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November 2008
The Naming of Names
A multi-genre author who started her career in Regency romance before making the leap to epic fantasy, Patricia Bray's latest novel is The Final Sacrifice, which was released by Bantam Spectra in July, 2008.
Whenever I'm asked where I get the ideas for my stories, I find myself explaining that the problem isn't finding ideas, it's trying to decide which of the many ideas floating around my head I want to work on. Mundanes will nod and move on to asking about money, while creative types will ask, "Once you've decided on a story, how do you know when it's time to start writing?" And here the answer is deceptively simple — I may have mulled over a story for weeks, months, even years, but I can't start writing until I know the characters' names. If I don't know the characters well enough to name them, then I certainly can't write about them. Choosing the right names for your characters is vital. Names set reader expectations, as much if not more than the physical descriptions that you provide. Just think of the images that come to mind when you compare the names Jack Archer and Clarence Witherspoon. Which one do you pick as the a gritty detective for your urban noir fantasy? Will Jack be more likely to be attracted to Sydney O'Malley or Tiffany Devine? It's important to find names that fit both the characters' personalities and the story that you are writing. Guillaume is a perfect name for the hero of your medieval fantasy, but if you're writing a contemporary novel you may be better off with William. Sometimes names can be used to reveal character. Consider Sara Paretsky's character V.I. Warshawski — a private detective doing her best to live down her given name of Victoria Iphenigia Warshawski. Here the author used the character's name to tell us something about the character — showing us someone who refuses to allow others to judge her by her gender. When picking names for my characters, I'll consider the meaning of the name, as well as how it sounds when read aloud. Jane Sedgwick was the perfect name for a Regency country miss, a woman who embodied practicality, and was unused to high society. When a later book featured a wealthy and sophisticated heiress, I chose to name her Lady Felicity Winterbourne. When I needed a name for the hero's best friend, someone whom every woman treated as a younger brother, I gave him the name Lord Frederick, known to one and all as Lord Freddie. Here the nickname was a clue to his character arc, as he struggled to be taken seriously by those around him. Beware of using names that are too similar, especially for minor characters that make infrequent appearances throughout the book. If the reader has to pause to try and remember whether Harold is the family black sheep or if that was Howard, you've just jerked them out of your story. In real life, you may go to a cocktail party and be introduced to three Michaels and two Jennifers — not to mention Harold, Hayward and Howard — but in your writing you should strive to avoid such confusion. X marks the villain and other F&SF clichés In Devlin's Luck, the original name for the villain started with an X. My editor asked me to consider changing it, pointing out a laundry list of villains in recent books whose names started with X or the X sound, to the point where it had become a cliché. She was right, of course, and I changed his name. Other traps that F&SF authors fall into are abusing punctuation marks to make a name seem alien, and coming up with polysyllabic names that are clearly non-terrestrial in origin, but also impossible for the average reader to decipher. It's important to keep in mind that there's a fine line between creativity and unreadability. Here again, a good test is to try reading the name aloud, and if in doubt, ask a friend or critique partner to try the same exercise. If they stumble over the name and can't figure out how to pronounce it, chances are your readers will struggle as well. So, how do you find the right names for your characters? What's in today If you're writing a contemporary story, your best friend is a book of baby names. I gravitate to books that include ethnic origins as well as meanings. There are also numerous websites offering collections of baby names, but I prefer to page through a book as I'm collecting potential names. For last names, there's the ever popular phone book. I'll also write down interesting names as I see them, from newspapers, sporting events, even television credits. Beware of mixing and matching names from different ethnicities. If you don't know the ethnic origin of a name, do a little checking before you decide to use it. Consuela Murphy, whose name combines a Hispanic first name with an Irish last name, may be the product of a multicultural family, or simply named after her mother's best friend, but it's unusual enough to be noticed. For similar reasons, Hiroshi Wang, which combines a Japanese first name with one of the most common Chinese surnames, is also an uncommon pairing in contemporary society. There's no rule that says you can't combine names in this way, but it should be a deliberate authorial decision, one that is consistent with the setting as well as the character's back story. Writing about the past Madison is a popular girl's name today, but before the movie Splash, it was unheard of. To give your story an authentic period feel, you need to research names from that era. Most baby names books don't mention when a name first came into general use, but the more scholarly references will, such as the invaluable The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names by E.G. Withycombe. If you are writing about the recent past, there are several websites that list the most common names for the past century. For other periods, you may be able to find census records, lists of tax rolls, genealogies or even entire newspapers on the internet. And remember to jot down potential names as you do your general research, especially when you have access to primary sources such as letters or diaries. Writing about a place that never was For my first fantasy novel I needed to create two very different cultures. The first was that of Duncaer, where my hero Devlin was from. After being exiled from his homeland, he travels to the rival kingdom of Jorsk, which has its own language and customs. To give the feeling of a common culture, I used Celtic sources to create names for people, places and things in Duncaer. For Jorsk, I used Scandinavian names, referring to Viking sagas and lists of royal genealogies to find appropriate names. Because the names in each culture share the same linguistic roots, they sound natural together. Devlin is clearly from a different culture than Solveig, Drakken, Oluva and King Olafur. I don't have to keep describing his alienation from his hosts; their very names provide subconscious clues to the reader that Devlin is a man out of place, far from his home and everything familiar to him. This is where a name book that groups names by ethnicities, such as Sherrilyn Kenyon's Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook, is invaluable. Here a Grimes, There a Grimes When I was writing Regencies, I occasionally needed a name for a minor character — someone the viewpoint character would know by name, such as a housekeeper, the gentleman seated next to her at dinner, or the family solicitor. I would pause while writing to think up a name, and inevitably the character would be given the name Grimes. A solid, British-sounding name, one that would disappear into the narrative. Except, of course, if you've populated your book with six different characters named Grimes. In this case the astute reader will detect a conspiracy by the Grimes family to infiltrate all levels of Regency society. Fortunately I caught the problem during the revision stage. To prevent this from happening again, I began making lists of potential names for minor characters, and keeping that list next to the computer. As I use one of the names, I cross it off. When I start to run low, I begin trolling through my research books to come up with new ones. When I'm working on a multi-book series, I find it helpful to keep a style sheet that lists each character. A typical entry is: Chenzira, Lieutenant Imperial Navy, illegitimate nephew of Proconsul Zuberi, Ch17. This tells me the brief facts about the character, and when they were first introduced. I can also sort the style sheet alphabetically to see which names I've already used in previous books, so I'll know not to accidentally reuse them. So where do you look for help in find the right name for your characters? Here's a sampling of the resources available: Books A Dictionary of First Names by Patrick Hanks, Kate Hardcastle, Flavia Hodges (Oxford Reference Library) A Dictionary of Surnames by Patrick Hanks, Flavia Hodges (Oxford Reference Library) From Aaron to Zoe: 15,000 Great Baby Names by Daniel Avram Richman The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names by E.G. Withycombe (out of print — check libraries or used bookstores) Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook by Sherrilyn Kenyon. The one naming book every writer should own. Internet Most popular names by year of birth (United States from 1879 onward) Most popular names for selected years (United Kingdom) Baby names website (organized by ethnicity) |
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