Character names

[inkdust]

How do you name your characters, and how important are character names to you?

I love names. For me they're an essential part of a character. But I don't usually base them on name meaning - though that's a bonus - for me it's more of an instinctive fit and feel. Most major characters I invent seem to come with names built in, or else the right name comes to me very early on, and it's almost impossible for me to try to change them later. If I have trouble finding the right name, I stew about it for a long time until I land on the right one. Minor characters are a little more flexible.

Character names are also important to me in what I read. I've gotten a lot better about it, but when I was a teenager if I didn't like the main character names on the book jacket, I wouldn't read the book. Not a habit I would recommend, because I know I must have missed out on some good stories. Nowadays I'm more bothered by character names that don't fit the setting or time period, though I still prefer to see ones I like.

How significant are names in your writing?

Comments

[serria]

Most of my fantasy names are made up, or "altered" from real historical/mythological names (rarely for specific meaning, but just because I like the sound and it feels more authentic). I do have one pseudo-fantasy story where the names have more meaning, though I don't think the average reader would understand it, but all in all, I don't like names to have too much meaning. I don't mind hidden trivia in a name, but when the name has so much meaning it's either a) cheesy or b) telling the story/fate of the character, I get turned off. I'd rather my characters set their own legacy with their names rather than live up to one.

That being said, finding the right name is definitely important. Even if it's pure nonsense, it has to look right and sound right. In fact, I try to make sure my names don't accidentally have any meaning (particularly any bad meaning). And in normal world stuff, I try to get away from overused literary names (never even accidentally will I allow my characters to have the initials J.S.!) And I know the fantasy genre has a bad reputation for flowerly, silly names, so I try to go for solid names without too many syllables, haha.

[inkdust]

I agree completely. For me it's about look and feel and sound (spelling differences are huge for me). I also double check for accidental bad meanings or unfortunate sounds/initials. And I love creating fantasy names, but I like to keep them just barely on the fantasy side of the line, so they hopefully won't throw a reader off. Some of the ones I think I'm inventing turn out to already be names.

[serria]

Yeah, some of my made up names are inspired by other languages - for example, I used Japanese syllables/sounds to model the names of one country's people. But I checked every name to the best of my ability to make sure they didn't have meaning. Sometimes it happens in English, too, they sound too close to something real, or I didn't realize that saying them out loud sounds like something really unfortunate. But I guess something will always slip by!