Character Naming Sourcebook
Feb. 1st, 2008 08:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sanalithAs many of you know, I have been and eternally shall be obsessed with names and their meanings. This is just a part of my personality that has been with me for just about as long as I can remember. I've been collecting baby name books for years, and you can always tell when I'm about to start writing something (either an original story, or a fic that calls for an original character) because I will be sitting on my bed surrounded by ten naming books. I've also been known to learn about the personalities of my friends and co-worker - as well as myself - through the meaning of their names. I'm not into astrology and I could care less what your sign is, but I'm huge on knowing name meanings. Go figure.
Anyway, the latest installment in my collection is the Character Naming Sourcebook by Sherrilyn Kenyon, which is the first name book I've ever seen that specifically deals with how to name story characters rather than your children. Obviously, the vast majority of the book is comprised of names and their meanings, but her introduction was so incredibly interesting that I had to share.
Also of interest is the arrangement of names. Pretty much all of my other name books simply go in alphabetical order from A to Z, with one section for males and another for females. This book is organized by origin, and *then* subdivided alphabetically for men and women. This is to make it easier for authors who know they need a Scottish or African name, and don't have to sort through ever single letter to find them. This is highly interesting for me.
A lot of what the author talks about when it comes to naming your literary characters is rather self-explanatory. Pick a name that fits your character. Don't name your demon hunter Susie Sunshine. Don't start all of your characters with the same letter. (I'm particularly guilty of this one). Make all the names "sound good" - let them roll off the tongue. Similarly, don't use names that readers can't easily pronounce, or their reading will be halted every time they come across it. Etc., etc. But some of this was put in such an amusing way that I couldn't help but laugh.
For example, one of her most interesting sections was on getting your characters to match their settings. This is especially important in historical fiction, but it should be heeded in pretty much every genre. For example, if your story is set in medieval Japan, your main character's name should not be Percival Ignatius Stutterbridge. This is clearly NOT a Japanese name, and your readers will be confused. If you *must* use this name for your character, have a good explanation, like he was shipwrecked on his way from England to...somewhere else. >.>
Also, when it comes to names, be smart and do your research, but don't be *too* smart. Using the previous example, suppose you became an eminent Japanese historian and discovered that Percival Ignatius Stutterbridge was actually a very common name in medieval Japan. (Go with me here.) You still shouldn't use it, because, quite frankly, your readers won't believe you. They want traditional names and they're not interested in your intellectual knowledge. They want the fantasy.
Speaking of fantasy, the rest of the introduction was spent on how to tailor your characters' names to the genre of your story. You would not, for example, use the same names for a historical romance and a futuristic sci-fic war chronicle. Again, this is not exactly rocket science, but it's really interesting to have these things all pointed out together.
Something that I honestly never thought about was to keep abreast of the current most popular names. Kenyon noted that at the time one of her books came out, her main character shared the same name as about 20 other main characters in other books. That just happened to be the "it" name of the times. It's important to make sure your characters stand out, otherwise the reader will start to confuse your book with someone else's.
In the end, this is really just a long way of saying how excited I am to add such a unique name book to my huge collection, but I'd also recommend it for people who tend to have troubles with naming their characters. It'll give you a lot of good tips!.
Anyway, the latest installment in my collection is the Character Naming Sourcebook by Sherrilyn Kenyon, which is the first name book I've ever seen that specifically deals with how to name story characters rather than your children. Obviously, the vast majority of the book is comprised of names and their meanings, but her introduction was so incredibly interesting that I had to share.
Also of interest is the arrangement of names. Pretty much all of my other name books simply go in alphabetical order from A to Z, with one section for males and another for females. This book is organized by origin, and *then* subdivided alphabetically for men and women. This is to make it easier for authors who know they need a Scottish or African name, and don't have to sort through ever single letter to find them. This is highly interesting for me.
A lot of what the author talks about when it comes to naming your literary characters is rather self-explanatory. Pick a name that fits your character. Don't name your demon hunter Susie Sunshine. Don't start all of your characters with the same letter. (I'm particularly guilty of this one). Make all the names "sound good" - let them roll off the tongue. Similarly, don't use names that readers can't easily pronounce, or their reading will be halted every time they come across it. Etc., etc. But some of this was put in such an amusing way that I couldn't help but laugh.
For example, one of her most interesting sections was on getting your characters to match their settings. This is especially important in historical fiction, but it should be heeded in pretty much every genre. For example, if your story is set in medieval Japan, your main character's name should not be Percival Ignatius Stutterbridge. This is clearly NOT a Japanese name, and your readers will be confused. If you *must* use this name for your character, have a good explanation, like he was shipwrecked on his way from England to...somewhere else. >.>
Also, when it comes to names, be smart and do your research, but don't be *too* smart. Using the previous example, suppose you became an eminent Japanese historian and discovered that Percival Ignatius Stutterbridge was actually a very common name in medieval Japan. (Go with me here.) You still shouldn't use it, because, quite frankly, your readers won't believe you. They want traditional names and they're not interested in your intellectual knowledge. They want the fantasy.
Speaking of fantasy, the rest of the introduction was spent on how to tailor your characters' names to the genre of your story. You would not, for example, use the same names for a historical romance and a futuristic sci-fic war chronicle. Again, this is not exactly rocket science, but it's really interesting to have these things all pointed out together.
Something that I honestly never thought about was to keep abreast of the current most popular names. Kenyon noted that at the time one of her books came out, her main character shared the same name as about 20 other main characters in other books. That just happened to be the "it" name of the times. It's important to make sure your characters stand out, otherwise the reader will start to confuse your book with someone else's.
In the end, this is really just a long way of saying how excited I am to add such a unique name book to my huge collection, but I'd also recommend it for people who tend to have troubles with naming their characters. It'll give you a lot of good tips!.