Character Names ?

Many authors seem to pick character names at random. Others pick names that personify the character. Sometimes the name is obviously symbolic, sometimes not so much.

Back in school we had a prof. who taught nothing but Faulkner. He'd sit on the edge of a table, chain-smoke cigarettes, and put them out on the sole of his shoe.

One day he said, "Now class, give me words that have start with SN. Then he went to the board and grabbed a stick of chalk. The students started calling words out and he listed them on the board.

Sneak, snide, snatch, snore, snoop, snicker, snuck, snipe, snap, snot, etc. There were a few others, but more the most part they all had negative connotations.

"So what's the bad guy's name in the story?" (I think it was Long Hot Summer, but it may have been another story with the same character)

"Snopes." was the answer.

"And what is his first name?"

"Flem," said another.

He replaced the chalk on the board and sat down. True story.

I try to craft my character's name to their personalities or their physical descriptions, but I'm not always successful. But it does remind me of Sydney Greenstreet playing Mr. Guttman in the Maltese Falcon. So I'm going to keep on trying.

Any others of you out there pick names that represent your characters?

Interesting illustration.

I have a young kid from Mississippi called Cable Datum who dies of consumption in the piece I'm currently working on. He's doomed to be remembered for nothing else. And there's another guy called Gospel Fry who works toting bales of cotton. Not names as such but for some reason they seemed to fit the atmosphere of the time and place I'm aiming for.

H

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Originally Posted by hillwalker

Interesting illustration.

I have a young kid from Mississippi called Cable Datum who dies of consumption in the piece I'm currently working on. He's doomed to be remembered for nothing else. And there's another guy called Gospel Fry who works toting bales of cotton. Not names as such but for some reason they seemed to fit the atmosphere of the time and place I'm aiming for.

H

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Hill, that's such a good point. You'd never want to use a name that doesn't fit the period. You wouldn't want a space-age name mistakenly pinned on a character in your latest biblical epic. Gospel-great name.

I like to do weird things with my character names but always try to make them represent what I want the reader to think of them.

In that last story I posted, all of the characters (Lionel, Jimmy, Donna) are named after the actors in Frank Capra's it's a wonderful life. I don't know why I did that except the names fit and I love that movie.

It's an interesting process because you need to consider what the audience thinks of a name, or you may be mislead by personal experience. If you knew a guy named Mike who was a real piece of work, you may be tempted to name the bad guy Mike. Unfortunately that won't play as well with people who knew good Mikes. In that regard I think it's better to look at the history of a name, and to try to take life experience out of it.

Dick Danger.






J

I'm usually quite careful about the names I pick for the characters in my work - their names are often an allusion to other people, real or fictional, for whom I intend there to be some affinity.

Names are too loaded with significance to be ascribed randomly.

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Originally Posted by Lokasenna

I'm usually quite careful about the names I pick for the characters in my work - their names are often an allusion to other people, real or fictional, for whom I intend there to be some affinity.

Names are too loaded with significance to be ascribed randomly.

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It always takes me some time to choose an apropriate name for my character. I try to use those unknown or I just focus on the meaning, similar to the character`s personality, history.

As many authors do, I have sometimes used people I've known as models for certain characters but, in order not to offend, I will use their first name and change the surname. In the case where the protagonists are well known but still alive, the possibility of libel needs to be avoided and therefore, not only the names need to be completely changed but also certain character traits and general background knowledge. With totally fictitious characters, a writer will have carte blanche to use whatever seems appropriate and sometimes a name comes to mind that seems a perfect fit for a fictional character: such as Wally Finkelstein, the rascally publicity agent in A Tangled Web, but on other occasions it can be quite difficult finding a suitable name and I have sometimes changed a designation simply because it didn't seem right.

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Originally Posted by Steven Hunley

Back in school we had a prof. who taught nothing but Faulkner.

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You must've thought you had died and gone to Purgatory.

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Originally Posted by AuntShecky

You must've thought you had died and gone to Purgatory.

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Aunty, you're soo perceptive. I never much cared for Faulkner and this part of the class was the only part I remember outside of Faulkner's excessively long multi-page sentence. I could never figure the point of that either. All of us know how to use commas.

I'm still doing it.

“He’s up on the aft deck near the fantail. You can’t miss him, try there.”

I didn’t recognize Sonny at first. He was sitting crossed-legged on a bamboo mat facing away. He’d jettisoned his Levis and boots and cowboy shirt with pearl-button snaps. He was shoeless, wearing white canvas pants, and a loose saffron-colored shirt. His hands were resting on his knees palms up, thumbs and index fingers making a loop. I know when a person’s meditating, so I sat down nearby and let him have at it.

“Let the cowboy get comfortable in the saddle of the cosmos,” I figured. “And rock the cradle of love.”

He couldn’t have picked a better time. The sea was ironed flat, the sun was mild, the only thing moving was the gentle throb of diesel engines, and even that wasn’t hurried.

I decided I’d get in on the non-action. I closed my eyes and assumed the position. Hard to say how many minutes go by when the only measurement of time stops because you’ve finally decided to put the brakes on your mind. The cradle of love don’t rock easily. It takes effort for the mind to find its off switch.

http://youtu.be/N8j9vdPSgFo Billy Idol

It may be noted that the Buddha is the "Enlightened One" and that my cowboys name is Sonny.

The main character in the novel I'm currently working on is named Christopher, because his story is largely inspired by that of Christopher McCandless. Usually I pick my character's names based on how the name sounds, how much I like it. I really like the name Landon, and have made a few characters who went by that name. I also often just name my character after myself, as they are often projections of my own personality.

Also, many of my characters are based on people that I know, so I'll name them a name that is similar to the person who inspired them. I used to just use the actual name, but I worried I might get sued.