I just finished reading a book that was ok. It should have been better. I expected it to be better, but it wasn’t.
One of the things that kept stalling me was the name of the heroine. Now, it is not the author’s fault that I kept thinking of a fish in Finding Nemo, instead of a heroine. Unfortunately, that’s what I kept doing. “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”
It is hard to name characters. Well, maybe not hard really, but the names have to fit the character. In this case, I guess it did. The story was set on a sailing ship and a tropical island. But still. I found it more comical than anything. It didn’t draw me to the character. I had other issues with this story, and I never really clued in on how much the heroine’s name bothered me until I finished it.
For some reason I find it easier to picture the characters when their names fit them. Jonathan Kellerman’s Alex Delaware is a good example. To me, that name sounds perfect for a child psychologist. Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone, a fine fit for a private eye. Gemma Halliday’s Maddie Springer - fashionista turned amateur detective. These all work for me.
But, perhaps they don’t for everyone. I know there are historicals with heroine or hero names that were never even common during those times, that’s a research issue more than a fit issue I’m afraid. I know that authors, just like parent, fall in love with a name and want to use it, even if it doesn’t really fit. Do our children grow into their names? Do we name them because we look at them and see what “fits”. Or do we choose the name arbitrarily and that’s what they get (yes, often this is the way, we are the parents after all). Authors have a bit more leeway, since they can get half way through their work-in-progress and decide that Josephine really isn’t a good name for a clutzy blonde who thrives on one night stands. Or maybe they’ll decide it’s perfect.
In the end, it’s all what the reader thinks. Ninety-eight readers could like the name you chose and two could hate it. It doesn’t mean it was the wrong name, just that it didn’t work for those two readers.
Do you think of certain characteristics when you think of certain names? Will a name bother you if you feel it doesn’t fit the character? Can a name draw you out of the story, like the one above did for me?
Definitely. Names can even make me hesitate to read a story at all if they don’t feel right. I hate going through an entire novel cringing every time I read the hero/heroine name.
by Elizabeth K October 9th, 2007 at 7:04 amI was going to pass on this one because (a) my memory for names sucks, so they’re not going to stick with me anyway and (b) just because a name wasn’t one of the 10 Most Popular of whatever time period doesn’t mean it was never used and (c) if I’m that wrapped up in a character’s name, it must be the most interesting thing about them, which points to bigger problems than naming and (d) I think contrast between name and personality is an interesting detail, not a faux pas.
But then I did recall something that periodically bothers me about names: unpronouncable. I find this more in SFF, where six apostrophes and four hyphens in a name aren’t uncommon, but once in a while, even a romance writer will get on a Welsh kick (12 letters, no vowels). I know Welsh names are pronouncable, and often quite lyrical, IF you have The Idiot’s Guide to Welsh Pronunciation at hand and don’t mind referring to it frequently until you overcome your aversion to something like Grwynnrldd, which phonetically sounds rather like hocking a loogie and therefore probably isn’t the greatest handle for your heroine unless she’s an orc or something.
by Kerry Allen October 9th, 2007 at 7:37 amIt depends on the name. I have changed names in a manuscript because it didn’t fit. I think when reading I just accept the name given by the author. There might have been a few names that I didn’t get and just stopped reading the book.
by Sara Thacker October 9th, 2007 at 8:18 amYes, definitely. I had to stop reading a book the other night because the heroine’s name was just too dull and blah. Her real name was actually very nice, classic, and fitting of a romantic heroine, but when the author shortened it to a very common and frumpy nickname that had very little character or style to it I couldn’t take it anymore. It just wasn’t romantic at all. Not something I could imagine a dashing, hunky hero saying in the throes of ecstasy.
I put the book away and started on another one by a different author. Maybe I’ll read it one day, but right now, I’m wanting to read books I can really sink into and lose myself in, not just tolerate and finish.
by Elizabeth October 9th, 2007 at 8:29 amHaving a very poor memory
by Kimber Chin October 9th, 2007 at 9:22 am(and a tendency to speed read),
I prefer distinct names.
For example:
I read a novel once with a heroine named Maria.
Great name.
Except that there were minor characters named Mary and Marion and…
(and no, it wasn’t deliberate).
I never knew which M character was doing what.
…IF you have The Idiot’s Guide to Welsh Pronunciation at hand and don’t mind referring to it frequently…
EXACTLY. You could say the same for Gaelic/Irish, as well. Having to work at even pronouncing a name, never mind appreciating it/comparing it to character, stops the story cold.
by Robyn October 9th, 2007 at 9:39 amSometimes using names that are historically correct can be a problem as well. They’re either too strange (Bebinn, Siobhan, Niall), too feminine for a man (Ashley, Vivian, Shelley; all men’s names), or you end up with everyone naming their characters the same things. *sigh*
Elizabeth Hoyt and I both chose the name Georgiana for our heroines (me for my first book and Elizabeth for her second). The books came out fairly close to one another, and one review site SLAMMED me for what they implied was copying Elizabeth. *roll eyes* There’s nothing I can do to explain to those people that A) a version of “George” was one of the three most common names during the 18th century (hello, it’s not called the Georgian era for nothing) and that B) The way publishing works it would have physically impossible for me to have copied Elizabeth. We’d both simply chosen to buck the trend of “strange/unique” names.
What’s a girl to do?
by Kalen Hughes October 9th, 2007 at 10:32 amAs one who wrote three books with a heroine named Pink Pearl, I can’t make a comment with a straight face.
But I named my hero Ed. Good, solid name - Ed.I like the contradiction of a hot, sexy, killer hero with a name like Ed. Or Fred. Or Joe. In RomanceLand, those kind of names are exotic. And very easy to pronounce.
by stephanie feagan October 9th, 2007 at 10:48 amI think names are very important to how the reader receives a character. For example, I wouldn’t feel comfortable naming a nun Bubbles or naming a priest Butch. I tend to look towards names that capture personality. I’m hoping that my main character, Rona Shively, comes across the way I envision her when I write. Her name was actually something different when I started out. I changed it after my sister proofread the story and said, “I really hate your main character’s name.”
by Rebecca Benston October 9th, 2007 at 11:21 amInteresting post!:mrgreen:
If you hope to sell audio rights, the aural appeal of a name should match the visual appeal, as some names look lovely, but sound..well…strange.
by Bernita October 9th, 2007 at 12:18 pmAs far as names go I’m fairly tolerant,but a clearly modern name in an historical setting makes me grit my teeth.
Character names do play a role. If I’m at the book store and pick up a book that looks interesting, I’ll read the back cover. If I have no idea how to pronounce a hero or heroine’s name, I put it back. It would impact my ablity to enjoy the story so why waste my money on the book.
Even if I’m not keen on a name (as long as I can pronounce it), I usually give the author the benefit of the doubt and will read the book. Boring or strange names often have a way of playing out in the story somehow.
by Melissa McClone October 9th, 2007 at 12:50 pmI usually rename a character if I can’t pronounce the name in my head. Call me strange, but there you have it.
My editor suggested I change the spelling of my heroine’s name, because it reads like a man’s name. At the time I wrote the book I didn’t think anything of it. But the more I ponder (jeez, I love that word) I realized that a woman who works in construction is going to be a little manish. So my character’s name fit the character.
by Melissa Blue October 9th, 2007 at 1:22 pmA name that clunks will definitely damage my enjoyment of a book. And I’m not even necessarily against a name which sounds strange or even ugly to my modern sensibilities if it fits the setting and the story. I’m another one who winces at a non-period name in a historical; I read a medieval once with a heroine named “Taylor” and I was eyerolling from cover to cover.
I’d love to see a period book with a male character named Vivian or Leslie or Beverley or Shirley. Heck, I’ve pondered for years doing a series (Regency, maybe?) about four brothers with those names.
Just because we’ve been giving more and more men’s names to women for the last few decades doesn’t mean we can’t use the names for men when we write in a period where that would be appropriate.
I also like seeing horribly inappropriate names hung on characters who are aware of and react to those names. A woman who was a tomboy growing up and now works in construction having to deal with “Celestina” or a quiet, timid woman who likes books and TV and would never go out alone at night having to deal with being named “Hero” or a plain, slender, painfully modest woman named “Gypsy” — this sort of name begs to be used as a plot point.
And I agree with the folks who don’t like unpronounceable names, although I don’t mind as much if there’s a pronunciation guide in the book. So long as it’s in the front! It doesn’t do me any good to struggle through four hundred pages of Welsh or Chinese or alien names and then find the pronunciation guide at the end, after I’m finished.
Angie
by Angie October 9th, 2007 at 2:26 pmNames definitely have to fit the heroine. I remember reading a book that was told in first person…I was about 40 pages in when someone finally said “her” name…and it was something like Louisa…I did a head smack there. It should have been something spunky and snarky like her voice (Miranda or even a Christina would have worked…but LOUISA was way too old fashioned for her voice)
by Ericka Scott October 9th, 2007 at 3:02 pmNames! They give me fits. Especially the damn heroines. I think I know their name and they won’t perform until I get it right. I went through five different names for the heroine of KILLING FEAR until I realized her name was Robin. I got stuck at her first scene and couldn’t write it until I found the right name.
And I THOUGHT I know the heroine in my next book, but I just introduced the hero in the book before hers and no Emma can handle Mitch Bianchi. So I’m stuck. Again. Though I think I have a name . . . I’ll just have to try it out.
The hero’s are never this difficult. Ever. They walk up and say, “My name is Joe Smith” and the rest is history. The heroines? Ugh.
As a reader, I really couldn’t care what the names are, as long as it’s something relatively easy to pronounce. Long, complex names or weird names stop me every time.
by Allison Brennan October 9th, 2007 at 3:10 pmI’m not good at naming my characters right off the bat. I usually give them a name and often change it at least once through writing the ms. But I do want their name to fit and/or be meaningful in some way.
As an example of problems with names as a reader, one of my favorite authors, Marcia Muller, named her main character’s boyfriend Hy (short for something else I think). But every time I see Hy, my mind reads it as “He.” At first, I would stop myself and reread it as “Hy.” Eventually, I stopped fighting it and just let my mind read it as He.
by Kathy Holmes October 9th, 2007 at 4:46 pmYes, names can put me off a book. I have synesthesia, that means I see letters in colour, and words and names have an aura. Sometimes the aura is just ugly, like for Sookie (I never even tried the books).
Fitz, King Shrewd and the rest of the bunch didn’t work for me, either. Those are not names, but archetypes, and therefore left me cold - I didn’t care about the characters and eventually gave up on the books.
Wrong names in historical fiction, esp. if it would have been easy to find ones from the time (there are lists of Mediaeval names, and to call a heroine Amber doesn’t do it
). It can be ‘fun’ to research more exotic names, though. I have to populate some Caledonian tribes 84 AD which proves a rather hopeless task. The only thing I have is an 11th century Latin list of legendary 6th century Pictish kings, and one or two misspelled names in Tacitus. 
by Gabriele October 9th, 2007 at 6:18 pmI don’t have a problem naming my MCs so much as naming the secondaries so the names don’t conflict or confuse. In one of my first drafts I had a character named Phil and another named Paul, and I started to call a third one Pete until I realized what I was doing. Now I run through the alphabet every time I introduce a new character so the initials are distinct.
As for reading, that’s about the only time when names bug me - when they’re so alike I can’t tell the characters apart. I just read a book where one character’s initials were K.J. and another’s was J.K. I kept having to re-read the scenes where they were both mentioned. Ack. I agree with the others who’ve mentioned hard to pronounce names, but nowadays when I run across a weird name, I give the character a nickname in my head. Something like Oleikthuphen would become Ollie. ;o)
by B.E. Sanderson October 9th, 2007 at 7:27 pmI love Dian Mott Davidson … but every time I read about her caterer heroine, Goldie, I am jerked into “Mayor Goldie Wilson” from Back to the Future. I can even hear him saying his name. It’s the curse of the movie generation I fear.
Suzanne Brockmann has a real gift for names (Jules Cassidy, Robin Chadwick, Tom Paoletti, Cosmo Rickter, Annie Dugan, Alyssa Locke) and peppers those great names with military nicknames (Sam Starrette, Wildcard Karmody, Chief, LT, Izzy). I love seeing what she’ll come up with next.
by Vicki October 9th, 2007 at 8:39 pmI agree that naming characters is quite difficult. I try to come up with the pertinent background info and personality before I give my characters names but that doesn’t always work. As for unpronouncable names, I find them hard to read at first,but then I just sort of come up with my own pronunciation and move on.
A peeve of mine with character names though, is always the “lets make up our own spelling” method. I have encountered books with characters named Sintheeya, An2won, Ondray and Dareeyas. These were contemporary books not sci-fi so Cynthia, Antoine, Andre and Darius seemed appropriate. I know I’m carping on freedom of creativity but with spellings like these, I just couldn’t take the characters seriously and never finished the books.
by aeromel36 October 9th, 2007 at 8:54 pmA bad name can ruin a story. I love D.H. Lawrence but I could not get through Women in Love because I couldn’t stand reading about young women named Ursula and Gudrun. I kept picturing old women and eventually I gave up on the story.
by Georgie Lee October 9th, 2007 at 10:28 pmIn the preface to his “A God Against the Gods” Allen Drury wrote a very helpful explanation of Egyptian naming practices and a pronunciation guide that made sense. I’ve used it in teaching world history and in deciphering Egyptian names in a number of settings. It really shouldn’t be too hard for an author who’s fond of Welsh or Gaelic or Russian or Estonian or whatever names to add a similar guide. Romance novels don’t come with appendices now, but they might not be a bad idea. Or perhaps someone could publish an Idiot’s Guide to Obscure and Esoteric Monikers for Heroes and Heroines.
by KeVin K. October 9th, 2007 at 11:00 pmI dislike when a name is “too far out there” and takes me out of the story every time I see it (I’m looking at you Amanda Quick with your “Lavinias” and “Imogens”. However, I find the opposite to be true also. If every character in the book is given a generic name, I can’t tell them apart. (I am John and these are my brothers Bill and Jack. Won’t you come in to meet Tim, Tom, and Dave.)
by Morgan October 10th, 2007 at 2:20 amI once read a book with a hero named Zeke. I kept picturing a guy in overalls with missing teeth. I changed his name and read Zack instead.
Writing historicals I try to keep to names contemporary with the times, but some of them are just odd. Like men named Evelyn! I’ve spent days searching for names that not only suit the times, but also the character and their role in the story.
As for kids, everyone thought our choice for The Boy was an odd one but it really does seem to suit him.
by Seeley deBorn October 10th, 2007 at 6:51 pmlol. I’ll cope as long as it’s not some weird concoction of consonants without vowels. And now, am I the only one who really wants to know what this awkward name was?
by Babe King October 10th, 2007 at 11:05 pmI’m very fussy about naming my characters. If it’s an uncommon name, or has a weird pronunciation, I try to find a way to alert the reader as to how to pronounce it. I name my characters based on the meaning of the name, and the characteristics the name implies. I rarely wind up changing a MC’s name once I’m into writing the story.
by Laura Hamby October 11th, 2007 at 8:27 am