The hubby and I haven't been lucky enough to have kids (for those of you with kids, give them a hug from us, they truly are a blessing not everyone receives). Before we came to the realization that hey, it may never happen, we spent hours, days, months dreaming about baby names. I'd research the meaning (in several languages) of each name, probing into the history, thinking about short forms and whether or not kids may tease them about that name (my niece is called Luna which is a very pretty name except people call her Loonie).
All that research has been useful now that I'm writing for publication (when I was writing just for me, all my heroines were named Kimber and my heroes had my hubby's name).
Some characters name themselves. I didn't even realize that Tavos (from Flawless) was a name until my character stood up and introduced himself. Then I quickly researched it and yes, someone somewhere in the world is named Tavos.
Some characters try on several names before they find one just right for them. Hagen (from Invisible) was originally named Hayden but he really didn't like it. It was a little too… well… sissy for him (characters, like real people, have some strange ideas about what is masculine and feminine). He would wince every time I called him that. Eventually (I'm not always quick on the pick up), I got the message and tried different names.
Some character names are derived from jokes. Marie teases Jack (in Indestructible – releasing in April) about doing… jack all. Jack may or may not (I'm voting for may not) be his real name.
With secondary characters and baddies, I often have fun with the names. If I'm writing a story about the Russian mafia (Nik's story – not yet published), I'll use the Russian words for bad man or stink breath or… as their names. If you know Russian, you'll get a chuckle out of it. If you don't know Russian, you'll wonder how Kimber comes up with her names.
Readers, what are some of the prettiest/nicest names you've heard? Authors, how do you decide on a great name for your character?
Every month, Kimber Chin gives away her fave romance eBook read the month before. For more details, go to http://businessromance.com/ .
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1 comments:
I make out a list of possible names for my characters, then ask my daughters which ones they like. I give them some story background and bios about my new characters. I also ask my friends which names they like the best. I look through the names on the social security site to see which names were used a lot in the birth years of my characters.
And I'm like you in that I try several names on a character before making the final decision.
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