Recently, I started doing some background preparation for a new project. This involves starting a new (physical) notebook, putting together some world lore, creating a map, and—perhaps most importantly—naming my characters. I have names for just about every character that is immediately important, however there is one (some might argue a main character) that is giving me some problems. No matter what name I pick, it doesn’t seem to fit.

(Actually, that’s not quite true. I had a perfect name, but when I did a search of it, the name was one letter away from a clothing brand, so that was out.)

This got me to thinking about the significance of names for characters in books (and in life) and what different names can mean for readers of a book. 

Now, naturally, parents go through a similar process when trying to decide on a name for their child. However, I would argue that it is slightly less complicated, since most parents are drawing on one (or two) different cultures and a set list of names. Also, they tend to have far fewer children than authors have characters. 

And some might suggest that names are less important than the actual personality of a person/character, but despite Shakespeare’s claim that a rose would smell as sweet by any other name, I can almost guarantee that Juliet wouldn’t be waxing poetic over the Death Thorn, even if it were the exact same plant. Names have power. Significant power. Give someone a terrible name and they’ll spend their entire lives trying to live it down. (Or they’ll change it as soon as legally able.) There are horror stories about people who were named something like, oh, I don’t know, Siri or Alexa, who are now traumatised for life. (I knew a Siri in school. I wonder what happened to her.)

A name can indicate certain personality traits, cultural background, financial status and much more. Can a name be shortened to a nickname? Will a person use a nickname or insist on the full kit and caboodle? All of this tells quite a bit about a person, all from a simple thing as a name.

For me as a fantasy author, names are even a bit more complicated. Is my world going to have Scottish sounding names? Why? Did a clan system exist where the Mac- affix is necessary? For first names, do I draw on a certain culture (say, Italian) to paint a picture of the world? If I don’t want to invoke a particular culture or part of the world, then I have to get into the complicated world of creating names.

Linguistically, names tend to follow the patterns of their language. Generally speaking, American English speakers aren’t going to name their children Mandarin names. Even if they’re making up a name, there are certain linguistic rules of English that they will follow, which actually limits the number of syllable combinations that are possible in name creation. Dhalir doesn’t sound like an English name, partly because “Dh” as a first syllable and “lir” as a final syllable aren’t common in the English language. 

Because names follow a linguistic pattern, creating names can be quite difficult. It is still likely that a certain culture or language will be evoked by a name because the author has that linguistic background and certain combinations won’t sound natural to them. Even if a person has multiple languages to draw upon, there is still likely to be a pattern in the resulting names. 

Even more difficult, the reader still has to be able to pronounce this new name.

If I wanted to base my character’s name off of Welsh, then it would likely be incredibly difficult for the readers to pronounce. (Sorry Wales. I have a background in learning many different languages, not to mention degrees in linguistics, and I still can’t figure out most Welsh signs. It is a severely impressive language, and it baffles me.) So instead, I have to draw on Old English or modern English or something out of myth and legend or any base language that English has bastardised (looking at you, Latin).

Now, granted, I am not facing the potential of scarring a living person for life if the name I pick isn’t exactly standard. Unless my books hit the big leagues and parents name their child after my characters, all I face are some confused readers. (And if parents do name their child after my characters, I’m still putting that trauma on the parents’ shoulders.) Still, the right name can shift reader perspective and make a likeable character a villain or vice versa. 

Names are an essential part of how we interact with the world, with people, with our pets, with everything. As such, the pressure to get it right is quite high.

That is to say, I’ve been through my typical naming lists and am now in the “name creation” part of this activity. Wish me luck.

The post first appeared on Tarney Brae Creative Endeavours.