How Do You Name Your Characters?

Jane Doucet, whose second novel entitled, Fishnets & Fantasies, about a married couple in their late 50s who open a sex shop in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, wrote a post on her LinkedIn account about how she named her characters. One of my friends sent me the link as she says I am the only other person she knows who does it this way!

In her post Jane says this, "Because I originally envisioned my second novel, Fishnets & Fantasies, as a TV series, each character in it was inspired by a Canadian actor, which helped me "see" and "hear" them. I used the actors' real first names, then chose a South Shore surname for each one from stone monuments like this one to Lunenburg-area fishermen lost at sea." You can see her entire post and the stone monument she used to choose her character's surnames by clicking the link below.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jane-doucet-3768268_novels-novelwriting-novelist-activity-6752223184948367360-cj8E

Just like Jane, I find it extremely helpful to be able to "see" my characters. However, I always name them first and have a basic idea of what they look like before I search google for actors/models or random people on Stock photos, etc until I find the person that I just feel looks like them. You know how parents often have their baby's name picked out but come prepared with a few backup options just in case when they meet them, they just don't look like a Kate or Tyrell? That's what I do too. I search until I find a picture of a person who just suits their name and personality I have written for them. I then use that picture to be able to have a face to a name while I am writing. It helps me write that character as even more believable. I am not an artist so using a picture of a real person is my only option.

FOR SURNAMES: For surnames of my main characters I almost always search my own family tree for these. There are a lot to choose from and I love having my family represented in everything I write.

For surnames of supporting characters I often open an old fashioned phone book to a random page and run down the list of names on that page until I find one that fits well with the character's first name or just one I think sounds really cool. Since paper phone books are now much harder to come by I still use the "random method" for the surnames by opening an email or a random website for the first surname to jump out at me. If that fits with my character, I use it. If not I continue on until I find one that just feels right.

FOR FIRST NAMES: My favourite part of any story are the characters that drive them and so to me, first names are extremely important. Before I name my main character I decide on their personality, basic appearance, role in the story, etc. I also think of the genre of the story and its target audience. For my fantasy novel about dragons I chose the name Piper, for my main character, an 8-year-old girl. Piper is a name I love and she just felt like a Piper to me. It also felt right to me that her sisters' names begin with the letter P as well and were a little less traditional (so not Patricia or Paula for instance). I chose the names Paisley and Palais. Many people have commented that it is not advisable to have three characters' names begin with the same letter but I am not changing them. Many parents choose names that begin with the same letter for their children. And just like parents of a new born baby, these characters ARE Paisley and Palais. I cannot envision them with any other name.

For my children's picture book, Alison the Astronaut, the main character's first name was after my eldest, Alison, as the character is based on Alison's love of space and desire as a young child to be an astronaut! Her mother's name is Margaret which is Alison's middle name. Her father's name is Bill, short for William, and one of the names we had chosen to name a son.

For another novel I am working on (I have so many ideas but not enough time to finish them) I have a family of five sisters. In this case the name of the youngest sister just came to me - Abby, short for Abigail. In most families I find parents choose names that "go together", either all traditional or all trendier or all rarely used, etc. and so since this little girl's name was Abigail I felt that they would use older names for all of their girls and so I have Evelyn, Madeline, Alice and Anna as the sisters.

The dystopian novel I am working on is based in a society where your astrological sign rules your life. My main character's family is against this, but forced to abide by the rules to avoid the tragic consequences. I knew that my main character and her brother had to be named something that allowed the family to slight the government without consequence and so my main character is a Scorpio named Gemini and her brother is an Aquarius named Leo.

Using name generators is another option. I used one called Behind the Name and it came up with these names for me:

Sung-Min Landau

Chisomo Ely

Shun Voclain

Thato Jedlička

Michi Mac Cormaic

How do you name your characters? Please comment below or head to my Facebook Group Character Corner and let us know!