The reason I haven’t updated this blog in the last few weeks is because I’ve been rambling through France. One thing I enjoy doing in France is visiting cemeteries. I love reading the strange names on the plots and examining all the diverse burial plots and mausoleums.

This brings me to my post. What’s in a name? When creating characters, one of the most important aspects of your character’s makeup is his or her name. It’s like naming a baby. If you have ever named a little one, you’ll remember the hours spent going through name books, looking up what each preferred name meant, and deciding against names because of their meanings or associations.

As readers we make associations also. Whenever I see the Spanish name Jesus, guess what famous character pops into my mind? I find it very difficult to stay in the story when each time I come to this name my mind kicks me back to catechism class and the nun that used to smack my knuckles with a ruler. This brings up another point. Readers can make associations with a name because it belongs to another famous character/person or they can make associations with people in their own life. You can’t help the second association, but be very careful of the first one.

The name you choose is all about who your character is so you must know your character and his or her attributes before you know his or her name. Just because a name pops into your head, it may not be the right choice for your character.

I find that many people I know are a reflection of their names and I want my characters to be a reflection of his or her name, too. I own many name books, but if you aren’t as fanatical as I am, you’ll find many name dictionaries online under every nationality imaginable. I spend days going through names before I decide on one. In my novel, The Belvedere Club, my main character is of Irish Catholic descent. I looked up female Irish names and many were appealing. When I came across Briana I saw that it was the female version of the name Brian, which means Powerful, something my character clearly is. Her last name Kaleigh means Party, which is an aspect of her personality that she is in opposition to, but exhibits, nonetheless.

Time period is another facet of naming your characters. You wouldn’t want to use a name like Bitsy for a character in Victorian England any more than you’d want to use a name like Milicent in a modern day story. Perhaps if you are trying to create a character that is old-fashioned and a little outside the norm you may choose an old-fashioned name for a modern day story.

My friend and fellow writer Margaret Lucke turned me on to this Social Security website: //www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/ It offers name searches for the most popular names of the last 100 years, popular names by decade, popular names by state, etc. It’s a good resource to have.

Once I’ve decided on my character’s name, I say it aloud several times. Does it roll off the tongue or stick on the end? Does it have alliteration to it and if so, was that intended? One of the great alliteration names is Severus Snape. Doesn’t it just sound like a snake? And doesn’t snake just associate evil? Okay, maybe that’s me and my catechism again.

Once I’ve chosen my main character’s name, I start a chart to make sure I don’t subconsciously name secondary or walk-on characters with the same alphabetical letters or beginning sounds. I once read a novel where every male character’s name began with an R. Randolph, Richard, Renard. This makes it hard to differentiate characters, causing the reader to sometimes have to go back and remember who was who. You never want your readers to leave the story.

Stories are organic so you might get to the end and realize your character is not the person you first thought them to be. Perhaps their name no longer fit their attributes. Find and Replace was made for this. Don’t be afraid to use it. Sometimes books take years to write and suddenly there’s a best seller with your character’s name. (This happened once to me.) A new association you hadn’t planned on. Don’t be afraid to change your character’s name, no matter how many years he or she has sported it. The right name is out there. Take the time to find it.