by Jackie Houchin
NAMES in stories are important in that they have to “fit” the characters, the era, the country, and even class in which they live. You wouldn’t name a society woman, Buster. (Well, unless there was a right good reason for it.) Also, a native seamstress of New Delhi probably wouldn’t be called Manuela. So how do you find those perfectly fitting monikers?
It used to be you could use telephone books, but who even has seen one of those in the last 15 years?? There are websites that offer names for babies and their meanings. Some even suggest names that were popular in different years. (See below) Maybe you will name your heroine or villain after someone you love, or love to hate.
SUGGESTION One – A couple years ago I came up with an idea for a short story in a contest. I liked the name Autumn (the story had to be set in the fall). She would be a painter. I know how I wanted her to look – long, wavy auburn hair, green eyes. And she would be the quiet type.
Boy, did I get a shock when I asked my friends on Facebook what a character with the name Autumn Gold would look like and what she might do for a living. Nearly all of them said she would be a sexy night club dancer or even a street walker. Yikes! I changed her name to Audrey Gould. But I titled the story, and named the fantastical woodland painting her boyfriend made with her hidden image in the colors, “Autumn Gold.”
I got honorable mention out of 400 entries. Asking around might be a way to check out that clever name you’ve chosen.
SUGGESTION Two – I also wrote a middle grade mystery titled “The Bible Thief” set in a church much like the one we attend. For some weird reason 4 or 5 people (including myself) lost their Bibles at some church event. Some were found, others not.
Hmm. I pondered, and immediately thought of a clever gang of kids who would “investigate” and discover the remarkable solution to this mystery. Because I wanted to share the story with the kids in the 4th-6th grade class I was teaching, I minimally disguised their own names as the gang, their parents, and a few other easily recognizable people (by description) in the congregation.
That was easy! And maybe YOU have used names of people you know but changing Sheryl to Sherry, or Garrett to Darren.
SUGGESTION Three – And lastly, I also wrote a series of related short stories for the same age children, set in Africa. There were seven kids (one set of twins, and one who passed away at a week old), and they all had names that coordinated in some way with the month they were born in.
The youngest boy, born near Christmas (and since his father was a mission pastor) got named Deacon. “Deek” for short.
There was a girl, April (yeah, I know, too easy) and the twin girls were named Melody May and Charity June. (Know why twins have two months?)
A younger boy was named August, nicknamed “Gus.” The oldest boy was Marshall (can you guess his month?).
A sensitive girl born in July I named Julie Joy. And the little guy that didn’t make it very long was Freddie, born just after Valentine’s Day.
So, that is how I sometimes choose character names. How do YOU come up with yours?
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Baby names from Social Security lists by popularity, the top 5 by year, by decade, state, and US Territory – https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
2023 Baby name finder and the meaning/origin – https://emma.ca/baby-names
70,000 Baby names by gender, alphabet, origin, meaning, and religion – https://www.momjunction.com/baby-names/
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The Writers in Residence 
Jackie, what a marvelous piece. I devoured every word! Thank you for the suggestions, and I would certainly have picked Autumn, as far removed from a stripper = Candy? – as one could imagine. I picked Tosca for my amateur sleuth to honor my mother who was from a family of opera singers, plus it was alliterative for the characters last name, Trevant, a Cornish surname. Jackie, you should publish your stories as an anthology. Again, thank you for a great post. I sure miss our train rides to lunch with our Writers in Residence group.
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Thank you, Jill. I like your character’s name – Tosca Trevant. It fits her perfectly. I’ve thought about publishing an “african kids” anthology, but….
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By the way, for anyone stumped for a foreign name, there is a Writer’s Digest book, “Character Naming Sourcebook,” by Sherilyn Kenyon, that lists first and last names, along with their meaning, from dozens of countries round the world.
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Ah, names. I do roughly the same things you do, Jaxon. I have used friends’ names and combine names for characters. One guy was Jack Lynn after you and your wonderful husband. I won’t use actual names of those I don’t care for, but I will do variations of those names, mostly for fun. At least I can use their character traits to make them sleazy or diabolical. And for those people I really adore, I will use a form of their name because I see them as that character. In my spy novels I used a variation of my dad’s name: Ralph Barton instead of Ralph Bartos. It made it fun to write the books. But as you said, we writers do have to make the name fit the character so the reader can visualize the person we have created. Good post.
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Gayle, you mean you don’t kill off those people in your books, who insult you in person, like the humorous saying goes? I love the clever name your give your PI Chance. And the history of Johnny Casino is clever and interesting as well.
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Names will sometimes pop into my head for characters, especially those I’ll feature in a story, but I do often resort to websites for ideas. And then I have to figure out surnames. After that, I’ll often Google my new character’s name just to see if there are real people with that name and if they do anything that’ll make it seem as if I’m imposing on them if I use the name. That was an enjoyable and thought-provoking post, Jackie!
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Linda, I haven’t thought about Googling the name once I decide on one to see if it is a real person, or at least a well-known one. Gosh, hope I haven’t damaged someone! But most of mine aren’t published, so I’m safe. Haha.
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This is a great post Jackie! I struggle with names a lot – they are SO important! Scrivener has a feature that generates names from every culture, double-barreled, titled – take your pick. It’s very helpful. People in my own life who perhaps I don’t particularly care for – usually get named as the villain or a victim as a placeholder but usually garner their own in the final draft. I steer clear of names with controversial implications e.g. I would think twice about naming a young girl Boadicea or a boy … Attila.
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Haha. You are funny, Hannah. I’m glad you would think twice, and hopefully three or four times on those name choices! Thank you for that helpful feature from Scrivener. (Jill also recommended a book on names in her comment – thanks, Jill.) Those are great resourses. I guess my simple way fits with the kid’s stories I occassionally write. That short story for the contest was an eye-opener for me, however.
I’m glad you change your villain/victim names before final draft. However I’ve had my full name used in other writer’s books – Gayle’s, and another author who ran a contest which I won. I became a personal secretary to the main character in her book. Fun. (And I bought 4 copies!! hahaha)
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Great post, Jackie, and so personally apropos in that my post next week I mention character naming! Verrrry important! In fact a character’s name can direct the protaganist, the story, even the action…you’ve gotten me thinking…
Thank you, Jackie, great post.
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Madeline, I’m eager to see what you’ve written about naming characters too. Great minds run in the same direction, right? haha.
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Great post, Jackie. As we all realize, names are so important and tell a lot about the character. Nicknames are a wonderful resource. One of my peeves as a reader is when a writer (usually a less experienced writer) uses similar names in a story: Jim, Jon, Jack or Jill, Jan, Jane – so when they are all in a scene together it gets very confusing! I try to make sure I have a mixture of short, one syllable names mixed with longer and different sounding names, starting with different letters!
Your lovely name of ‘Autumn’ sounds like a classical poet, musician or gentle, literary character!
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Oh, boy, I know what you mean. I just finished a quick cozy historical mystery set on a boat from England, bound for India. The heroine was Maisie Frobisher, and another woman’s last names was Forester or someting similar. I had the worst time keeping the two women seperate! I knocked down a star on my review because of that. I’ve read other books by well known, prolific authors who do the same thing – Jake and John. Seriously?? Anyway, thanks for liking the name Autumn too. There’s a little blond girl at our church named Autumn. Her twin brother is Rufus!
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By the way – this Anonymous is Rosemary! There wasn’t an option to put my name! Ugh!!
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Character names, one of my favorite topics. My names come from many sources, some of which have been mentioned here. Movies, especially old ones, are a great source. Sarah Rubottom, one of my recurring characters, got her name from Wade Rubottom, an associate art director for many films in the thirties and forties. Edward Dmytryk was a director for many World-War II-era noir films. I might have seen his name in the credits of Murder, My Sweet (1944). His name so intrigued me that I named a character Georgia Dmytryk.
Caveat: if you have a narrator, be sure she or he knows how to pronounce unusual names.
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Good advice about a narrator, Maggie. But how in the world do you pronounce Dmytryk???? Haha.
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The same way it’s spelled (ha ha).
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This is Maggie, and somehow I just posted as Anonymous!
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