This is one of the most common questions I get when interacting with readers. And to be honest, it’s a fun question to answer, because naming characters is one of my favorite things about being an author. I only got to name three people in real life (my children), but I’ve been able to name DOZENS of fictional people!
Names are important to a story. They help define a character in the reader’s mind. Not only do I want the names I select for my characters to sound good and roll easily off the reader’s tongue, but I love to give extra meaning to the names, perhaps a meaning that no one else will ever pick up on besides me.
I love using biblical names and historic names, but the real fun comes when I start playing with them. Sometimes the meanings connect to the novel’s theme or some other deeper meaning, but more often they employ a play on words in a way that gives me a reason to smile even when working with these characters day after day.
Here are a few samples of my name play:
A Tailor-Made Bride – Jericho “J.T.” Tucker. Jericho hated his name, but it symbolized the walls he had built up around his heart. Walls only the lovely Hannah Richards could break down. Hannah Richards. My father passed away when I was 16, and I wanted to honor him in some way in my first published book. So I named my heroine after him. My dad was Richard Gaskin.- Head in the Clouds – Gideon Westcott. Gideon was a British nobleman who ran a sheep farm in Texas. Seemed fitting that a man who dealt in fleece would share the name of the Bible character who tested God with the same item. Adelaide Proctor. Adelaide was a teacher by trade, so I thought it would be fun to use a play-on-words for her surname. Proctor is synonymous with teacher.
- To Win Her Heart – Levi Grant. I’ve always like the name Levi. It’s strong, just like my blacksmith hero. And I thought it was a bit ironic for a man who had spent time in prison to be named after a tribe of priests. Eden Spencer. Eden was a garden of perfection before Adam and Eve corrupted it with sin. Eden Spencer was the daughter of the town founder, always in the public eye, always so careful to preserve her “perfect” reputation until Levi challenges her to move beyond appearances in her faith. She also surrounds herself with flowers. Pressing wildflowers and making art from them is her favorite hobby.
Archer Brothers – Travis, Crockett, Jim, and Neill are all names for heroes from the Alamo. You probably already knew this. But did you notice that the heroine who paired up with Crockett – Joanna Robbins in Stealing the Preacher, had a play on her name as well? Her father was an ex-outlaw who robbed stage coaches and trains. (Yes, I see your eyes rolling.)- Full Steam Ahead – Darius Thornton. Darius’s family ran the company King Star Shipping. You might have noticed that the name Darius is a king’s name from the book of Daniel. Well, I thought it would be fun to give the entire Thornton clan kingly names. Darius’s brother was David. Their father, Saul. And though his sister and mother are not actually named in the book, I did have names picked out for them. Darius’s sister was Esther and his mother was Candace, both biblical queens.
A Worthy Pursuit – I chose the heroine’s name after a fan on Facebook suggested I should use her daughter’s name – Charlotte. Since Charlotte Bronte is my favorite classic author and the name is a beautiful, historic name that would fit well with my prim headmistress, I did just that. I had a little more fun with the hero. He is a tough, loner type who had been making his own way in the world since he was a boy orphaned at an early age. Stone just seemed like the right name for him (even though he’s gooey on the inside, like all good tough guy heroes). There is actually a play on his name inside the book where he is written into a dime novel under a not-very-well-disguised pseudonym – Stone Hammond becomes Hammer Rockwell in his dime novel debut.- The Ladies of Harper’s Station – In this series, all of my heroes sport biblical names: Malachi Shaw, Benjamin Porter, Amos Bledsoe, and Pieter van Duren. Pieter holds a little extra sentimentality, however. You’ll notice the unusual spelling. In 2015, I had the honor of visiting The Netherlands for a book tour with my Dutch publisher, and the readers and shop owners were all so welcoming and wonderful, I couldn’t help but be inspired. I promised to write a Dutch hero, and Pieter is the result. Not only that, but my youngest son is named Peter, so this name just “rocks” all the way around. (Little biblical humor there. Feel free to groan.)
Gift of the Heart in The Christmas Heirloom – My latest story was inspired by the biblical account of Ruth and Boaz, and I really wanted to find a way to use those classic names. Naming the heroine Ruth was easy, but then I started mixing things up a bit. For example, instead of giving Ruth a mother-in-law to provide for, I gave her a seven-year-old daughter and named her Naomi. And since the name “Boaz” never really caught on in heroic circles, I decided to get a little creative there, too. Enter Beauregard Azlin. Shorten his first name to Bo, add Azlin, and you have [BoAz]lin.
How important are character names to you?
What makes a good name in your estimation?
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For those who love to smile as they read, bestselling author Karen Witemeyer offers warmhearted historical romance with a flair for humor, feisty heroines, and swoon-worthy Texas heroes. Karen is a multiple award-winning author and a firm believer in the power of happy endings. She is an avid cross-stitcher, tea drinker, and gospel hymn singer who makes her home in Abilene, TX with her heroic husband who vanquishes laundry dragons and dirty dish villains whenever she's on deadline. Learn more about Karen and her books at: www.karenwitemeyer.com.
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Names are important in a book to me. I love unusual ones. My real name is unusual and I go for that.
You DO have an unusual name. I love that!
That was funny to read. Thank you. I think names anddich their meaning are really important.
There is certainly a lot of meaning in names, Edelgard. You have an interesting name. I’d love to learn the meaning behind it. 🙂
I love your character-naming logic! Clever readers appreciate clever authors!
Thanks, Suzanne. I admit I have a lot of fun with it.
Interesting! I think naming book characters would be fun, too. Unique & unusual names are great, but I like reading a book with character names that I can pronounce… if an author gets too creative & I don’t know how to say a name, I can’t get as much enjoyment out of reading the story. 🙂
I agree completely, Lori. I’ve read a lot of medieval stories in my day, but when I run across one that has difficult names that I can’t even figure out how to pronounce in my own head, the enjoyment factor goes down considerably. I don’t want to have to work that hard. I just want to get lost in the story. 🙂
You are very creative! Love this post.
Thank you, Paula!
Amazing, Karen! I’m very impressed by your creative naming. I just go through boring lists of period names until I find one that fits my character.
Ha! That works, too. 🙂 I use the social security website a lot to find names as well.
What a fun post! I loved this peek into your character naming process. 🙂
Thanks, Becky!
I love that your character names are like inside jokes!
Ha! I don’t manage that with all of them, but I do have fun working them in that way when I can. Helps me smile as I write. 🙂
Character names are important along with their description. Some names fit the character’s description, some don’t.
A good name for me is one that is easy to pronounce.
If it’s not, then I have a tendency to fill in another name or skip the book.
I do that, too, Janet. It’s very distracting when I can’t figure a name out easily. I keep stopping and trying to figure it out instead of getting lost in the story. I try to make sure my names are easily recognized.
Karen,
Thank you for responding to my answer to your question.
We have your books in the church library. Our readers enjoy our Historical Fiction books.
Happy Reading!
Fun post, Karen! I think the names definitely have to fit the period and the character. I also like to know how to pronounce it if it’s an unusual name.
In my Archer brothers books, the brother who goes by Jim is actually named Bowie. Since I knew that was a name often mispronounced [Bo-ee instead of Boo-ee], I added a scene where the brothers were teasing him about how his name sounded like a hog call, Sue-eee! It added fun and also helped the reader know how to pronounce the name in their minds. 🙂
Karen, in Joanne Bischof’s newest book, Sons of Blackbird Mountain, the men and the heroine had Norwegian names, and it was well into the book before we found out how they were pronounced. By then, I was firmly entrenched in mispronunciation! LOL I loved the book anyway–definitely a 5-star, keeper-shelf book!
This was so fun! I love hearing the little “hidden objects” or only-the-author-will-know behind the scenes details. Thanks for sharing!
I like using the Social Security list, too! Invaluable resource. I also find names at cemeteries. I needed some French last names, and found a bunch at Metarie Cemetery in New Orleans, LA. Made the trip interesting!