Topic 14 Character Names

Greetings,  

                                                                      NAMES

Most of our parents thought long and hard about what name to give their soon-to-be new arrival. They might have perused the family bible, selected a name from a phone book, or even a novel. Some claimed a name used in a movie sounded good. And for others, well, it was a sentimental reason--continuing a family name from one generation to the next. However you got your name, you're stuck with it unless you go to court to change it or use a nickname.

Authors should think long and hard about what names they give their characters too. Don't rush the process. Names make the story. Once our novel or story gets published, it's too late to change the character's name. Do you want the reader to feel sorry for the main character or hate them? Do you want their names to have a double meaning? How about a name related to their profession? For example, an orthopedic surgeon with the name of Dr. Bones. 

Would readers feel sorry for someone named Jezebel? Probably not. But give the female 

character the name of Mary, Ann, Elizabeth, or Susan and they will accept them with open arms.

The same is true for a man named Frankenstein versus a person called John or Isaac.

How do we find great names? By reading magazines, newspapers, and other author's books. And of course, meeting new people. The other day I met a woman named Cree. If you like a name you found while reading another novel, you can take a first name and make it a last so it's not the same as written or add a different last name. Over the years I've compiled a list of names. Some I've heard mentioned on radio and TV. Others pop into my head. One great source I've found is the annual list of top baby names usually published in a community newspaper. Clip it out. Save it.  

I thought about some of the great character names I've found in books over the years and compiled a short list for you. Maybe some of these would be among your choices too.

1. Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens);  2. Scarlett O'Hara & Rhett Butler (Margaret Mitchell); 3. Quinn Rucker, Malcolm Bannister & Sam Stillwater (John Grisham); 4. Jaine Austen & Patti Devane

(Laura Levine); 5. Dittany Blair, Clegg, Driver, Hodson & Kahn (Betty Rowlands); 6. Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain); 7. Bishop Quill & Sean Cronin; 8. Lucian Gregory (G. K. Chesterton); 9. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte); 10. Randall Flagg (Stephen King); 11. Jay Gatsby ( F. Scott Fitzgerald); 

12. Cisco, Ezra, Zack (Fern Michaels); 13. Hester Prynne (Nathaniel Hawthorne); 14. Yuri

Zhivago (Boris Pasternak);15. Hercule Poirot (Agatha Christie).   

After coming up with my list of character names above, I've discovered there are a few websites covering this same topic. To my surprise some of the names I selected are on those lists as well. One such site you might like to visit is: www.theweeklings.com ( The 50 Greatest Literary Character Names of All Time). 

If you have a great character name you'd like to share, please send it my way and I'll mention in the next blog.

Until Next Time,

This is Mary Needy. Oops!  I mean Marlene Chabot