What’s in a name? Well, as it turns out, it can be quite a bit. I recently read a couple contemporary works where the heroine, aged 20-30, was named Peyton. Peyton is an adorable name—in fact, a little too adorable. It was the 370th most popular first name for girls in the 1990s. In the early 2000s, it jumped to the top 200 and has soared to #60 for girls last year.
So what, you ask? Well, those statistics mean that the average girl named Peyton is less than five years old right now. When I read these, I couldn’t help but thinking of the curly-haired toddler down the street. Although a strong, androgynous girls’ name is awesome and Peyton hits all the right notes with parents and authors alike today, that’s exactly what makes it all wrong when naming a character who’s supposed to be an adult today.
Personally, I love naming characters. I’m in the process of casting my next book right now, and I’ve spent considerable time searching for just the right name for each character, making sure their names fit their ages, backgrounds, and characteristics. Here are a few of my favorite resources for finding the perfect name. (Note: some of these resources are US-centric, but I’m sure that you can find similar data for other countries.)
Character Naming Books
The Baby Name Wizard by Laura Wattenberg. I picked this up while pregnant with my son, even though my husband and I had the names of our first four children already picked out (two down, two to go).
Why I like this: It give little profiles outlining why and when each name was popular, as well as assigning names to groups according to style and popularity, and lists similar names. (That’s especially good when you have a name you really like but it happens to be your brother-in-law’s name.)
Baby Name Personality Book by Bruce Lansky and Barry Sinrod. The authors of this book surveyed 75,000 parents about 1400 popular names to see what perceptions and connotations the names carried. I picked this up (again, while pregnant) at a thrift store for $2, and I was a little hesitant at first to spend that much (no, seriously), but it’s definitely paid off.
Why I like this: Seriously, where else will you find someone to tell you that a female Jerry calls to mind “a friendly, fun-loving brunette who enjoys being the life of the party” while some see the male Jerry as “likely to wear flashy gold chains and may come on a bit too strong.” Drawbacks of this book? My edition was written in 1992; I think there was an updated edition in 1998. Either way, it’s a little out of date (I mean, seriously, were you naming your character Jerry?).
Character Naming Websites
BabyNames.com. I use this to look up name origins and meanings. Why I like this: I like to be able to search by meaning and/or culture of origin.
US baby name popularity from 1880 from Social Security records. You can look at the popularity of a name over time, or popular name lists by birth year. Why I like this: This is the best way to find age-appropriate (American) names for characters.
Nymbler from The Baby Name Wizard website. Like the book, this helps to find similar names. Why I like this: It makes it easy to find names by “style,” including origins, popular time period and the more subjective “feel.” I do still prefer the book version, but the website is also fun to play with.
The Baby Name Wizard’s Name Voyager, which generates graphs of name popularity over time. The data is based on the SSA. Why I like this: It’s a visual representation of popular names over time, which is a little more accessible than just the lists from the SSA. (The blog also talks about naming trends.)
The US Census Surname Distribution to find last names, and to check if the sometimes crazy last names I want to use are really last names. (Real names include Police, Outlaw, Saint, Notice, Justice and Riddle. Only one of which I’ve actually used.) Why I like this: when I’m stumped on a last name, reading through the list or using a random number generator can help me finish my character’s name.
Be sure to check in tomorrow for more on using head words, and be sure to sign up if you want your website reviewed!
How do you find your characters’ names? What are your favorite or least favorite character names? Would you ever comment on a character’s name in critique?
Photo credits: Name tag—Henk L; Jim—Deon Staffelbach
Hi Jordan! I’m popping in from Brain Throw Up. Thanks for visiting today! I LOVE names and I love creating them for characters. I don’t know how they come into my head, but every time one does, I make sure and write it down. I would comment on a character’s name if I found it distracting.
I like to use unusual names in my writing. Some I make up, some are versions of ancient mythological names (and I don’t write historical fiction). For me also, it is one of the best parts of creating a fictional world.
Oh, good, the comments are open again. I must get Baby Name Personality Book. That one sounds right up my alley!
Hi, Jordan, thanks for the tips.
I love naming characters. It took me two years to find the right surname for the MC in the series of children’s books I’m working on. I knew what first name I wanted to call her, but every surname I Googled was taken. Then I found a surname that fit her perfectly. She love chewing bubble gum and animals and lives in Australia. She’s the only one with this name in the world according to the internet. Then I added her middle name and I knew that was it. She’s eight-year-old Molly Mavis Gumnut and she rules my world at the moment.
I thought of the name Gumnut because I had named an injured butcher bird Gumnut. When we released him after his injured wing had healed, he brought a little gumnut and left it on the windowsill as a present. I think it was meant as a bribe for his favorite snack.
I try to pick surnames to suit the personality of the character.
“What’s in a name?” is the tag line for my current novel, so this is a big deal to me. Names and their meanings — and names as identity — are themes throughout the story. And I can’t stand it when authors use inappropriately “current” names for characters born years before. If you’ve got a character born in 1976, I assure you that she’s much more likely to be a Heather than a Madison. If the character NEEDS to be “Madison,” then you better you drop a line about how her parents were ahead of the curve.
I also like behindthename.com, last-names.net, and
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/default.aspx
@Katie—That’s awesome. I seldom make up names before I have characters, but I think it could work either way.
@Lori—Personally, I don’t often go for unusual names unless it fits the genre, but sometimes I’ll go for uncommon names.
@Eileen—Comments were off? Oh, shoot. Fixed!
@Trisha—I’ve been very picky about my last names. It took me a couple weeks to pick out this latest characters’ surname specifically because I didn’t want his last name to send a message, or even be interpretable. Finally I realized I just needed a fairly common last name, so I started at the top of the surname frequency list and looked till I found a common/no message/nondescriptive last name that didn’t already have someone famous associated with it (esp in combination with the first name I stumbled upon after I decided I didn’t like my original choice).
@CKHB—Another good example! Thanks for the resources, Carrie!
Hi, Jordan. Sometimes it’s really hard to find a name that’s not the same as a famous person. One of the regular characters in my series of Molly Gumnut books has the same name as a famous actress in New Zeeland. When I originally Googled the name for this character, nothing came up, but now it does. I’m not published yet, but I don’t want to change it now. My critique group and readers (Including children) have grown used to her name. They love to hate her. (She’s a nasty, sarcastic, but funny eight-year old.) She’s nothing like the famous actress, the actress has dark hair and my character is blond and blue-eyed and her name is Angela Bloomfield. ?
What do you think? Should I change it? Or keep it?
Thanks, this is a great topic.
Trish.
I wrtie spec fiction so I have the advantage of making up names and using unique names. When I wrote my very first rough draft I had two names that I really didnt like and about halfway through the MS I went back and changed them using the find and replace feature. Years later I found one of the old names in the middleof the MS I couldnt believe it!
I pick up name books at the used book stores and thrift shops and use them alot. I have one that has a Japanese name section and it has saved my life this round.
I think, like our writing, the right name just feels right when we see it.