Names for characters

[MathGirl]

I beg your pardon

Or Uranus. [in Diamond Heights]

My WHAT???
MG

 

[Quasimodem]

I can see a Mr. Van Ness . . . .

Named for the rocker Van Halen, and the Scottish Monster, no doubt.

Never overlook the obvious.

My godson is named Dylan, after Dylan Thomas . . . he says! But, I knew his parents before he hatched.

PierceStreet,

Never name your child after a planet, by Jupiter!

Except DurtGirl.

 

[Guest]

 

[Rainbow Skin]

As I only write about realistic people, I was implicitly restricting the question to realistic names. Given that, most names don't 'fit' the person.

If I had a hulking brute I wouldn't call him Bruno. (Or Muggsy, or Lefty.) But I can't imagine ever needing a hulking brute in a story.

If I had a character called Bruno it'd be clear from the start he wasn't a hulking brute. I wouldn't have a character called Muggsy or Lefty. (Or Jayde or Tallulah or Nebuchadnezzar or Tyler or Sir Garsington Garsington-Tollemache-Ponsonby.)

 

[SexyChele]

Typically, the names I pick are fairly ordinary unless I'm trying to set a character's personality. For example, Melvin is not a name one would associate with the college heart throb and sports jock. It strikes most people as "nerdy" to the extreme. And that was what I wanted, so I used it. And yes, I've used Candi as well. Why? Because I wanted a blonde, flirty, bimbo who worked as a hostess in the local strip club. It fits that.

However, I'm currently writing a story that takes place in the 50s, and the characters are rather ordinary so their names will reflect that. As well, I'm thinking of a story with a perky 18 year old. Somehow Hannah just doesn't "fit".

I imagine my characters personality and then I think of what sort of name might get that personality across. Sometimes it may be that they were born Jessica, but they are more of a Jessie.

I rarely use last names. With my luck, I'd happen on a real person's name who actually reads my stuff and have them get upset with me!

 

[Weird Harold]

As I only write about realistic people, I was implicitly restricting the question to realistic names. Given that, most names don't 'fit' the person.

Just what is a "realistic name?"

I've known some real people with some very strange names (and nicknames) in my life -- names people would accuse be of making up just to be silly if I used them in a story. "Real names" should logically fit in the classification of "realistic names."

I agree that names don't always fit people in real-life but names do affect who the person is. More importantly names can affect how other (casually met) people react to you -- that all important first impression. It's a fact of life I've taken advantage of repeatedly by introducing myself as "Weird Harold."

Over the years, I've also used Hal, Harry, and other variations on Harold, and every nickname creates a different response from people on first meeting.

(A fact reinforced by successfully posing as my own twin for a time. I actually got complimented on not turning out as badly as my "twin." )

The same thing logically applies to the names given characters in stories -- the name may or may not fit the character, but it is a part of the reader's first impression of that character.

I too prefer "realistic" names for main characters -- more specifically common or non-exotic names -- because they're names the readers can relate to better. Most people know a Gordy or Maggy or two mixed in with the common names "everyone" seems to have -- John, Jane, Alice, Mary, etc.

However, I also recognise the power that names have in a literary context and sometimes use it to my advantage.

 

[gauchecritic]

[B Most people know a Gordy or Maggy or two mixed in with the common names "everyone" seems to have -- John, Jane, Alice, Mary, etc.
[/B]

I don't know anyone who's name is called Gordy. Nor do I know anyone who knows anyone et.c.

I think this probably points up the view that whoever we know by a particular name will colour our perception of any person we read about with the same name until we learn otherwise.

A few examples from my experience.

Chandler will be the guy from "Friends", Brick will be Paul Newman (I think) from "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" and Sabrina will first and foremost be "A Teenage Witch"

Gauche

 

[Guest]

A rose by any other name...

Chandler will be the guy from "Friends", Brick will be Paul Newman (I think) from "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" and Sabrina will first and foremost be "A Teenage Witch"

PN as Brick, yes.

Sabrina will always be Audrey Hepburn for me; guess generational issues do enter into this.

Purr

 

[Rainbow Skin]

And national.

Sabrina will be the big-busted pin-up lusted after by Bluebottle and Neddie Seagoon.

 

[Guest]

Hey, U.K.

And national.
Sabrina will be the big-busted pin-up lusted after by Bluebottle and Neddie Seagoon.

Man, I have NO idea who/what that is. OK, though, I don't need to know.

 

[destinie21]

Re: A rose by any other name...

Sabrina will always be Audrey Hepburn for me; guess generational issues do enter into this.


I'm not so sure it's generational because it's the same with me and I'm 20 sooo...
moving on names in stories should be like names in real life varied and unpedictable. I know someone named Reign (that;s the actual spelling)and belive me she would not take kindly to someone calling her name unrealistic.However when naming people in my stories I do go by generational names (Ie: Joanna Barbra Ann),as well and also how well they will come across to others for instance I really love pakastani or indian names but in a story a name like Ajatashatru may not go over as well as Alan because while it sounds beautiful the spelling is cumbersome and foreign to others. In other cases I go by background for example if I'm writting a story about an heiress I might choose a name like Madison Katherine Leigh Grayson over Katie Brown where as if I'm trying to convey a strippper or air head I would choose a name like Candi or Ginger because of the attitude this names convey and because generally strippers make up their names or take names like Candice and maime them

 

[oggbashan]

Sabrina will always be Audrey Hepburn for me; guess generational issues do enter into this.


... for instance I really love pakastani or indian names but in a story a name like Ajatashatru may not go over as well as Alan because while it sounds beautiful the spelling is cumbersome and foreign to others.

Sabrina will always be Sabrina for me - a naturally large busted blonde of the 1950s.

I like Pakistani and Indian names but I didn't know enough to use them properly. A Hindi name for a Moslem or vice versa is as bad an error as calling a Spanish speaker "Hermann Schmidt".

Now I have a book of names which includes Arabic, Hindi and other cultures. Does it help? Maybe, but do my readers care?

Og

 

[MathGirl]

do my readers care?

Dear Og,
I doubt it very, very much.
MG

 

[Rainbow Skin]

Oh yes, as soon as you stray away from your own culture you're dead. There's a story somewhere that features a 'Lord Royce Sutcliffe, Viscount of Wrighton'. Cringe, cringe.

And I've given someone a Hindi name without researching it: it might be Hindi for 'small hard lump found amid loose excrement'. So I've decided she doesn't know Hindi very well but is fluent in Konkani and Gujarati and that lets me off the hook because it's vague what she is. Indirection is your friend.