“What’s in a name?” Juliet poses in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. What IS in a name?!
Does it make a difference? Is Han Solo truly better than Harold Sole? Did George Lucas intimate anything about Han when he used “solo” as his name? Of course there is Chewy so perhaps not but I still think the thought has merit. But back to my topic.
Do you, as a writer, give more than cursory thought to your characters names? This is not a minor part of writing. Think of how many characters appear in any one book. Seldom are there only two or four and there can be dozens. Each has to have a moniker.
I clip head shots from newspapers, magazines, any source I find them. When I begin a book I choose pictures for my major characters. Sometimes a name comes to mind on the instant of visualizing a character. That is rare for me so I have resources I turn to when confronted with a nameless character. Since the name's meaning is as important as the sound of it, to the right of the my computer I have The Writer’s Digest Character-Naming Sourcebook and on my shelves: Secret Universe of Names, Names Through the Ages, Beyond Jennifer and Jason, Name Your Baby, Origin and Signification of Scottish Surnames with a Voc. of Christian Surnames, 20,001 Names for Baby
There are also some very interesting web sites involving names.
Behind the Name The Etymology and History of First Names (English, French, Spanish, Irish, Biblical, Mythological and more)
Behind the Name The Etymology and History of Surnames (English, French, Spanish, Irish, Biblical, Mythological and more)
Meaning of Names Look on left side for link to Boys names, girls names even dogs names and surnames
What matters to you in or about a character’s name? What resources do you use in choosing a name? How do you name them?
