the name game

[marycatelli]

Always fun, naming your characters. 

I once read a writer warning against naming a character too early.  The argument was that names have baggage and you will tag your character with that baggage without realizing it. 

That is, in fact, exactly what I am looking for in a name.  I try them on, and if they fit, the character type summed up in the name is obviously the character I am looking for.  An economical way to define them.

Not that I don't have to find the name first.  And then you get into the consciously thought parts.  Like what sort of culture you are stealing them from.  I've got six or seven baby name books and the most useful one divides by culture.  Not that that is always accurate enough.  I've found The Academy of Saint Gabriel quite useful for getting the right era.  (Something not all writers attend to.  I ran across a book in which a Norwegian women from the pagan era was named "Kristen."  aaaaaarrggghhh!!!)

Then, of course, you want it to suggest personality, social class, social structure, -- and do it without even showing that's what is intended.

Comments

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

I also like to have character names that resonate in the right ways. Which isn't always easy. I have one story whose VP character's name just isn't right and for whom I haven't yet found the right name. It makes writing that story more difficult.

I've got an entire folder devoted to links to name sites, but my favorites are Behind the Name - the Etymology and History of First Names and its companion site, Behind the Name - the Etymology and History of Last Names.

For more or less contemporary names in the US, the Social Security Administration page, Popular Baby Names is very handy, as it lists the most popular names by year for every year since 1879. (I'm sure it misses quite a few, especially in the earlier years when social security numbers would have been less common and because until recently only people who were employed typically needed them.)

The Name Statistics website, based on U.S. census data, is good for determining how common names are, although not good for the beginning stages of character name discovery.

[marycatelli]

Large sources of names are almost always useful.

[jryson.livejournal.com]

I tend to give my MCs rather mundane names, with such exceptions as Amaranth Cider, Tokay, etc.

[marycatelli]

One advantage to that is that they get the edges polished off. So many people have them that they don't carry as much baggage for most people.

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

But how can you write a character without at least givin them a placeholder name? I do that all the time.

[marycatelli]

In outlines I name them -, and --, and ---.

Once I tackle the story itself, I have got to find the right name. Usually I've managed in the outlining stage, but if not I have to start hunting through name lists.

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

Ah. I'm incapable of mastering the art of the outline. I just start writing.

[marycatelli]

My stories had a distressing tendency to get half way through and then stick their legs in the air and announce they were dead.

I outline. It's easier to abandon an outline that died halfway.

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

I like the image.

I think with novels there are so many more elements to play with as a writer that you can often rescue the work by letting it find its own path. But that's probably impossible within the much narrower focus of a story. Since I write mostly novels, i can get away with winging it much more.

[marycatelli]

I found novel-length stories much worse than short stories. So much further to go, and so, so many more places to die.

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Must be purely a difference of process then.

[marycatelli]

probably.

The The Sticky Ideas Theory of Story Length may come into play, too. I find novels harder because I have to get them to stick. If novels are your metier -- which I infer from your comments -- you don't have that problem.

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

I much prefer the long format. Gives me room to work things out and play nuance. Don't think I'm precise enough for shorter works.

[marycatelli]

Yeah, that sound like sticky ideas

[(Anonymous)]

You said, 'I ran across a book in which a Norwegian women from the pagan era was named "Kristen."'

Given the content of the rest of your blog, I expect that that was just a typo. However, after the confusion of "lose" and "loose," using "women" as a singular may be the most common mistake on the internet.