N is for Names

Dear Names,

I have always had a fascination with you.  As a teenager, I studied names.  A lot.  I could tell you the origin and meaning of soooo many.  (N is also for Nerd, and yes, I am a giant one.)  When it came to naming my kids, my hubby and I picked ones that we loved, and yes, my children have names from Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, but they're names I adore with great meanings behind them. 

Character names are so important, too.  They're part of the characters' identities--sometimes the name helps define a character, and sometimes the character helps define the name.  When it comes to naming characters, I have three primary ways of going about it:

1. The character waltzes up and introduces himself/herself.  It doesn't matter what I think of the name; they are very insistent that this is them and I can just get over it.

2. I pour over baby name sites until the right name hits.  I oftentimes know what letter the name should start with, so I'll hunt through the E names until I find the right one, or whatever other letter it is.

3. Depending on the story/character, sometimes it's just "throw a name and see what sticks."

When a character is named, most of the time it doesn't change.  There have been a couple of exceptions to this.  For example, when I first began plotting out my current novel, Rising, I was sure my character was going to be Alphonso.  I was like, "Ooookay, that's the name you want, fine."  Then, as I started to get a glimpse of his personality, I realized that he was very different than I thought he was going to be, and that Alphonso was a little too much for him.  So he became Alphonse.  It suited him much better. Amazing what changing one letter can do. 

Sometimes, there are themes.  In my 2009 NaNo* novel, I had the family with six girls, and they all had names from Greek mythology.  In my 2010 NaNo novel, my character also had a name from Greek mythology.  Fortunately, it was just one girl this time.  It was a little different, though, because she was named after a male figure.  (I may have a thing for mythology, okay?)

*NaNo is short for NaNoWriMo AKA National Novel Writing Month. It happens every November. More things that start with N, woot!

Once, I named a character from a street sign.  Well, twice, but the second time was unintentional.  I had searched high and low for the right name for this character, finally found one on a baby name site that fit, and then realized it was the name of the street on my corner.  I should have just been looking at street signs instead of the baby name site and maybe I would have saved myself some time.

All in all, dear names, I really enjoy the process of finding the right one for the right character.

Sincerely,
A Name Nerd


*How do you name your characters?  What do you think of names of characters you read?  If you're reading about a character with a name you hate or love, does that affect your thoughts on him/her?