A Rose By Any Other Name, Might Not Smell As Sweet!

Many writers suffer when trying to name their characters, just as parents sometimes go to great lengths naming their children. Naming Baby books and other references are studied carefully months prior to the big day. Sometimes children get named after favorite relatives or famous people. Some people name their children after bodies of water. i.e. River, or Ocean. Some afer weather conditions. One way or another the child gets a name they have to take with them throughout their life.

The difference in naming characters and naming our babies is evident. A character’s name we can easily change with our word processing software. The names of our children are a little more difficult to change and doing so may be costly.

Even choosing an on-line name may take some people quite a while because they like to show some character traits in its structure. We’ve all seen those on-line names that sometimes give us a hint to the person wearing it. Devil_Woman or Satan-Boi are a couple of examples. I’m sure we could make them up all day long. Some are used for a long time and some get changed weekly.

Not so when we name our children. The child has to go through life with the label you created for it. The only way they may choose their own name is to reach adulthood and make a legal name change. That may cost quite a bit of money and usually requires the services of a lawyer.

Movie Stars who were born with one name are often renamed in the studios they work for so that their names are more marketable. A few examples are: Norma Jean Baker became Marilyn Munroe. Demetria Gene Guynes became Demi Moore and, Betty Joan Perske became Lauren Becall. There are hundreds of others.

Writers too have changed their names more often than movie actors because some writers will use pseudonyms for a variety of reasons. Samuel Clemens became Mark Twain and Voltaire was born, Francois Marie Arouet. Again there are many others and the reasons for it are legion.

Still other famous people became famous under their mother’s maiden name. Something to keep in mind when one marries. If your progeny become famous, their father’s name their mother assumed as a courtesy to her new husband, also becomes famous. Meanwhile, her family name dies in oblivion. William Arden became Shakespeare; Ernest Hall became Hemingway; George Bernard Gurly became G.B. Shaw, to name a few.

Today many women are keeping the name they were born with on marriage so that the loss of personal identity is not so traumatic overall.

But why are your character’s names so important?

I believe it’s because your character is part of your creation and that name is a tool to assist and move your story and plot along to its conclusion. Charles Dickens (another one who took his mother’s maiden name) was a master at naming his characters so that they enhanced his stories. What would “A Christmas Carol” be without Ebenezer Scrooge? Scrooge is now a common word on its own foundation to describe someone miserly.

Names can make an emotional connection or impression for and with the reader and, they can help develop the persona of your character. They help you fill out your creation. It’s akin to Freddy Small wanting his friends to call him Spike. Every time they do, Freddy grows an inch taller in his own mind.

Lucky for writer’s there are web sites devoted to the etymology of names, their history and meanings. It becomes a little easier to create your protagonist’s name to suit his or her qualities or vice versa with a little bit of research.

Creating just the right name for the people in your stories may make your stories more memorable as it did with those of Charles Dickens. It can also help make your story more marketable and that is what a publisher is primarily concerned with. If the story isn’t marketable they will not accept it. Publishers are in the business of making a profit like all businesses. It is their duty and reason to exist.

As a writer, aside from the creativity and enjoyment we get out of our designs, we too must make money. That is the business side of our occupation. Otherwise we’re writing for ourselves and sometimes we can be pretty easy to please.

Think of some of the characters you remember well from books you’ve read and think about why you recall them so easily. Their names stand out in your memory and with the name comes, “that somebody” behind it. Established writer’s didn’t just grab any old name off the wall and slap it on characters they took months to develop. Would Snowwhite have the same ring to it as Puregirl? Would Cinderella be as memorable if she was called Sweeper? I’m sure there are hundreds of characters whose names are well fastened in your memory because the author took the time to make it so.

Where to start? Well some writer’s get their ideas in the shower or doing the dishes or driving the car. We don’t know when the creative seed will sprout. All we can do is make sure it’s frequently fed and watered. Choosing the right name for your characters will show in the overall quality of your story and make it memorable to your readers.

I was sitting in the waiting room of a large hospital one day and every now and then a nurse would come out and call someone’s name. I sat there listening and making notes. I got several names for characters before I made my way home. I may keep the names as they are or change them a little to augment them, either way no one will sue me for it.

Lamentably, many people share the same name. Look yours up on the internet. All of a sudden you no longer feel as unique as you once were.

In conclusion, take some time and apply some energy to giving your characters their names. You’ll feel better about them and they’ll begin to feel much more real to you and to your readers.

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