[name_f]Do[/name_f] you ever find that even for characters, certain names are off limits? Perhaps the name is already used by a major character in an already existing book series, or maybe, like in my case, you’re sharing the story with a close circle of friends, and the names just don’t go over well with them?
Any reason at all?
Examples:
[name_f]Arissa[/name_f] and [name_f]Larissa[/name_f]: Rhyme with my sister’s name
[name_m]Augustus[/name_m]: A major character in a currently popular book, it would be too connected to use for any of my characters
[name_u]Ashley[/name_u]:I already used it in a story that was a huge flop, and I don’t want to be reminded.
[name_f]Theodora[/name_f]: [name_f]Theodora[/name_f] is part of my username on several sites, so this would look like a self insert
Maybe it’s just me.
Yeah, I get what you mean. I have an unspoken list of names I won’t use for character either. It includes:
- The names of family and friends.
- No names with obviously bad ties attached to it/famous names that aren’t common. (No Hitler, no [name_m]Obama[/name_m]… I have considered Rasputin, but didn’t end up using it.)
- The names of book characters that are pretty original to their own series, or have recently been popular. ([name_f]Katniss[/name_f], [name_f]Bella[/name_f], etc.)
- I try not to use names I’d like to use for future children, but that doesn’t always work out? Luckily I change my taste in names a lot, so a name I loved and used for a character might not stay on my faves list.
- I try not to reuse names from my old works, or if I’ve seen the name on another character in a similar genre before. Like using [name_f]Bella[/name_f] for a vampire would be a big no in my book.
There might be more, but that’s all I can think of for now.
I think I have the opposite problem. Once I use a name for a character, I will never be able to think of it the same again. For the first novel I wrote, I made the mistake of using names from my baby name list for characters. For some reason I thought that I would still find those usable for children’s names, but now that I’ve spent SO MANY HOURS writing those characters, there is no way I would be able to consider them for anything else. Each character I write becomes a distinct person, and I’ll never be able to get rid of all of the associations I have with those names!
With that said, I don’t let myself use: The names of anyone I know, or anything too similar (I don’t want to accidentally base a character on someone I know!), names of characters from popular books- unless they’re generic. I’m sure there are books with a protagonist named [name_f]Emily[/name_f] or [name_f]Anna[/name_f] or [name_u]Haley[/name_u] but those are pretty generic names. With something like [name_m]Augustus[/name_m], [name_f]Hazel[/name_f], [name_u]Tris[/name_u], [name_f]Katniss[/name_f], Peeta… there’s no way that would work! I also try to be careful to pick names that fit the setting of my novel. If I was writing a novel set in [name_f]China[/name_f], I probably wouldn’t name a character [name_m]Jorge[/name_m], or [name_m]George[/name_m], for that matter!
[name_f]Rose[/name_f] and [name_f]Zoey[/name_f], because of the Vampire Academy and House of [name_m]Night[/name_m] books, respectively. [name_f]Zoey[/name_f] I don’t mind so much, but it was a real shame about [name_f]Rose[/name_f] 