When writing fiction choosing names can seem daunting, important and also fraught with implications. There are so many options when it comes to selecting a characters name. BabyNames.com has some good advice on choosing names for characters. For instance, certain genre’s have name cliche’s due to already written classics and stylistic qualities. Playing to these can make a story dull to readers familiar with these said cliche’s. One example of how powerfuly a popular character’s name can affected name popularity is found in an article by Allison Burnett. He explains that when “the prime time soap opera, Peyton Place, made its debut on network TV. One of the characters was a waif named Allison Mackenzie. Viewers didn’t care or even notice that Allison spelled her name like a boy, they just knew that they loved her. Overnight, the actress who played her, Mia Farrow, became a household name, and Allison with two l’s became one of the most popular girls’ names in the English-speaking world.” Another resource is etymology web sites. Etymology is the study of name meanings both first and last.
http://surnames.behindthename.com/
J Timothy offers this perspective on character names. “Character names are like any other words in a story. Choose them carefully only if they’ll make a difference. Otherwise, don’t sweat. Just pick something and move on. It’s much more important to develop the whole of the character than to obsess over a few little words. That’s the big secret to naming characters.” You can read the rest of his article here.
What do you think ?