What is in a Name?

Shakespeare wrote, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” But, personally, I agree with Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables who says. “I don't believe a rose would be as nice if it was called a thistle or a skunk cabbage.” This week I’ve been searching for the “right” name for a character. One that fits who he was and who he is. And, like one person said on Facebook, “Are we supposed to like this character, or not? I wouldn’t want to waste a good name.”

Now, I know when choosing a baby’s name, the parents aren’t giving the child a personality too. Chuckie can be the little kid in Rugrats or the creepy doll, though if you think of Chuckie as a creepy doll, you probably won’t call your baby that, right? And if the mean girl in high school was named Veronica, you might have trouble naming your baby Veronica, no matter how much your husband loves the name. Likewise, if you find out that Heather was the name of your husband’s ex-girlfriend, you probably wouldn’t name your child Heather, either, even if it was your favorite name for ten years.

So names are important. And difficult to choose--even with a baby naming app. When naming characters, I don’t want to confuse a reader with names too similar. But what happens if I have given two characters similar looking names and need to change a name? A character in future Sarah Cameron books has a name similar to a character in the first two. Oops. The future character had his name for about fifteen years, but I had to change it. Or change the minor character’s name in the first two books. Changing a character’s name is hard for me. Somehow, the character’s entire personality is wrapped up in those letters. Maybe that’s because the only visual one has of a written character is their name and it is the name that is required to conjure up an image in the imagination. So, changing a character’s name is as difficult for me as changing one of my children’s names. But, sometimes it has to be done.

If you happen to be a writer--or not a writer, but still have an opinion on the matter--how do you choose a name? I have tried the random feature of my baby naming app, but ended up with a strange name that I had never heard of nor could I pronounce. Not helpful. So how do you go about the naming of characters?