What’s in a Name?
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| image by Ben smith via sxc.hu |
One of the difficulties with writing is crafting unique and compelling characters to populate your story. With there being a limited number to choose from sometimes writers will create new ones or choose esoteric names for their characters.
In principal there is nothing wrong with this if you do the research and put the effort into choosing the right name for your characters. However, do be sure people can pronounce them.
Case in point: Hermione Granger. Her last name is a no brainer, but the first? Up until Goblet of Fire people had no clue the proper way to say it.
The other issue is when you do things like spell common names in cutesy ways it makes it harder to pronounce and turns off readers.
The names we choose for our characters can have deep symbolic significance. For instance the main character of my WIP is named Travis because it means crossroads and at key points along his story arc he must decide which path to choose: good, evil, or to forge his own way.
Like wise the other main character is named Phoenix, for it’s symbolic significance, meaning (blood red and deadly) and because it ties into the bird theme of his alien race.
This can a good technique for adding layers to your story or it can back fire. For instance naming a character Tristan and having them be sad or having a girl named Hope who is an optimist. Readers are hip to this trick so cut it out.
A better technique is to have the character act opposite of their name. For example having a character named Temperance who’s a fall down sloppy drunk or other addict.
Another issue with naming characters is coming off as pretentious. There’s nothing wrong with giving them ordinary names. However when you load them up with melodramatic ones such as Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way readers will spend more time laughing at you than paying attention to the story.
Remember it’s not important what you call them. What counts is the actions and decisions your characters make. If you get those wrong then you’re screwed.