What are your naming quirks?

Writers' Corner
1

When you write a story, do you have any rules or research that goes into naming? Or do you just pick random names that you like? [name]Do[/name] you look at meaning or when the name was popular? Origin? Tell me!

For me, I usually pick a nationality or two to make all the names “feel” like they go together. Unless I want the name to sound like it doesn’t belong. I generally won’t put a [name]Mary[/name] and a [name]Sparrow[/name] in the same story- they just don’t go. For my latest story, I’ve chosen all Greek and Latin names, with a few exceptions- [name]Aurelia[/name], [name]Briony[/name], [name]Calista[/name], [name]Damien[/name], [name]Elani[/name], [name]Flavian[/name], [name]Gabriel[/name]… Oh, and maybe you’ve caught my other naming quirk: alphabetical.

I cannot stand it when I have characters who have the same initials. [name]Connie[/name] and [name]Chance[/name]. [name]David[/name] and Dinyaza. It bothers me. I go to great lengths to keep each character having its own initial. ([name]Chance[/name] is an example of me failing at this- his name was High [name]Chancellor[/name] [name]Page[/name], but he went by [name]Chance[/name], not [name]Page[/name]. Stupid villain. Dinyaza was a villain too. Stealing my letters- grr!) Maybe it’s because I like to abbreviate in my notes: F goes on a journey. If there’s only one guy with an F name, then I know it’s [name]Flavian[/name]'s journey, not [name]Francisca[/name]'s or [name]Frederick[/name]'s. Or maybe I just don’t like names that sound similar because I’ll get confused.

I once had a character named M in a story. I named him after my brother [name]Martin[/name], and his twin after my brother [name]Daniel[/name]. They were M and [name]Dan[/name] for a year, and then I realized that M needed a full name, and [name]Martin[/name] wasn’t going to work. It had to be one syllable. I wanted to name him [name]Mark[/name]. But I’d already named their best friend’s (one of my main characters) little brother [name]Marcos[/name]. And there was no way I could have [name]Mark[/name] and [name]Marcos[/name]. So he ended up [name]Matt[/name]. [name]Mark[/name] might have fit him better, but [name]Matt[/name] would do. Maybe this was why I avoid the same-letter thing.

My current story has 22 characters: [name]Aurelia[/name], [name]Briony[/name], [name]Calista[/name], [name]Damien[/name], [name]Elani[/name], [name]Flavian[/name], [name]Gabriel[/name], Haemon, [name]Ignatius[/name], [name]Julian[/name], [name]Kyrie[/name], [name]Lysander[/name] ([name]Damien[/name]'s alias), [name]Melina[/name], [name]Nerine[/name], [name]Olympia[/name], [name]Pandora[/name], [name]Quentyn[/name], [name]Rhodes[/name], [name]Sebastian[/name], [name]Thaddeus[/name], Ulixes, [name]Verity[/name], and [name]Wencelas[/name] “Wen”. The only problem is- what do I do when I run out of letters? :o

2

In the case of my main characters they all end up pretty much telling me what their names are whether I like them or not. In ‘The Self Invention’ my main characters are [name]Grace[/name], [name]Cashel[/name], Ayella and [name]Robin[/name]. I’m not particularly a fan of [name]Grace[/name] or [name]Robin[/name] but I can’t do anything about it. Those are their names and they wouldn’t suit any others. It’s a little annoying but I have found that using names I wouldn’t normally choose makes the story seem more realistic in a way.

For minor characters I tend to search through lists of names until I come across one and just know that it’s the name they’re meant to have. Once again, it might be a name I loathe.

As my story is set in a parallel world to ours I also have another issue to contend with: using world appropriate names. A few names - like [name]Grace[/name] and [name]Robin[/name] - fit fine as they’re short and not particularly steeped in any set culture but others just don’t work. For example, I wanted to use [name]Genevieve[/name] for the queen but the name sounded far too French for a lady who had married into a psuedo-[name]German[/name] family from a psuedo-Italian one. With a bit of thought, [name]Genevieve[/name] became Genovetta which was perfect. I did the same with a lot of other names and compiled a huge list of names for future use that all sound like they belong in 19th century [name]Bretton[/name].

3

I go through a lot of lists or, like you said, I choose a nationality and go with it. Renrose’s way of doing it is pretty much the same as mine. Usually, I don’t name the character until I come to them in the story. I’ll have their personality and appearance mapped out, but I find that I manage to get further quicker on my stories when I have the naming process to look forward to all throughout the writing. It’s like an incentive, because I get so insanely excited when it comes time to put a name to my thoughts :slight_smile:

Once in a great while, I get a name in my head for a character that won’t go away no matter how many lists I look at, so I end up going with it. Like the name Reema. Is that even a name? I don’t like it at all, but I used it as one of my main character’s siblings.

4

Haha, aww. That alphabetical quirk is a challenging one!

Personally, the names often just come to me. The few times I need to hunt for names, I tend to form the personality first, and then look for names with relating meanings, or feels.

I’ve also taken to looking up names that correspond to the character’s zodiac sign/personality. I use the Zodiac to help form a lot of my characters…if not all of them.
I found a book that has hundreds of names sorted by the Zodiac. That’s been invaluable, I also just google search somethings as well.

My biggest naming quirk is that I don’t have a set formula or method. I try/do a little bit of everything.

5

My method for my naming madness has sort of changed since I discovered name forums. :slight_smile: But as for quirks, I really only have two:

Good guys always get names I love, and bad guys get names I hate. lol. I guess it makes them that much easier to love/hate!

And characters. There are always tons of characters! Probably because I love coming up with names and I love people, like genuinely care about them, have a heart for their happiness, am such a stinkin’ bleeding heart that it’s not even funny. So I come up with way too many characters, but I can never seem to get rid of any. :slight_smile:

6

Like [name]Ashley[/name], I have a lot of characters in my original writing. Most of them come with names; if they don’t, it’s relatively easy for me to select a name from a shortlist. My main character, [name]Esther[/name], proved incredibly difficult for me to name. That had more to do with the characters and the plot needing work than anything though. I write historical fiction (1910s), and I use the SSA lists when I can and census records when I can’t. Sometimes I have to comb through my character list and make sure none of the names are too similar.

7

I have a lot of characters too. I tend to write contemporary, and my latest quirk is to take a common name and give it a more quirky nickname to stand out. Some characters are named well in advance, and others I name as I come to them. I also like to use guilty pleasure names for characters as I know I’m never going to use them in real life so I might as well name a character it instead.

8

[name]Hi[/name], I am new to Nameberry,
I write sometimes, and I name my characters whatever fits the character in my mind. I read somewhere that naming your character an unusual name, makes them more memorable and you have less problem of someone saying Hey that’s my name, and getting sued.
take care,[name]Mercy[/name].

9

Wow! First of all that’s a lot of characters - I don’t think I’ve ever had that many in a book (at least none that are important, obviously some names in passing but they might be mentioned once).

My naming quirks are to have sibling names that just have to be PERFECT. Also each name has to have a long background for it, whether it’s apparent to the reader or not. Also they have to make sense with the parents, and often the names tie into the parents names.
Right now I’m writing one with siblings named [name]Joel[/name] [name]David[/name], [name]Hannah[/name] [name]Hope[/name], and [name]Faith[/name] [name]Rebecca[/name] - they all have Biblical names because the family is very religious. [name]Faith[/name] being the only exception that isn’t a name explicitly in the Bible, but that’s because her name ties into the title. Then there’s a character named [name]August[/name] [name]Harbor[/name] who goes by “Something” [name]Wilder[/name] - his alter ego is because that’s what his mom wanted to name him and the last name was his mom’s maiden name.

So I guess my quirk is tying it into the parents somehow. Also, once I notice a pattern in a family, even with just two names, I tend to stick with it. Like with the 3 aforementioned siblings, their names are semi-alphabetical in that it’s every other letter. I’m going to make the parents names start with a B and/or D.