By: SpookyMulder

Naming Characters

   Well, this section won’t be as long as the others. Why you ask? Because there isn’t much to it, really.   Do your best not to give your characters soap opera names. You know the sort I mean. They sound made up. They sound rather silly most of the time and they aren’t believable. Always remember, believable is your main goal. Always.  

Here are a few hints:   Buy a book on baby names, but don’t find a name that matches your character’s personality traits. Just the opposite works better. “Did you know your name is Anglo-Saxon for sheep herder?” An appropriate name might work in some circumstances, especially with a bad guy from a family of bad guys (Draco Malfoy comes to mind. Draco is a dragon constellation and I believe it means dragon in Latin.) Give a meek, cowardly character from a rich family in a long line of strong, successful men a name that means “king” or something. Why? Because it doesn’t suit him. That’s the way life usually works.

   Think of names from real life that have struck you as odd and apply them to your characters.

   Never give an ethnic person an ethnic first and last name unless your story actually takes place in that country or your character is fighting to fit in in an American setting or something and their tongue-twister name is a hindrance. Huong Capparelli or Jose Smith or Jimmy Ho or Mossimo Johnson are much more interesting and believable than Jose Gomez or Lorenzo LaManna. (Eww, alliterate names… they can be good if used well, but best to avoid them.) How about something fun, like a white guy named Tyrone Johnson? Or a black guy named Don O’Hallihan?

   Give your character the same name as a famous person just so they can be annoyed by it. “Michael Bolton” from the movie “Office Space” comes to mind. The guy was absolutely nothing like Michael Bolton and it drove him nuts that every person he met asked if he was any relation to the singer. Then there’s “Sam Beckett” from “Quantum Leap.” You could have a proud Democrat named George Bush. I recently met a guy named Myles Standish. There is really no end to the fun you can have with these. One per story.

   Do not give your characters rhyming names. It’s a bad idea to give two different characters names that start with the same letter. Remember, your reader won’t remember everything you wrote as well as you do. Keep names perfectly clear. Don’t have a Sam and a Pam. Or a Sam and a Steve.

Finding a First Name for a Female: This is where most people go wrong. Especially young female authors. They come up with cutesy names they like, names they think they’d give future children. Dakota, Ariana and Savanna suck. So do most names that end with Y or IE. You might know someone with a name like this but that doesn’t mean it’s believable in a story. Mariah has a friend named Brock Landry but that doesn’t mean it’s a good name for a character. Biblical names are always good. Plain names, the old stand-bys. Anne. Jane, aka Plain Jane. Mary. Deb. Michelle. Margaret, which can also be Margie or Peggy. Judy or Judith. You can’t go wrong. However, even more believable are names that rhyme with something embarrassing. Automatic childhood emotional trauma. Give a young girl an old name like Edith or Esther. She was named after an aunt or her grandma. Her name is odd, and that’s what makes it believable. Being constantly asked about it is a sore spot with her, but everyone she meets asks. Bottom line, play it safe, mortify her or pick something inappropriate or downright ugly.

Picking a First Name for a Boy: The guidelines here are the same as for a girl, basically. Stay away from soap opera names. Thorne. Tristan. Brody. Again, go for Biblical or common names like James, Mike, Brian, and Charles. The margin for error is much smaller here than it is for females, but you can’t go wrong with Yancy or Ethan.   Picking a last name: Not as easy as you think! Stephen King suggests picking a common last name and then removing one letter or adding a letter. Choosing an ethnic name for a Caucasian person adds some interest. Giving an ethnic person a common last name like Smith or Jones does the same. Why? Because it’s odd and hints of some sort of family past. Maybe a scandal. Maybe an ocean voyage or a forbidden marriage. Try to stay away from super common last names unless you choose an extravagant first name. Marlena Baker. Melinda Stone. Or if you want to give your character the most common name in history. This should go to someone who has a problem with how plain and boring he or she is. Bob Smith. Jane Smith. You get the picture.

Nicknames: Strange nicknames are fun, but you can’t give everyone in the story a nickname. “Tuna” from the move “Blow” comes to mind. The name itself is so odd that it draws your interest. I very much want to know why a person is called Tuna. It’s even better to me that the name is never explained. Again, and I can’t say this enough, stay away from the common stuff. Bald guy named Curly, fat guy named Tiny. BORING. Contrived. Not believable. You can always play on the last name as well, using it to give the character a nickname. Maybe “Eric Hamilton” is known as “Ham” and gets a million sandwich jokes. John Sullivan from Stephen King’s “Hearts in Atlantis” is known as “Sully John.” Another character, Brutus Howell, from “The Green Mile” is large but gentle and is known as “Brutal.”

In Closing: Your character’s name should almost never reflect the character himself. It can say something about him or hint at a history but it should never suit him perfectly. Contradictions are your friends in naming your characters. As always, everything in moderation.