/meaning combinations I like.

Shanglan

 

[neonlyte]

Usually my characters seem to grow into their names, or vice versa - never been sure which way round it happens, but I tend to fix a character name almost before the first line is written, and he/she has a great deal to say about how the character 'behaves'. I'm editing a 2004 Nano story and I've found a particular minor character who pops up occassionally over the thirty odd chapters has three different names.

My first choice was 'Tim' - apologies to any Tim's reading, but the name gives me the vision of a weakish character, which is what I wanted. I got a bit bothered with Tim and partly as a response to another thread, I ran Tim through the search function on Lit to see in what type of stories the name 'Tim' appears. I was astonished to find that by a huge margin Tim features most in Incest stories, which probably suits my character.

But it does beg the question about how conditioned we are in general to the use of certain names and a perception, even sub-conciously, of the actions a person of that name might perform.

 

[kendo1]

My name was found in the Radio Times when mum and dad couldn't think of one for me.
I was meant to be a girl, Fiona apparently.
Took about two years till I was out of dresses since I have two older sisters.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

*comes to groggily from a dead faint*

Warn me before you wave an image like that in front of me ... not that it doesn't make for some wonderful visions of the hereafter.

(And the names are lovely - I just wanted an excuse for chastising you. )

As if you need an excuse

 

[Guest]

 

[BlackShanglan]

As if you need an excuse

I'd settle for an opportunity.

 

[rgraham666]

Party pooper, and here I had my pony girl outfit ready

Well, there's an image that going to keep me busy, I mean awake, tonight.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I'd settle for an opportunity.

Anytime any place my dashing charger

 

[HappyLlama]

Anytime any place my dashing charger

Ah! The Martini Stallion.

 

[kendo1]

I'll drink to that.

 

[3113]

I've had writing instructors suggest picking names at random from a phone book so as not to get too stuck on a name, and say not to load a name with symbolism. Others say that a name shapes the character, setting up expectations in the reader.

I certainly think that names come loaded. Names go through phases of popularity, and they can take on characteristics depending on why they're popular. Try as we might to ignore symbolism or characteristics we personally feel the name carries...it's still hard to name a character Adolf or Judas, no?

Ditto on the masculinity/femininity of a name. They may well switch over from one side to the other (like the name Leslie)--but any name that become girlish is not going to be given to boys. John Wayne's real name was "Marion" and that certainly was tossed out the window when he decided to be in movies, most particularly westerns.

Side note: You know, I can usually tell a writer is female if a male character is given name that any red-blooded male would consider too feminine to give to his son

Generally speaking, there are three things I want when I name characters (main, characters, that is):

1) I want the name to give ME a feel for the character. If I name someone Lila (as I did), then that gives me some feel for their character. Hey. It's fiction, I can match names to people--or diliberately mismatch them depending on what I'm going for.

2) I want the name to stick with the reader, but not distract them. If the name is too weird or stands out too much, it'll keep them from enjoying the story. I want them to feel, when they're done, that they can discuss the characters as if they are people with real names--names they can remember and pronounce.

3) I don't want the characters to have names that look so similar on the page that the reader gets confused. This is a pet peeve of mine. I remember editing a fantasy story for someone where almost everyone's name or the place where they lived started with "A"--talk about confusion.

I mean, I KNOW that families will name their three boys: Jason, Josh and John. I KNOW that's reality. But you just can't do that in fiction. It gives the reader a headache and makes them give up on the story as they try to follow these three--especially when Jason marries Joan and they have baby Jane.

Come to that, someone really should have said to Tolkien: "Do you really want to have one villain named Saruman and the other named Sauron?"

 

[JamesSD]

Side note: You know, I can usually tell a writer is female if a male character is given name that any red-blooded male would consider too feminine to give to his son

So true!

3) I don't want the characters to have names that look so similar on the page that the reader gets confused. This is a pet peeve of mine. I remember editing a fantasy story for someone where almost everyone's name or the place where they lived started with "A"--talk about confusion.

I mean, I KNOW that families will name their three boys: Jason, Josh and John. I KNOW that's reality. But you just can't do that in fiction. It gives the reader a headache and makes them give up on the story as they try to follow these three--especially when Jason marries Joan and they have baby Jane.

Come to that, someone really should have said to Tolkien: "Do you really want to have one villain named Saruman and the other named Sauron?"

God, so true. I have a rule that every major character has a name that starts with a different letter. And people whose names rhyme don't get to sleep together. It's a rule in life too

 

[neonlyte]

Side note: You know, I can usually tell a writer is female if a male character is given name that any red-blooded male would consider too feminine to give to his son

You could give a fella a very serious complex with this kind of statement

 

[impressive]

Well, let's see. I used Umoja, Kujichagulia, Ujima, Ujamaa, Nia, Kuumba, and Imani in two of my stories.

Other than those, I've been fairly conventional. I tend to avoid having two female characters with names ending in the same sound (such as "-ee") because it just doesn't flow. The rest is driven by the time period, the ethnicity, and the personality of the character.

 

[3113]

You could give a fella a very serious complex with this kind of statement

LOL! Come on, you know exactly what I mean. And it's not just feminine names. That dreamy, sensitive name for that dreamy sensitive male character some writers decide on isn't one that most little boys (or men) would want to have. Not if they don't want to get picked on at school.

After Frances Hodgeson Burnett (of "Secret Garden" Fame) wrote Little Lord Fauntleroy about an angelic little boy, Cedric, who calls his mother "Dearest" (hm...incest category anyone?) all these moms who loved the book wanted to name their baby boys "Cedric." And the Dads all went "No one is naming a son of mine 'Cedric!'"

Those Dads who didn't protest ended up with really unhappy sons.

 

[Equinoxe]

In general, I try to avoid disallowing myself names in a categorical sense, but there are some names that I just find harsh or unpleasant and hence have little interest in.

While I can understand the idea behind the "just pick a name and get it over with" philosophy, I really can't agree with it. Names and naming are very important and while they aren't the end all be all of a character, the name given to a character will evoke something in the reader. As an author, you have to prepare for that and certainly be aware of it. Obviously, some instances are unavoidable, you cannot help it that by naming your heroine Sara one of your readers is reminded of an old love who took her own life and now utterly refuses to read your work. However, certain names are just out and have certain clearly connotations (no Adolfs, Osamas, etc.) -- some, however, are less obvious and may require a little research. If your characters are from a region of the world that is perhaps more exotic to your perspective, you may wish to ensure that they don't have the same name as a local villain, though that does depend upon who you anticpate shall be reading your work.

With regard to the occurrence of Ancient Greek names amongst the African-American population, I used to know a woman named Aphrodite. If I were reading a story that clearly did not take place in an Ancient Greek setting and encountered a character with such a name, I very likely might see that character as black, were their ethnicity not already established.

As for gender appropriate names, my favourite men's name is Evelyn. Oddly enough, I'm not that fond of it as a woman's name.