So, let’s talk about Character names. Do you find yourself drawn to the same name over and over in your books. Then think, nope, I already had a Daniel :mad2: Do you find you’re drawn to one letter more than others? C– Clay, Colton D–Delaina, Daniel, and Mac names. My heroes always want a last name starting with Mac… MacKenzie, McNeal, etc, so of course everyone calls them Mac. :crazy2:
Do you like weirder, not so everyday names? Or do you like really unusual names? Or do unusual names make you stumble as a reader?
What’s your favorite name that you’ve used for one of your characters?
I haven’t written enough stories to have many to choose from, but I have one where I love both the hero and heroine’s names…Cade and Alexa. Still, um, have to write that story. I wrote 3 chapters of it as a Flipside. Oops. :mad2:
I do stumble over weird names when I read. Actually just ones I don’t know how to pronounce. That drives me NUTS. Every time I read the name, I have to say it a couple different ways, trying to figure out which way is right. :useyourhead:
I tend to use common first names, but all my characters want to have Mac surnames, too. I assumed it’s because I’m a Scot, but maybe not 🙂
Ben. I hae so many Ben’s. Jake and Caleb. 2 of my other favorites. All my heroine’s have different names, though I’ve noticed going back I Sarah quite a bit. Hmmm – all my people have middle names. Do you do that?? :confused:
I do things subconciously. In my last book, the hero’s missing daughter was named Brianna. Then they found an orphaned boy and his name was Brian. Oops. 😳
I have a book of baby names. And I’ll read through there until I find exactly what I want. Sometimes I go by the meaning of the name. Sometimes I choose just by the way it sounds. I try very hard, and don’t always succeed, at staying away from like sounding names. I suppose my favorite pair right now, that I’ve already written, would be Sophie and Dylan. :book:
I have real difficulty with hard to pronounce names. :cursing: If I have troubles, I find myself skipping over it and going on. NOT conducive to me buying more books from the same author.
Grins*
So what’s up with the Mac surnames??? :mad2: My last story I realized I had two teens…a Danielle and a Danny… :wallbash: Danny became Nathan.
I’m going to have an Isabelle heroine when I find the right story for her
I teach so I sometimes choose character names by the student roster. All good writers borrow a little.
My very first heroine was named Merinda – there was a girl in my son’s class by that name and I thought it was soo fresh and different. I’d fogotten that!
I’ve used Katherine twice for heroines. I like the name (it’s my daughter’s name) and I like the nicknames Kate and Katie. I like strong sounding names for my heroines. For historicals, I try to find names appropriate to the period. If the hero is titled, I don’t much care about first names because I use his titled name for the most part. For heroes, I don’t give it much thought. The names just appear on the page.
Favorite letters: C, D, J, K and T
Some names are kind of unusual: Annabeth, Athena, Ceara, Keller, Dasher, Aliane, Cherry, Gabrielle, Jaylie, Temperance, Evangeline, Madison, Drake, Dunstan.
The guys tend to have more “normal” names: Jack, Simon, Brett, Jeremy, Kyle, Sam, Alex, Max, Kevin, Harry, Rex, Tony, Nick, Cameron.
Favorite names: Hard to choose!
Sienna, the heroine in my last book. I loved that name.
Apparently Dimi and Mia since I’ve used both of those TWICE by accident. :useyourhead:
I have some character names I would love to use again and again, but I try to choose a new one for every new WIP.
For some reason I use a lot of names, first and last, that end with “s”. So then I’m always having to write miles’s or Myers’s. Ugh.
For a while all my hero’s names started with J. Now I go for names that translate easily into a nickname. But I do love going through the baby books for the meanings behind the names.:wink:
Mary, stealing (um, borrowing
) from the student roster. I like that.
Kelly, I have the same problem. I finally changed a James, because the whole ends in an S thing bugged me 🙄
StephT…ah, stuck on J names. Well, we all have our letters, don’t we :wallbash:
Suzanne, I LOVE the name Sienna!
Jill, LOL on using Demi and Mia twice… :mad2:
Tori…Alaine …is that like Elaine with an A?
Steph…nodding head on the J names. I finally had to change one to Colby but every time I type it I think of cheese. GOnna have to do something about that.
I try real hard NOT to reuse character names, but it’s tough. I do have faves. Or I use the baby name website if I want to convey something with a name, but usually my characters will let me know if they dont like what I pick :secret:
No, it’s Al=I=ane. Well, that looks weird. I pronounce it in my head as AL-ee-ahn. Does that make more sense?
I love J names for guys too – no idea why. Jack, Jon, Jake. And I like Mc names too. Glad to see I’m not alone. AND, when I read books, I think, “Wow, another Roarke” or “Oh, another Alex.” Seems like there are certain ones used over and over lately. Or maybe I’m just reading too much.