Hiya! [name_m]How[/name_m] big of a role does naming play in your writing? TBH naming my characters is honestly one of my favorite parts of the process. Names just evoke so much to me, that I love matching them with characters. Sometimes I fall in love with a name and I’ll wait until I have the right kind of story to build a character around that name. Or, if I already have a character idea, I get so excited and put so much thought into naming. I love the moment when it just clicks and I find a name and go “oh, that’s the one” and usually it gives me a more clear idea of the character, and even of their family (since usually parents are the ones naming them). Of course, I’m also more into character driven stories, so I think names are extra important to me because I love my characters so much.
Are you fellow name nerds/writers like that? What does the intersection of your passion for writing and names look like?
I am definitely always concerned about the naming process! When I imagine characters, I tend to build personalities around my concept of a name. The connotations it has for me will heavily influence the character. Then I imagine vastly different characters that would compliment their name. I get really caught up in it!
The [name_m]Venn[/name_m] diagram of my passion for names and my passion for writing is basically a circle! If it weren’t for writing, I’m not sure I would even be on this site today.
When I was 10, I read a book about a girl who wanted to be a writer, and she had a baby name book to help her name her characters. I wanted to be an author too so I thought the baby name book was a brilliant idea! I received one for [name_u]Christmas[/name_u] when I was in 5th grade and, let me tell you, that thing was well-loved. Unfortunately, I got rid of the book when my family moved from Kansas City to [name_f]Florida[/name_f] this past summer because I just don’t think it would’ve survived the cross country move! And I also exclusively use the Internet for my naming endeavors, and I have for a few years because the book was practically unusable. The covers had fallen off long ago, it was missing the first and last few pages as well, it was dog-eared, written in with lists of my old favorite baby names and some old character names. Really well-loved.
Like @the_common_fool, I derive my character’s personality after I name them, partly through dialogue and interaction with other characters, but also from my view of the name. And like all of you, I get really attached to my characters!
I used to be in a writing group where most people dreaded naming and I would always volunteer to help haha. I’m glad nameberry lets me meet other writers who love the naming process like I do I have so many more writing+naming things I’m curious for opinions on, but I should probably make separate posts for those.
Staying on topic though, it’s also fun to figure out the general vibe of the names in a story. Obviously they’re not always cohesive because characters don’t all have the same parents or background, but I feel like when I start a new story I decide how “out there” I’ll let my overall naming decisions be for that one. And of course, fictional sibsets are fun. Recently read a play (“A Breakfast of Eels”) where the two brothers had very different names and I heard one reviewer interpret this as one of the first clues that the characters aren’t actually brothers. I thought that was a neat detail.
I can’t imagine that! I really love names and if you don’t have a character’s name, you can’t really feel a strong connection to them (in my personal opinion)
It varies so much with me- I love naming my characters but the way I do so is different every time.
With my really important, central main character, I’ll usually have a very vague idea of personality and have to spend time thinking about a name, and then a totally random one I hadn’t even considered comes to me and it’s perfect but I still agonize over the decision. With side characters, I hardly even think about their names because with them, for some reason, I actually do know what their personality will be like and their name will just instantly come to me, and it’s usually names that I don’t even really like. I hate reading books where all the characters have just really outlandish names, and in my writing the names for side characters are usually pretty common like [name_f]Nicole[/name_f], [name_f]Melissa[/name_f], and [name_m]Mark[/name_m], but the main character names are sometimes names that aren’t even on the register. Of course, sometimes I just like deciding on a bunch of names and personalities and appearances to go along with them and then don’t even write the story; the character development was the fun part
I love the naming; in school I had a notebook with hundreds of names written in it to help myself and my classmates name characters. I also like the opportunity to play with names that might not be right for a person in your family, but you want someone to have. It’s also a great exercise in thinking about plausible but unique names, the naming conventions of communities, et cetera.
Its exactly like that if the name is wrong the character is not right, ive spent weeks searching for the right character name before. I agree wholly about loving characters. [name_f]My[/name_f] protagonist is so much like me (flaws and all (and I have a LOT)) I had to get the perfect name. I just had too.
I’m not really a writer but I am an avid reader. Sometimes I feel more drawn to check out books if the characters have interesting names. I recently read the book [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f] by [name_u]Anne[/name_u] Osterlund. I love the name [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f], so it made me more inclined to read the book.
But sometimes if the names are really culturally/historically inaccurate, it can turn me off the book since it shows a lack of research on the part of the author. E.g. modern names like [name_u]Jayden[/name_u] popping up in stories that are supposed to be set in historical [name_f]Ireland[/name_f]. As a name nerd, it’s just annoying!
Oh my gosh I do this ALL THE TIME. I never finish my stories, and I like writing them and making plots and all, like I’m not entirely focused on naming, but it’s the part of the process that sucks up the most of my energy, I loooove naming maybe a little too much…
I’m at the stage right now where I have two incredibly vague ideas, basically only a setting for each and some characters. In one I have a very clear image of the girl and the personality. In the other I have one name and a second I go back and forth on. And I’m like well if I commit to using one of these names I like for any of these people then I HAVE to figure out a plot and write at least a little for them. Seems a shame to use up a name and then not really use it, you know?
Although I too am guilty of never finishing stories One day! One day I will!