Some have said naming a character is like naming a kid. Seems extreme to me. If you screw up a kid’s name you don’t have to live with that. I don’t have kids so my characters are more important by default. Kids or no kids, naming characters that you’ll be spending a lot of time with is important. Looking back at HOST I would’ve liked to have spent more time with character names, but at the same time I think they fit. The characters have embodied their names and given them a voice that I couldn’t imagine changing.
Tim and I chatted about this in an episode of Writer Syndrome (it’s below if you like audio stuff) and how we picked or came to our character’s names. I had plucked some names of friends as nods to them, others were placeholders that grew on me. Elliot Bishop was a mashup of two fictional characters (Elliot from Mr. Robot and Bishop from the movie Sneakers). Aaron Blackwell, my boy scout FBI agent, last name is a hockey player’s (who’s brother I know and worked with). The name stood out to me, and could be played good or bad, but wasn’t too harsh like the character. LiLo (pronounced Lie-Low which also makes sense for the character), my rogue hacker, was a mashup of Linux Loader. Jake aka Jacob, my MIT wise-ass buddy of Elliot’s, I wanted his name to stand on it’s own, it’s short, sweet and fits his sharpness. It was also the name my dad gave the character as it’s my cousin’s name. Family nod, it stuck.
There’s a lot of ways to name characters. Names can be tied to themes, be a symbol, or even a foreshadow, or have some profound meaning that fits the characters journey. I think that’s all great but only if it serves the story and character. For me, making sure the name fits the time period, is one I’m ready to spend a lot of time with, and is easy to pronounce / read, is important. Adding a name that has some hidden meaning is secondary. Making sure the name fits the genre and doesn’t distract but lures the reader into the story is important. You can’t seek to create something memorable, you just have to do it and let time decide.
We get into much more about naming characters in EP58 Character Names on Writer Syndrome. Check it out!
