How do you name your characters? Do their names just come to you, or do you agonize over the decision?
How much and what type of research do you do when selecting names?
Has a name chosen early in the writing ever influenced your decisions about a character's behavior later in the story?
Have you renamed characters after you get to know them better, even if you're well into the story?
Have you ever renamed or wanted to rename characters after publication?
Interesting questions, which I shall try to answer fully:
How do you name your characters?
Sometimes I have a clear idea of what I want my characters to be called, others, no idea at all and just pluck one from the air at random.
Do their names just come to you, or do you agonize over the decision?
As said before, sometimes the names just come to me. Like in my Random Moment series, I was writing it, guided by the story itself and the characters just felt like they were called Rufus and Cynthia. Amy is based on an actual ghost in my own house called Amy. It is how I'd imagine her to be if she was grown up and able to talk. Mrs Hatfield (Rufus's mother) was one that I agonised over. I stared into space for ages trying to think of her name and then it came to me to call her Mrs Hatfield because I was listening to Metallica and the lead singer is called James Hetfield, so I just changed the second letter. Her first name then came to me from her second name and I never wanted to switch.
How much and what type of research do you do when selecting names?
I do very little research. I sometimes use baby name websites to find their meanings and see if they fit with the story. One time I used a forum on the other site to help me decide on a name. Another time I polled Facebook friends.
Has a name chosen early in the writing ever influenced your decisions about a character's behavior later in the story?
Yes, weirdly. I've currently got a story in production where the main character is very much influenced by his name. Sometimes it's just a minor thing like the character making a pun about their name. The one that comes to mind is when my character was called Steele. It was an erotic story, so you can imagine the quite obvious pun. Sure, it was a cliché to say that Steele was hard as steel, but it had to be done.
Have you renamed characters after you get to know them better, even if you're well into the story?
Yes, actually I'm in the midst of renaming a male character in a story. His female counterpart is called Leah and he is called Liam. I thought they were too similar, so I'm thinking about changing his name. Lord knows what to, but I'll stumble upon something eventually. Once I read the story back, I'm sure his name will come to me.
Have you ever renamed or wanted to rename characters after publication?
I've wanted to, but never done it. I wouldn't rule it out though.
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When you are going to <a href="">buy laptop hard drive</a>, it is extremely important to look for one that is going to be fast and large enough to accommodate all of your files and data needs. It
<br>Yeah, it's just what I need, I'm about to have a new one
<br>I always use Dell Hard Disk Drives, what about you, guys?
<br>Gateway!!!lol
What to Look for in a Hard Drive That You Are Purchasing?
When you are going to <a href="">buy laptop hard drive</a>, it is extremely important to look for one that is going to be fast and large enough to accommodate all of your files and data needs. It
<br>Yeah, it's just what I need, I'm about to have a new one
<br>I always use Dell Hard Disk Drives, what about you, guys?
<br>Gateway!!!lol
What to Look for in a Hard Drive That You Are Purchasing?
When you are going to <a href="">buy laptop hard drive</a>, it is extremely important to look for one that is going to be fast and large enough to accommodate all of your files and data needs. It
<br>Yeah, it's just what I need, I'm about to have a new one
<br>I always use Dell Hard Disk Drives, what about you, guys?
<br>Gateway!!!lol
I think that the names are really important, but mine usually come early. Since a lot of my work revolves around greek mythology, it makes naming characters easy. Most of them are spin off of greek mythology names.
There's a ship out On the ocean At the mercy of the sea
It's been tossed about Lost and broken Wandering aimlessly
And God somehow You know that ship is me 'Cause there's a lighthouse
In the harbour Shining faithfully Pouring its light out Across the water
For this sinking soul to see That someone out there Still believes in me
On a prayer, in a song I hear your voice and It keeps me hanging on Raining down Against the wind
I'm reaching out till We reach the circle's end When you come Back to me again
I've noticed a somewhat annoying trend in my writing, and that is, the names I give my characters sometimes sound similar to each other, or start with the same letter, or end in the same sound. I often wonder if this confuses readers. It sometimes confuses me when I'm writing, at which point, I usually rename one of them.
I feel really bad because I really don't put too much into it. I have a clear picture of the character's personality and the name just comes to me. I generally go with my first thought. It is very rare that I will go back and change a name.
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I had to come back and edit my earlier comment. It's true most of the time, but sometimes I have characters that need a name that strengthens the perception I want the reader to have. Right now I'm working on a supernatural novel. I actually did some research to find names in my character's native language and time period with meanings that culture would easily recognize.
I do believe that names should strengthen the story line. I don't make up names. I hate when parents do that in real life, unless it is a functional part of the story line. Names can also distract.
This one is one a student in my Summer program came up with: L--a.
At first, I was like "What?" But, her character is basically illiterate and that's her mark.
The character's name is L'dasha. The kids I work with are preteens. I had to laugh
because she had the right idea about names. I had to bite my tongue and not say,
"A dash and a hyphen are two different things." LOL
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names are important, since my book is set in a strange world where there is no technology I have tried to use old names, so they seem to fit better. Some are Celtic, some are old English some are Asian and some I made up (different races have different name origins)
I also have tried to put friends names in the book but have changed them just a touch, i.e. I have a friend called Tiff and another called Rich, so in the book they became Tiffa & Ricardo, I have also tried to avoid names which people would relate to tv or other books, i.e. Zeena, who became Zeanith.
I have renamed a few characters after I get to know them as I would hope people get attached to them and there old name didn't seam to fit.
Orcs and trolls have simple names i.e. Narg, Grilk, Tog. Noble men and women have long fancy names, i.e. Sebastian, Darcarial, Vladimir.
Lawmen have Strong Names i.e. Zeanith, Erkut, Marchel. and town people have a good mix depending on where they come from, i.e. Reath, Vorn, Uma, Valery
The Lead has one of my favourite Celtic names... Lowenna
I think names can show status and can help readers connect with the character.
I am in the process of writing a period piece (my 'Going Away' series) set from the early years of the twentieth century through to the latter years. It would be foolhardy of me to have characters named Kylie and such for the earlier years when names like Maggie, Doris, Mabel, Charles, Harold and Albert were more common. If you are writing a story that is set in a particular period of history then names have to be 'period appropriate', surely?
) where I can imagine having his real name as something like Scott Cartwright. 
