For those of you who have children, do you remember the excitement (and perhaps the anxiety) that filled you as you began selecting names? It’s a weighty responsibility, knowing your child will be saddled with whatever you choose for the length of his/her life. No pressure. Ha!
Names are so important. We want our girls’ names to be beautiful and our boys’ names to be strong. Yet more than that, we want them to have meaning. Perhaps you chose a name because of the meaning inherent in that name’s origin. Or maybe you selected a name from your ancestry that carries significance for your family.
As an author, I’m faced with the same dilemma when selecting names for my characters. Not only do I want the names 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.
For example, in my debut novel, my main characters are Jericho Tucker and Hannah Richards. Yes, I love using biblical names. They fit the historical setting perfectly, but in my hero’s case there was extra meaning involved. Jericho’s name was symbolic. Like the biblical city whose walls came tumbling down, Jericho or “J.T.” had built walls around his heart that needed to come down in order for him to open himself to the heroine’s love. And Hannah Richards? Well, her name had personal significance to me. You see, my dad died when I was only 16, and I wanted to honor him in some subtle way in my first published novel. His name was Richard, and it seemed fitting to let my heroine carry his name.
Gideon Westcott and Adelaide Proctor from Head in the Clouds had some play on their names that probably only I cared about, but they helped me relate to the characters as I wrote. Gideon Westcott was a British nobleman who came to Texas to run a sheep ranch. Gideon from the Bible used a sheep’s fleece to ask God for confimation of his mission. Adelaide Proctor was a teacher and teacher is often synonymous with the term proctor.
Of course, the Archer brothers from Short-Straw Bride and Stealing the Preacher were named for heroes from the Alamo – Travis, Crockett, Bowie (who went by Jim), and Neill. I had fun tying those into Texas history since my books are all set in Texas. But did anyone notice that the heroine who paired up with Crockett – Joanna Robbins – 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.)
In my latest novel, Full Steam Ahead
of the Thornton clan. Now the rest of his family are mentioned in the book but are never “on stage” so you would have to be a very savvy reader to pick up on the subtle play I instigated with the names of his family members. The name of their shipping company plays into it as well. I won’t ruin the surprise for you here, but if you think you figured it out, you can leave me a comment and I’ll let you know if you’re right.
One of my favorite sources for names is the Social Security website. You can search the most popular names by year as far back 1880 – ideal for a historical writer. You’ll find timeless names like Charles and Michael, Elizabeth and Mary. But then there are the names that make you wince like Elmer and Rufus, or Gertrude and Bertha (yes, all these made the top 100 in 1880). But what is really interesting from a historical perspective are the popularity of cross-gender names. Now, girls have worn boys’ names proudly for years, but back in the day, it’s a little scary how how popular girls’ names were for boys.
Here’s a few from the 1880-1885 lists – remember these are boy’s names:
Marion Leslie Pearl Lynn Pink Mary Loren Madison Cary Fay Allie Sandy Dee Jean Jules Anna Clair Minnie Kelly Shirley.
Now, just because a name is historically accurate, does not mean it would make a great character name. I just can’t imagine naming my rugged cowboy hero Minnie or Shirley. And calling him Anna or Mary would just leave readers scratching their heads. Especially if the heroine was named Lou or Johnnie (popular female names during that time). Although . . . I have dear friends named Lacy and Jaye. Lacy is a very masculine Texas game warden while Jaye is his lovely wife. When they were first introduced at church, however, it took me weeks to get their names sorted out.
What kind of names do you enjoy most when you are reading novels?
What weird names have you run across in books or real life that make you cringe?
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I love the way you picked those names, including the last names. I will have to remember that when I run out of ideas for last names. 🙂 Let’s see, the most unusual names I recall coming across are: Gage and Garrett. I know there have been others, but those are the two I can think of right now.
Hi, Faith. My best friend in college named her first son Garrett. I think it is slowly becoming more popular, but if you think back to the 1800s they would probably wonder why someone would want to name their child after a tiny attic. 🙂
*laughs* That’s true. 🙂 And if you’re looking for some more modern names, I’ve come across some really odd ones. The most memorable were: Chord, Shade, and Breeze. All girl names, I think. I know Shade and Breeze were, but I’m not sure about Chord.
Shade, Breeze and Chord…brought back the Faith Hope and Charity and Charity was a BOY! They called him Buster LOL. But here is an apropos of my school years…A WRITER who named his kids Paige and Story! There was another but I can’t recall.
Speaking of Charity, I read a book where the girl’s name was Cherity because she had Cherokee blood. I thought that was cool!
Oh my goodness. I like books an awful lot, but I just couldn’t go that far. Too funny!
Karen, I decided to look up Paige and Story and then I found the third sibling I couldn’t remember it was Wright! LOL
No way, Sandy! That’s crazy. 🙂 But a little fun, too.
Wow — I didn’t think about searching historical records for names. What a neat idea. Bet reading tombstones would be a great way to find them as well. And how bizarre about those boy names from the 1880’s!!! So glad you didn’t name on of your heroes Minnie — eve worse Minnie May. I could not have related to him at all! LOL
I had a near miss when I was born (in Ireland). My mother was the youngest of eleven children and the last to marry. She was an oopsy baby so all her siblings acted like they were her parents and whenever she did anything the whole family had to get together and hold a meeting to determine the best course of action for Philomena. So there’s an unusual name already. Anyway, when it came time for mum to name her child, the family met together, totally ignoring my father by the way, as they discussed what the new baby (me) should be named. The consensus? Ethel. Why? Tradition. Because there had been an Ethel in every generation of Kavanaghs since the beginning of time. Never mind that none of my aunts or uncles named their kids Ethel. It was unanimously settled and the paperwork was completed. Fortunately they left it up to my dad to register and he changed my name. Yes, we broke with tradition but then my Irish Catholic mum had married my Protestant dad so what could they expect? Mum’s family never recovered from the blatant betrayal. No wonder we immigrated to Canada a few years later. LOL.
What a great story! Glad your dad was strong enough to stand up to the overwhelming force of your mother’s family. (I hope your mom was secretly on board with the change, too.) I love names with strong family traditions, but I even I have my limits. 🙂
What’s wrong with the name Ethel? I like it and I know my sister really likes it, too.
Beauty (even in names) is truly in the eye of the beholder, isn’t it? I guess for me, Ethel will always be associated with Lucy Ricardo’s neighbor in the I Love Lucy series.
I agree– what a story!
My mom had planned to give me my dad’s name (Michael) as a middle name, but dad’s mom managed to change her mind insisting that Michael was absolutely not a name for a girl. And so I ended up with two middle names — named after my dad’s sister & my mom’s favorite aunt. Oh well! Never underestimate the power of persuasion, huh? 😉
So true. Although King David’s first wife in the Bible was named Michal. Spelled slightly different, but still . . .
That’s what I told my mom. 😉 And I’ve always wanted to pass that name along to one of my kids.
On our list of fun (and yes, bad) ideas, my husband and I have discussed naming our future children Methuselah, Melchizedek, and Mephibosheth (boys) and Jehosheba and Jemimah (girls), since they’d go so well with a 12-letter last name.
King Saul, King David, Star of David?
The three Me’s. Ha! So glad you are restraining yourself, Rachael. In my first book, A Tailor-Made Bride, the hero, Jericho, hates his name and goes by his initials JT. However, after he and Hannah become a couple, she teases him that she plans to name their firstborn after another Canaanite city and taunts him with Megiddo. I wrote a bonus epilog that is posted on my website (http://www.karenwitemeyer.com/epilogue_tailor.html) where she goes into labor still threatening to name their child Megiddo. In the end, they have a beautiful baby girl named Meg.
Oh, and you are VERY close with the Thornton family names! The tie-in includes the mother and daughter as well.
The shipping company was Kingstar–Darius was the king of Babylon that put Daniel in the lions den.
You’re on the right track, Dora. Do you remember the other family members’ names and how they might tie in?
Unfortunately, I can’t remember any of the other family names, with the exception of Nicole’s father. Here is a lesson in reading audio, rather than print books, you can go back and look through the audio for things you can’t remember at the time, like you can with print.
Ah, true. Well, I’d tell you what they were except I don’t want to spoil the surprise for others trying to figure it out. I’ll try to remember to post the answer. 🙂
I used to think my name was boring and plain… until I discovered how it accidentally significant it was!
My parents gave us kids plain first names because they knew we’d spend a lifetime explaining away a surname like Drown. But my mom wanted some secret family names in the mix as well. So, for example, my sister’s middle name is Michelle because it was my uncle Michael, mom’s brother, who helped her through birthing classes because my dad was in a serious motorcycle accident during that pregnancy. But with me, baby #2, they were so convinced I was a boy (and they had their boy’s name picked out since before my sister was born), they didn’t really bother planning a name for me. But apparently my dad’s parents were upset about family names coming from my mom’s side, so when she did start planning a backup girl’s name for me, she went even stealthier, using the middle name Jeanette because that is her mother’s second middle name that she never uses. But what first name to go with it? That’s when the freezer broke down a few months before I was born. The repairman saw my mom was obviously pregnant and mentioned that he and his wife just had a baby girl they named Amy. My mom said, “Hmm, Amy Jeanette, that’ll work.”
However, by the coolest coincidence — or Providence 🙂 — it turns out that in the long lines of paternal lineage I had exactly two great-great-grandmothers NOT named Eileen or Ruth… yep, you guessed it. One was Amy and the other was Jeanette. So while I was technically names after my mom’s mom and some freezer repairman’s daughter, I ended up with two very historic family names — quite befitting for a history buff like me! 🙂
Awesome, Amy! Love that story. My first son’s story is a bit similar. My husband really wanted to carry on the family tradition of having the oldest son carry the same initials as the father. His father is a WDW. He is a WDW. So he wanted our son to also be a WDW. I was great with that. My dad’s middle name was Dale, and since he died when I was a teenager, I wanted to carry on part of his name, so we had the D taken care of easily. On to the W. My hubby is Wes. His dad is Wayne. I did NOT want to name my boy Walter, Wilbur, or William. Then I found Wyatt. For a western lover like me, it was the perfect W name. (Wyatt Earp, of course.) Then, when he was born and we told everyone his name, my grandmother got super excited. “You named him after me!” Huh? As it turned out, her maiden name had been Wyatt. I never knew. Or if I did, I hadn’t remembered. So now his name has even more significance to me. I love it when things like that work out!
That’s awesome, Karen! (Incidentally, Karen is my older sister’s name!)
As for naming characters, I love the Social Security and census records, or even just flipping through the phone book (especially good for surnames). But my very resource is a book called “The Secret Universe of Names,” a book all about how the sound of a name influences one’s personality. It’s not only fun to look up your own name to see how accurate it is (and it’s pretty close!), but it’s great for helping flesh out characters in terms of personality strengths and weaknesses. Highly recommend!
Sounds great! I’ll have to look for that. 🙂
I enjoyed reading about Wyatt’s name. Very neat!
We are similar with Caleb….John has been passed down as the first name now for four generations. Caleb is JCP so he has same initials as John’s Dad who is John Charles.
Bethany
I didn’t realize Caleb’s first name was actually John. Very cool!
I loved learning about how you chose your characters’ names! My husband is a middle school history teacher, and every year he and some of his co-workers vote on which kid has the craziest name. Some of my favorites over the years have been “Abcde” (the first five letters of the alphabet) pronounced AB-sih-day, “Jermajesty” (my husband refused to call him this, instead nicknamed him Germ), and “La-a” pronounced La-dash-a (Yes, you pronounce the “-“).
Heidi, my sister is a kindergarten teacher. One year, she had a set of twins name orangejello (or-on-jello) and lemonjello (la-mon-jello). My mother taught school as well, and told a story of a girl name female (pronounced like tamale).
When my first nephew was born, the other woman in my sister’s room had twins. She listened as they discussed names. Her comment was “what did they do get letters from a scrabble game and just start putting them together to see what they can make?”
Oh my goodness! Poor kids!
I have several teacher friends, and we groan over some of the names these poor kids are saddled with. You know it sad? One of my teacher friends actually had a La-a (Ladasha) in her class, too. Wonder if it is the same poor girl moving around or if, heaven forbid, the name is starting to catch on?
I’ve looked in the cemetery for ideas. That led to changing the spelling of Jenny to Jennie in an unpublished novel. I also like using my family tree for German names (for good guys of course!)
I actually like walking around in really old cemeteries and reading the headstones. My imagination likes to paint stories about who they might have been and what kind of lives they led. Great idea, Terri!
Old fashioned names seem the strangest. My grandmother was Cornelia Louvenia. A friend’s dad was named Zadie Myrble, no wonder he went by “Jack”!
My daughter named my granddaughter Aisley. That took me a while to get used to. While pregnant she heard Brad Paisley on the radio and thought Paisley without the “P” would make a great girl’s name.
I’ve heard of Ainsley, but never Aisley. Definitely unique. Your poor friend’s dad – Zadie Myrble sounds far too much like Sadie Myrtle, two female names. I’d go by Jack, too. 🙂
I am way into names, too, Karen. I knew there had to be a reason for those brothers’s names — the Alamo. Good thinking! I love western names. Named my kids Cheyenne, Sierra, Shane and Dakota. That was way before they were popular.
I have changed the names in my novel several times, but I am finding that people–even though they hate a name will identify with the character when they get into the book and forget the Lulabelle that once threw a jumprope at them when they were a 8 years old.
Also use historical lists and when I study the Word I have a Bible name book nearby to interpret the meaning of every town and person. It is very revealing to the scriptures!
I love those names, Sandy! They all sound so rugged and strong. I really believe characters names are important. At least they are to me. If a name doesn’t feel right, I can’t get into a writing groove. It has to just “fit” with their personality and situation. Glad to know there are more of us out there who dig deep for character names!
Thanks Karen. Funny thing some people hated the names like my sis who had a different name and named her 4 Chuck, Debbie, Patty and Mike…LOL!
What a fun topic! I have ALWAYS loved the whole name thing, ever since I can remember. All I can guess is that it goes with being a writer. lol As I’ve gotten older, I’ve taken a liking to ‘odd’ names, for the most part. I write fantasy, so I can easily make up names that I like the sounds of, just because they roll off the tongue nicely. But sometimes I like to go with more standard names too, if they grab me – and sometimes ‘normal’ is easier than made up. Another track I sometimes like to take is take a short ‘normal’ name I like – such as Amy, then make it a short for something larger, and stranger (made up). Or even something not so made up. “Amy” could be a lovely short for “Amythest”. Because, seriously, who would want to go by Amythest, if they got saddled with that? 😀 Or some such thing.
I think the oddest real name I have heard being used in current days? Euphemia. My friend named her daughter that and frankly I can’t help wondering how much the child is going to resent that as she gets older. I would have expected them to soften it and call her “Mia” or some such for short too – but so far I haven’t seen that they have.
At least naming characters, they can’t come back to haunt you and complain they hate the names you chose for them. lol
Wow – Euphemia. That’s right up there with Gertrude. Poor kid.
I kind of hope that since they currently live in England that she might squeak by with it. I know they have different ‘standards’ for names there. (IE, names that are not thought of well here, are more popular there, and probably the other way around, too) Either that or she’ll pick a nickname as she gets older.
Picking names is one of my favorite parts about starting a novel! I LOVE looking into the meanings of names. My mom always pointed out how in the Bible, God would name people after their calling, how He saw them (Adam, Abraham, Sarah, Peter). So she and my dad picked out names with significant meanings for all six of us and made sure we all know why we’re named what we’re named. (Victoria = victorious one; Lynn (after my mom, Lynelle) = the calm pool at the bottom of a waterfall, peace.)
Ashley and Shannon both used to be boys’ names, now they are quite common girl names!
Okay, Karen, I’ve been flipping through Full Steam Ahead for three hours and have not found mention of Darius’s sister’s or mother’s names, but I’ve enjoyed re-reading! I’ve got Saul Thornton, David Thornton, and Darius Thornton for the King Star Shipping family. All three names were kings that were mentioned in the Bible. Also, on page 153, Darius prays, “God, you closed the mouths of the lions for Daniel.” Could you give me page numbers for Mrs. and Miss Thornton’s first names?
Also, I may totally be reading into this, but as I was reading Full Steam Ahead the first time, I caught several names from two of my favorite 19th century books: Miss Rochester’s Academy (Jane Eyre) and Mr. Thornton (North and South).
Ah – A very astute reader! Excellent work. Yes, I do have some influences, some more subconscious than others, from Jane Eyre and North and South. Two favorites of mine.
Love the meaning behind your name, Tori. It’s beautiful.
And yes – You’ve figured out the key to the Thornton Names. All biblical royalty.
And my face is red because even though I named the mom and sister, I just did a search of the manuscript and the computer couldn’t find the names listed, either. Ooops. Hard for you to find them if they only exist in my mind. I was sure I slipped them in there, but I guess not. Darius’s sister is named Esther and his mother is Candace.
Very interesting post! Now I know how at least ONE author figures out names for her heroines 😉
I love names! Especially middle ones. My parents took up giving each of their eleven children family names for our middle names…mine is my grandmother’s name, Elisabeth.
They have successfully used all four grandparents’ names, 6 out the 8 great-grandparents (one of them was a first name on accident ), and even their own (my parents’) names in the mix.
What a great family legacy of names, Grace. I love it!
Ah, names… they’ve always fascinated me! In fact, my love of names is what first got me interested in genealogy — looking through my parents’ family trees & books of ancestry is just so much fun! I’ve found many interesting, strange, & funny names in those books. Ones that have made me laugh & ones that have made me cringe. One name that has stayed with me — and always reminds me how my kids will be stuck with the names I give them for the rest of their lives — is: Abrilla Minerva Josephine Sophranie Ann. What a mouthful! Surprise, surprise… I believe they said she went by Ann. 😉
But I’ve also found names for characters in those books. And with ancestors from at least 4 different countries, there are also plenty of fun surnames to choose from. 🙂
Other than my oldest brother, my siblings & I are all named after a family member (or two, in my case). One thing I’ve always loved & seriously considered passing along to my kids is my German ancestors’ tradition of having two middle names. I understand that it originated with them naming their kids after their godparents… Anyway, I was the only kid in my family who ended up with two middle names & my mom says that it’s oddly appropriate since I’ve always been interested in that part of my history & I was the only one of us who ever wanted to learn German.
As for the girly-sounding guys names… I was reading them off & my dad was sitting there saying, “I know a guy from work with that name… and that name… and that one…” Marion, Leslie, Madison, Cary, Sandy, Dee, Kelly, Shirley… as well as Shannon & Rene. Needless to say, I now feel sorry for several of the guys he works with. :/
Ha! How funny that your dad knows so many men with those names. I thought that would be pretty rare these days, but perhaps not.
And I think it would be neat to carry on the two middle name tradition with your future kids. As long as you stay away from Abrilla Minerva Josephine Sophranie. Ann would be okay, though. 🙂
Yes, I had hoped that those names would be rare. Too bad, huh? 😉
Haha! I’m in total agreement on that! 🙂
Hi Karen. Interesting post. About names. My baby brother, now 73,is named Marion from an Uncle.
and that was actor John Wayne’s name. When I worked in a small cafe in a small-town in KS. My bosses Boss’s husband’s name was Shirley.The
husband of a best friend was Elmer and my husband had a cousin Gertrude.My daddy had a man cousin cousin named Beverly. My girls use to laugh at some of the names, especially my Boss’s husband
named Shirley. I tried to tell them that it might have originally been a man name passed down by
daughters. That’s my idea of why they sound funny to us. As to some you mentioned my dad’s
oldest sister(who died before I was born) name was Bertha Maud. My middle name is Maud for .
her. I also had a great-aunt named Minnie. And, the man named Beverly was So yes names be
funny at times. Take care and GOD bless. Maxie.
I once had a dog named Amanda Miranda Melissa Louisa Cynthia Jane Smith Dog …she was named after a character in a story I read in the 5th grade and was mostly called Cindy…Oddly enough my daughter is named Melissa and my niece is named Miranda so her heritage lives on..:)
I loved reading all the comments! My previous job included indexing county records (some as far back as the mid-1800s). One of our favorite pastimes in the office was calling out the strange or funny names we came across. It always made me cringe to find parents who thought they were being clever by creating a pun…. Bell Ringer, Rhoda Crazymule, and my personal favorite – Phil D. Payne. I also remember a family in which it was apparently a family tradition to name their boys the first and middle name Easter Sunday.