NAMING YOUR CHARACTERS by Maria Hudgins

 

I feel like some writers give their characters random names. Maybe they throw darts at a phone book or something. But this system would now be obsolete. (What's a phone book, Daddy?) But in fact one famous writer did just that. Allegedly. Somerset Maugham is said to have named a couple by the phone book method and chosen their address from a street map of London. It is said that Maugham was threatened with a lawsuit when a couple with a similar name actually lived at a similar address and took exception to Maugham's version of the shenanigans going on at their house.

If you use the dart method to name characters, I suggest you are wasting an important resource. You already know how tedious it is to pause your nail-biting scene to describe a new character fully enough that your reader will recognize the sort of person he is. By the time you finish, the reader has lost interest in the nail-biting scene. I believe that the name you give your character says a lot about him or her but without wasting more words. Gordon Gekko sounds like something slimy that lives under a rock. Ebenezer Scrooge. Did it ever occur to you that calling someone a scrooge had no meaning until Dickens gave his miserly character that name? Chelsea. Tameka. Troy. Karen. Okay, that last name has gotten some bad press lately, and unfairly. Some of the nicest women I know are named Karen. But I don't know any men named Karen.

I sometimes use one of the online sites that list names by the birth year when they were most popular. This can suggest the age of the character. Ashley and Ryan were likely born in the 1990s. My daughter, born in 1974, said she could yell, "Jen" out her dorm room door and get a chorus of answers. A man named Amos is likely old, but not when his parents gave him that name. Audrey was a popular name at the turn of the 20th Century, so a character named Audrey suggests an older woman. But it may also indicate that young Audrey's parents are lovers of tradition. 

A name may also suggest one's ethnic or even religious origin and this may be important for understanding the character, but personally I shy away from names I can't pronounce. I can handle Joaquin or Bjork, but Oisin confounds me. (it's pronounced oh-sheen) I avoid giving characters names that will send my readers to Google for clarity. It wastes valuable time when your dear readers would rather be biting their nails. I recently read a wonderful book called World of Wonders, by Aimee Nezhukumatathil. After much practice, I can now pronounce the author's Indian name by thinking, "Hakuna Matata"

So. To name a character who is a 21st Century boy, I may think: First name, English or American, from a prominent family. How about Harry? How about a last name that suggests stability. Like an ancient art or skill. I look around the room and my eyes fall on the handmade vase that belonged to my grandmother. A vase. A pot. How about Potter? No wait. I think that one has already been taken.