I’m a writer and choosing names for my characters is very important to me. That’s actually why I started collecting baby name books, then I realized I was interested in names just by themselves as well.
[name]Just[/name] for some general interest, the names of the main characters in the novel I’ve been writing forever:
[name]Milos[/name] Papadakis, my protagonist, age 16, in boarding school – the offspring of a Greek father and an American mother. Pronounced Mee-los. I found the name in the book and loved it. I actually created a character for the name, rather than the other way around, which is why [name]Milos[/name] is Greek. Much too late I found out that [name]Milos[/name], though it is of Greek origin, isn’t really used as a name in Greece. Changing his name was out of the question – I’d grown too attached to it, and him – so I had to come up with an explanation for it instead. I found out there was a [name]Milos[/name] Island in Greece and I said his mom had named him after the island.
[name]Kostas[/name] Papadakis, [name]Milos[/name]'s father, a wealthy importer – a fairly generic Greek name, but the first name also means “constant” and that he most definitely is.
[name]Annette[/name] “[name]Netta[/name]” Papadakis, [name]Milos[/name]'s mother – Her name was [name]Ann[/name] [name]Marie[/name]. She changed it later on because she thought [name]Ann[/name] [name]Marie[/name] sounded boring.
[name]Ioannis[/name] Kaligaris, [name]Milos[/name]'s father’s personal assistant/right arm – another typical Greek name, it means “[name]John[/name].” So the American reader would know its pronunciation, early in the book I had someone mispronounce it, and [name]Milos[/name] corrects him.
[name]Pascual[/name] Zamudio [name]Jr[/name]., [name]Milos[/name]'s roommate and best friend – His name has a story in the book. [name]Pascual[/name]'s father was, it turned out, already married with children, a fact he concealed from [name]Pascual[/name]'s mother. The rat not only headed for the hills when he found out [name]Pascual[/name]'s mother was pregnant, but he refused to pay child support AND when [name]Pascual[/name]'s mother died suddenly, his father refused to take responsibility for him and abandoned him to the foster care system instead. [name]Pascual[/name] tells [name]Milos[/name], “My mother named me [name]Pascual[/name] [name]Jr[/name]. because she realized my dad was never going to give me anything, and she made sure that he would at least have to give me his name.”
[name]Eben[/name] Friedmann, a teacher at [name]Milos[/name] and [name]Pascual[/name]'s school – I haven’t decided whether his name is short for [name]Ebenezer[/name], or just [name]Eben[/name]. I chose it because it sounded friendly.