What’s in a name?

“Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

…What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,

Retain that dear perfection which he owes…”

Wow, I can still remember most of that soliloquy. It was a monologue I performed back in college…

Anyhow, that is not the topic of today’s musings. Today I am sharing the secret of naming characters. At least, how I name characters. It’s a very different process for all writers, sometimes causing pain and anguish and heartache. ::laugh:: I’ve never really had that problem, because I have THREE surefire ways to name my characters.

#1 – They tell me

Yeah, you read that right. My characters straight up tell me their name, and insist I get it right. Um, yes, I do understand that they are fictional characters that I made up – but try telling them that. My heroines are usually the ones who tell me their names. They are the most demanding and outspoken. Tree, Chaos, and Maxxe – they each “just came to me”.

Tree weirded me out for some time, because her full name is Trelawny. And I knew I knew that name, but I couldn’t remember why it was so familiar. It meant little to me outside the world of New Hope and the fubars, so I didn’t dwell. But I’m sure every Harry Potter fan right now is like, “uh, duh!” Yeah, now I recognize it, but at the time, there was no other Trelawny but my Trelawny. Crazy, tea-reading Professor Trelawny at Hogwarts seemed to have taken the name from Tree in my world. I know, totally bizarre.

Chaos I did actually do a little Googling for. I knew she was called Chaos, that was all she told me. Chaos Walking. But I also knew that wasn’t her real name, and I had to figure out what was. So I looked into traditional Irish names, since her mother was from Ireland, and when I saw Constance, I knew that was her. Again, I know how weird this sounds, but it’s what happened.

And Maxxe was just Maxxe. She just jumped into my head, told me her name and her story and was the easiest heroine to work with. ::shrug::

#2 – They’re based on real people

I like to use people I know, or people I want to know, as inspiration for characters. For example, Topher Sinclair in #KissMeKieran is based on a friend of mine who reminds me of a high school buddy actually named Christopher “call me Topher”. Also, the other vampires in my New Hope coven are basically friends I wrote into my story; Terra, Nadia, Cristianna, Jaelene – all friends and acquaintances in real life. And Jeremy from my Gate of Humanity stories is basically a younger version of a good friend of mine.

Easiest way to name a character right here.

#3 – I Google their pinnacle characteristic

This is actually how I found my favorite female name for some short stories; Adira. If I ever have a little girl, this is the name I want for her. This character was a very strong, independent professional, so I Googled “names that mean strong”, and there it was – Adira; a name of Hebrew origin meaning “strong, noble, powerful”.

Hammurabi, an MC in another short story I wrote, I Googled a fair and celebrated historical figure, because Hamm was an honest, straight forward man in a compromising situation. It’s a weird name, I know, but it fits this character who wants so badly to blend in and not be noticed, but must dive into the spotlight for justice to be served.

There are a lot of names out there, reading through baby books and using name generators seems like it would take too much time to find “the one”. It works for some people, but if a character is talking to me and making itself known, I don’t have time for that. Once a character is in my head, it’s run now and run quickly. ::laugh:: So one of these three options always works for me, and consider yourself warned… there is a high likelihood you will end up in a story.