Sparkatale

"What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet!" -Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

    Well, sometimes the rose would not smell as sweet! Can you imagine how ridiculous it would have been if when you heard the story of Hercules for the first time, instead of 'Hercules' his name was Hank? Or if when The Hunger Games first premiered thousands of people were greeted by a great female archer named Leslie?

    When you are naming your characters you have to take several things into account so that they sound authentic, believable, and well thought out.

Where is your character from?
What is their ethnicity?

    I've grouped these two together because they are so closely related. It wouldn't be wise to name your native Kenyan hero Jake would it? And no matter how cool the name Aurelia sounds, there is no logical reason that the heiress to the Min Dynasty should be named as such.

What decade were they born?

    This one goes fairly hand in hand with our first two questions. Tiffani is not an appropriate name for the handmaiden of Cleopatra is it? And Helen of Troy's long lost brother is probably not going to be named Dwayne is it?

What is their personality?

    This one is more as a tip on what to do rather than one not to do. If your side-kick's most important aspect is their loyalty to the hero then you might find a well fitted name if you searched for names meaning 'loyal', 'loyalty', or 'faithful'. However if they are both loyal and hilarious but you think the Reader will enjoy their humor more than their faithfulness then you might try searching for names meaning, 'humor', 'laughter', 'comedy', 'friend', or 'funny'.

Is the spelling unpleasing to the eye?
Can you pronounce the name?

    I've paired these together too since they are so closely related. Sometimes a name looks very cool but isn't pronounceable. And sometimes if you slow down and sound a name out you can kind of find a way to pronounce it but it stills throws off the flow of the story because of it's... uniqueness. You have to find the sweet spot.

Do you have to take a mental breath halfway through the name?

If your main character's name or the name of a side character is King Shamalamadingdongmarshall then your name is too long. However, as Disney demonstrates, if your character's name is Princess Kidagakash Nedakh and she goes by Kida then that's alright.

Do a lot of your names sound similar?

    Alright, so you have twin boys born to a redneck, middle-school drop out who works at Jay's Diner. That's still no excuse to name them Billy and Bobby. Or Shane and Sean. It's even worse to do this to your older characters who eventually speak. Aside from being confusing to most readers, it's just cruel to anyone with dyslexia.

Is the name memorable?

    While I don't believe Twilight by Stephanie Meyer is a good role model for how relationships should be formed I do believe she knew what she was doing when she named her characters. Isabella Marie Swan. 'Isabella', with it's low vowels and tall consonants is pleasing to the eye. It has many nicknames and means beauty. The name 'Marie' goes well with almost any other name (Ex. Elizabeth Marie, Katherine Marie, Jeanie Marie, Stephen Marie, Derek Marie...) but it's also common enough many people relate to it. They immediately put themselves into Bella's place. And swans, while annoying as hell, have symbolism pretty much super glued to them; beauty, grace, etc...

Does it end in an 'S'?

    This one is not a big issue for me, personally. As a Reader, I don't ever notice if a character's name ends is an 'S'. But for some it can be a deterrent if there ever comes an instant when the character owns something (EX: In the Harry Potter series by J K Rowling there is a character named Seamus.  Seamus owns a wand. It's referred to as Seamus' wand.) I think the reason most people don't like names ending in an 'S' is typically when there is a long vowel close to the end of the name. Which would explain why Seamus' wand isn't awkward to say but Jacob Hanes' desk is. The last vowel you hear in the name Seamus is a short 'uh' sound but in Hanes you hear a long 'a'.

Does someone else already have the name?

    While Madonna has religious roots as a foreign name for Mother Mary the Virgin it will most commonly be associated with the singer/producer who has most recently borne her name. If you want everyone to imaging an aging, square faced bleach blonde singer as your character then feel free to use the name Madonna, otherwise, don't be surprised if you can't shake the reputation.

Check out these links to articles/blogs about how to name your characters!

http://writersrelief.com/blog/2011/10/how-to-pick-the-right-names-for-your-characters/

http://writers-write-creative-blog.posthaven.com/naming-characters-top-10-tips

http://www.niniehammon.com/9e-blog-for-writers/don%E2%80%99t-make-these-four-mistakes-when-you-name-your-characters/2065

Retrograde Heartbreak | October 13, 2015