*Today’s guest post is by author Chris Mandeville
How Do You Name Your Characters?
Some writers don’t worry much about naming. They slap a label on a character and run with it. Other writers dive down the rabbit hole and put excessive amounts of research, thought, planning and creativity into naming. I’m in the latter camp, so thought I’d share with you some of the things I consider before attaching a moniker to a new character. I don’t recommend you join me down in the rabbit warren—especially not during NaNo—because it’s far too easy to lose all sense of time and purpose while exploring the wonderland of names. Instead I offer you a few categories, resources, and suggestions to help you quickly choose the names you need and get on with the business of the story.
WARNING: once you go down the Rabbit Hole of Naming, it can be hard to climb back out. For safe exploring, always attach a lifeline — a kitchen timer or a trusted friend to rescue you at an appointed time should do the trick.
CONNOTATIONS
As far as I’m concerned, the primary consideration when selecting a name is the connotations that come with it. Unfortunately connotations are for the most part an individual thing. Take the name Charlie, for example. If that’s the name of your favorite grandpa, your best friend, or the family dog, you will have a much different feeling about that name than if Charlie was the bully who beat you up in the third grade.
So how do you get a handle on connotations if it’s such a personal thing?
Try to weed out the truly personal associations and look at the more general, cultural connotations. Take “Trump” for instance. Because of “The Donald,” most American adults immediately think things like tycoon, businessman, wealthy, powerful, mogul. The cultural connotations of Donald Trump are bolstered by the definition of the word trump: a card of a suit that outranks the other suits; to excel, surpass, outdo. Note that I didn’t put a “good” or “bad” value on it because not everyone likes Donald Trump. The good/bad connotation will differ from person to person (along with various other associations, like crazy hair), but the impressions relating to Trump being a business tycoon are fairly consistent.