Picking character names is sometimes easy and sometimes very difficult. I once wrote a story in which all the characters names started with the same letter – newbie mistake but the weird thing was someone had to point it out to me. Duh.
When we name our own children, it is often a unanimous decision or a heavy debate between family members and parents. I had four boys and we used a lot of names from family history so it was easy to decide on the ones they ended up with.
But fictional characters, although our children as well in a sense, need a name that is easily accepted by the readers — not always easy an easy task. There are online sites where you can find all kinds of name lists. Baby books have name lists .But will the names resonate with the readers?
I am working on a new series and, after the journey through two series, I now have to come up with a whole new set of names for my characters. This series takes place in a fictional town in Quebec where I live. So, to give readers a more authentic feel for our province, place names and character names need to reflect our linguistic duality. But my books don’t just sell in Quebec and my audience is mainly English readers. If I use French names, I have to pick ones that others will understand and be able to read. This often gets complicated. So, I try to pick more familiar ones that my readers have possibly heard of. However, not all the men can be Pierre and the women Marie! The other option is to make life easier for the readers by adding a pronunciation guide at the beginning of the book. For me, I find that can slow down the readers’ entry into the story. So, making judicious choices is important.
Some one has pointed out that my two heroines to date both have names that end in y – Bailey and Hilly. Therefore, I am trying to decide on a non-y-ending name for the main character in this new series. I am working on other name ideas but I keep coming back to Lacey! Another y-ending name. Am I in a rut?
How do you deal with this dilemma when picking names? Any name suggestions?
