I recently had a question come up in my Posse Facebook group about how I come up with names for my characters.
Selecting my character names is one of my favorite parts of the brainstorming process. It’s amazing how much a name helps me imagine who the character is. 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.
For example, the leads in Head in the Clouds – Adelaide is a teacher who’s last name is Proctor (synonym for teacher) and Gideon Westcott runs a sheep ranch – tying in to the wet/dry fleece of the biblical Gideon. Then there are the Archer brothers who were all named for heroes from the Alamo. In fact, I have an entire page on my website that talks about some of the plays on names that my characters embody.
Do I ever change character names? Once I settle on my main characters’ names, those almost never change. They become too closely entwined in the character’s identity. However, I have changed the names of small side characters several times. Two times rather recently, I had to change a name of a minor character during the last proofreading stage when I realized I was using the same name for a more significant character in the book I was currently writing.
The more books I write, the harder it is to remember which names have been used or not. I write down the names of significant characters in my notes for each book, but I rarely keep track of those throwaway characters.
Funny Story – Sometimes readers who binge-read books can find things we as authors never intended. I had a reader post a question in Goodreads a few years ago with this observation: “I recently noticed that you have had three characters named Emma! The pastor’s wife in To Win Her Heart, Jacob’s Sister in Love on the Mend and of course Emma Chandler. Is there something special about that name?”
Since these books were written years apart, I had no idea this had happened! Here was my reply: ” I’ve always liked the name Emma and it has a wonderful historical feel, but I didn’t realize that I had used it three times. At least I can take comfort in the fact that, according to the social security website, Emma was the third most popular girl’s name for nearly the entire 1880s decade. So since there were a lot of Emmas running around in the late 19th century, I guess it’s only natural to have three show up in my books. At least that’s the story I’m sticking to. Ha!”
Question for you:
Have you ever run across your own name or the name of a friend/family member as a character in a book? Did that change your reading experience? Did you find yourself attributing personality traits to the character based on the person you knew in the real world?
Book on Sale!
As a bonus, here’s the inside scoop on Charlotte and Stone’s names from 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.
Grab a copy while it’s on sale from your favorite e-retailer.
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What a fun post, thank you Karen for this glimpse into your writing life. I’m excited to read more of your novels in the future. Blessings!
Thanks, Stacy. Naming characters is one of my favorite perks about writing. I only had three kids in real life that I was able to name, but I’ve had dozens of fictional characters to slap monikers on. 🙂
I am a silly name lover. I just love those names like Theodore Theobald, Joan Jones, William Williams etc. And also those with a twist of words like Justin Time, Stan Still and Turner Paige (those are a bit typical). Or maybe initials that match the character’s character.
I love pun names, Anna! Especially in real life. I’ve known a Dusty Rhodes, a Rusty Towell, and my mom went to school with a girl named Tinny Can. You have to have a special kind of fortitude to go through life with a name so ripe for teasing.
Hi Karen!
I so enjoy your books, especially since they are westerns!
Names are so fascinationg and fun. You ask about family names in books. I actually do not see my name much. However, I have seen my son’s name several times in the last few years and am very disappointed that they were almost always bad characters. His name is Zane-God is gracious.
It is weird-at least twice he was a bad character with pimples. That is another “pet peeve” that I have. Just because a person has acne does not mean that they have a rotten inner being. Acne in my family is genetic and has nothing to do with our character. So, pleeeeassse, consider how you use acne in a character. In fact, maybe a good character could have acne. Acne actually helped me to be humble and caused me to appreciate God’s and my husband’s love more greatly.
Please forgive my airing of these greivences but your question seemed to give the right opportunity. 🙂 Thank you! 🙂
I look forward to all of your books, Karen.
Traci
Traci – You are so right about unfair stereotypes. We as authors really need to break the mold and step away from the cliches. Zane is a great western name, and the meaning is even better. I’m going to make a note. I might need a Zane one of these days. 🙂
Thank you, Karen, for your graciousness!😊
Traci
I was shocked to see my name in a book because it is not common. Letticia sometimes spelled letizia. I love to see odd names in books.
I like to see unusual names, too, Tish, as long as I can figure out how to pronounce them in my head. I hate stumbling over character names when I read because I can’t figure out what they are supposed to sound like. But finding an usual name is like finding a hidden diamond. It shines because of its rarity.
My mom’s name is Opal which is pretty unique, so I was pleasantly surprised to see the main character in T.I. Lowe’s book “Beach Haven” named Opal as well.
Although, the character is nothing like my mom, it was fun to see her name in print.
Jen Turano always has hilarious names for her characters. Just reading them cracks me up.
Yes! I love Jen’s names. They are always so wacky, yet her characters are so loveable, it makes me like the name even if I hadn’t liked it before. 🙂
Oh goodness. I certainly do start thinking of similar traits when reading of characters with names of people I know. Those are usually the characters you can’t forget when the book is over.
Love your books!
Thanks, Margaret. I’ve used a few family names in my books, but usually in a way that doesn’t bring that person directly to mind. For example, my daddy was named Richard. I lost him when I was 16 and wanted to honor him in my first book, so my heroine is named Hannah Richards. I also have a Dutch hero in one of my novellas with the name Pieter. My youngest son is Peter, but with the different spelling and pronunciation, I found it easier to separate the two as I wrote. 🙂
Good advice and it is so interesting to learn the tricks of your trade.
This was a fun post, and it reminded me that I need to read your book Heart on the Line. You did another post on it a while back & I laughed when I saw the hero’s name was Amos Bledsoe-the masculine version of my own!
Yes! What a perfect name pairing for you. How fun, Amy! Do you have any nerdy tendencies? Amos is my nerdiest hero. 🙂
I’m afraid so, but more in a shy, bookish English professor type way than a math/science way. 😀
Fascinating! After several books, I realized that I couldn’t keep all the character names straight when I almost named a new character the same name as a somewhat prominent prior character. At that point, I created a Google spreadsheet with blanks for character’s first name, last name, a little bit about the character (for example, pastor’s wife), and the book the character appeared in. I shared the link with my readers and said, “When you read or re-read one of my books, I’d be super grateful if you’d type my characters into this spreadsheet.” They graciously did so for some of my books!
A few years after that, reader friends Joy Tiffany and Crissy Loughridge tackled the completion of the project. They turned that spreadsheet into a database and entered all the characters from my remaining novels and novellas. That database is the BEST resource! If I’m thinking about naming a character Emily I type “Emily” into the database search bar and the database tells me where I’ve used it (if I’ve used it) in the past. Sometimes, I’ve used a name once on such a small character in a prior book that I’m fine with using it again. But, like in your Emma example, other times I’ll see that I’ve already used a name several times. 🙂 I can also search for last names, for all the characters in a particular book, etc. It’s wonderful!
It’s like a little treasure hunt every time I read (and re-read) one of your books. I doubt we’ll ever forget Mrs. Samuelson now. Ha!
Becky – This is GENIUS! I need to create something like this and enlist my Posse to help.
I have a daughter named Eliza. She is named after both of my grandmothers. I always loved the name and hoped I would someday have a girl that I could name Eliza. (I did!) Recently I have been reading Civil War era non-fiction books and the name Eliza comes up fairly frequently, which I find rather fun.
How fun, Sherry. I love historic family names. 🙂