Anne here, and today the Wenches are answering the following question: How do you choose character names? Are they people you have met in your life, did you pull them out of a hat, or do you have some other method?
Pat said: Oh, wow, character names! Given that I have written over 90 books and each one may have a dozen new characters plus half a dozen from a prior book. . . my answer: with difficulty. Thank goodness there must be a million different names out there somewhere!
I like it when a character name just jumps out at me and settles in. Unfortunately, it tends to be one I’ve used before or is too much like one of the other characters or. . . My brain does not hold names well and apparently some stick better than others. Or I’ve written too many books.
So my most logical method is to keep a running list of names: see how many “A” names are on it, “B,” and so forth and determine if there are any letters left at all that I can look under. Then I pull out one of my trusty name books, depending on whether I want English, American, or other and start flipping pages. If that doesn’t work, there are also places online that can call up names popular in any given time period.
And then there were the Malcolm books where I was using Celtic gods and goddesses. . . Did anyone ever mention that naming a character is a creative pastime?
Christina said: I absolutely LOVE choosing character names! It is such fun and I can spend hours trying to find the right one for each person. They have to fit them and their personality, and it also has to be a name I personally like. (Names that I dislike I usually give the bad guys). At the moment I’m mostly writing Viking stories so obviously I have to use Norse names. I have a long list that I add to whenever I come across a new one and I try not to use the same one twice (although as Pat said that can become difficult when you’ve written lots of books). 
For my two Roman-set novels I had to learn the Roman naming pattern and look up suitable names, which I enjoyed. And my dual time stories are partly set in the present so I get to name modern characters too. For that I mostly use baby name lists on the internet, googling the most popular ones for the year/decade the character was born and their country of birth. I do love unusual names though, so I will go for obscure ones if I can get away with it.
One way of finding names for historical characters is to look through old parish registers and census records (you can see some of them online).
I did a talk about genealogy a while back and mentioned some of the more unusual names I’d come across while doing my family tree – see these photos. I think it goes to show that you can have any name you want but for me they have to fit the character.
Susan said: I take my time choosing names for characters. I love going through name books searching for names that express some part of the character to help me create them and the reader see them. Sometimes I’ll find a character’s name right away, and sometimes I’ll go back and forth trying names, like searching for a puzzle piece to fit. I’ve changed names sometimes mid-draft to reshape a character that isn’t quite working. At first, I used the baby-naming books I’d dog-eared for my babies (my youngest was in preschool when I first got published). My collection has grown since then, and I also draw names from historical documents, peerages, and so on. Because I write mostly Scottish historicals, I often research Scottish Gaelic names and rely on naming books such as Ainmean Chloinne, a favorite source.
One name that stumped me while I was writing Lady Macbeth: A Novel was “Gruoch,” the name history assigns her from an 11th-c. land grant. The name never sat well with me (I kept typing “Grouch”), and doesn’t appear otherwise in Scottish history. To me, it seemed like a cognate of her lost actual name. In my research, I came across a genealogy that included her son Lulach, briefly King of Scots between Macbeth and Malcolm Canmore. He had a daughter named Gruadh—similar to Gruoch. It makes sense in Celtic naming patterns for a child to be named for a grandmother and queen, and Gruadh does appear in Irish and Scottish myth. I ran my discovery past a university professor of Celtic and medieval history, who gave me a big thumbs-up and said I should publish it. I did—in fiction rather than academia; my Lady M is Gruadh, much easier on eye and ear!
Andrea said: My system for naming characters started as an inside joke. As most of my books are set in the Regency, I need traditional-sounding English names . . . and it occurred to me early on that where I went to college (Yale) had LOTS of buildings that were perfect! (Saybrook, Davenport, Branford, Pierson, Sloane . . . though I was very disappointed when my editor nixed Wrexham—she didn’t explain why—and made me change it to Wrexford, because Wrexham Tower is really very cool.) So I started using them for my heroes/heroines. But then I decided, “Oh, why not name my villains after Harvard buildings?” (Yale and Harvard have had a very fierce rivalry for several centuries.) My college friends thought this was hilarious, and egged me on.
I confess, I’m running out of buildings so I’ve expanded my choices by including neighborhoods in New Haven and Boston, as well as surrounding towns. I now have large digital maps bookmarked of both campuses and regions . . . I spend a LOT of solitary time in the writing room, so it’s one of the ways I keep myself amused. (Just FYI, I have not yet named a character “Handsome Dan” in homage to Yale’s bulldog mascot.)
Mary Jo here. Pulling names out of a hat is not inaccurate, though it’s probably more true that a name has to fit the character as he or she exists in my mind. I’ve found that I can’t really write about a character if the name feels wrong.
When I was writing my first full length historical, Dearly Beloved, I had real trouble coming up with the hero’s name. I chewed on it for some time, then suddenly the name “Gervase” appeared and for whatever reason, it fit him. After that I was able to get moving with the story. I’ve had similar experiences with other characters.
It’s more complicated when doing the set-up for a series, particularly since I that point I hadn’t yet worked out the stories for the characters. For example, my Rogues Redeemed series started with five condemned men getting drunk in a Portuguese cellar. Two of the characters, Will Masterson and the mysterious Gordon, had been introduced in my previous Lost Lord series, but I came up with the names of the others while they were working together to escape the cellar.
Two of the other three men, Hawkins and Duval, kept those names when it was time to write their stories, but the third man, whom I had called Chantry, didn’t fit that name when it came time to write his story, Once a Laird, which was the last book in the Rogues Redeemed series. I hadn’t known he was Scottish when I started the series, but a Scot he was so he became Ramsay,
Finding the correct name is a rather magical process, part of the alchemy of creating characters. All I can say is that I know the name is correct when it feels right!
(Anne interjects to say that all the books in Mary Jo’s Rogues Redeemed series are currently at a very good price ($1.30) on Amazon kindle.)
Anne: I’ve used a variety of methods of coming up with character names. For my second book (Tallie’s Knight) my hero was initially named after some champagne I had been given (Carrington) but 
my editor informed me Lord Carrington was a current member of the House of Lords, so I had to change it. She also asked me to change the hero’s name (which was Marcus at the time) as “We’ve had quite a lot of Marcuses recently.” So even though my book would not be out for another year, I changed it to Magnus. Then, for his surname/title, persisting with the wine theme, I moved on to a favorite red wine from the d’Arenburg winery, but it sounded a bit too German so I changed it to d’Arenville which sounds French, but could also have been of Norman origin. After that I gave up on naming characters after wines.
For Christian names I generally use fairly common and popular names of the era. For surnames these days, I often use Georgette Heyer’s method of naming characters after English villages, and sometimes I visit the Peerage.com and search the surnames. But I always do a google search in case they are currently real people or actual historical figures. I have very occasionally used a living person’s name — usually a pleasant minor character, and a good friend, but in general I can’t use real (living) people as it interferes with the story.
But for both first names and surnames — particularly first names — it has to feel right for the character. Again using my second book as an example, I started with a heroine named Serena, but she was irritating — too much in control of herself and not terribly appealing. So I experimented with other names, and looked through ancient Greek and Roman goddess’s names, as they were reasonably popular at the time. I came up with Thalia, shortened it to Tallie, and she instantly popped into life, quite different from Serena, and was the perfect heroine for my rather buttoned-up hero.
So that’s it from the wenches. It’s clear that while we each have our own methods of finding names for our characters, the common link with all of them is that the name has to feel right for the character. And before we finish, I’ll just pop in another set of actual names that Christina has found in her searches.
What about you — do you have any favorite names? List them here and maybe one of the wenches will use them in a book.
What a fun post! I enjoyed reading all of the Wenchly methods, but I have to admit that Andrea’s Yale and Harvard names made me laugh.
Thanks, Kareni — yes, I think we all loved Andrea’s brilliant and fun naming method.
Yes, I also think Andrea’s naming method is hilarious! And some of those Puritan names, both men’s and women’s, are just nuts. Of course, back in those days, they didn’t have to worry about spelling them out to people on the phone!
Mary Jo’s comments about needing just the right name for a character were interesting. I guess it has to do with the creative process and how it works from the subconscious mind. Definitely guessing here because I’m not creative!
Susan, maybe those puritan names were more common and the people so unfortunately named were in similar company. That said, it seems to me that only females were given that kind of name; the males still had the more classic make names from the bible.
I think a few of us said that the name for a character had to be “right” and there’s no “rule” for what makes it right, just an author’s instinct. And yes, it’s definitely part of the creative process.
What a fun and interesting post! Naming a character is just as difficult, I think, as deciding on a name for a newborn child, but it can be a fun process as you have all indicated. I love hearing about how and why a name was chosen for a character in a book.
I think it very clever, Andrea, to use the rivalry between Harvard and Yale as a way if naming heroes and villains. Not typical names for characters and a fun way if doing it!
Another way of finding names for characters I have read about is using place names, depending on the location of your characters or where they are from. Just looking at a map can provide all sorts of interesting names! What amazes me is how a name can reflect a character, thejr personality, their moods, their strengths, weakneses.
There are so many names that I like, ordinary ones like James, John, Andrew, Phillip, Alexander, but then there are the less common ones like Marcus, Gervase, Rupert, Maximillian, Reginald, Archibald, and fun ones like Aloysius, Humbert, Cosmo, Mauritius. Naming js an art and as you all have said, it has to fit and when it does, the character really springs to life.
Thanks, Jane — yes I think a lot of people have trouble choosing a name for a newborn, especially since the child’s personality hasn’t yet emerged. Friends of mine took more than 18 months to settle on a name for their daughter, with the result that she now has four names.
I have also used the names of small English villages for some of my characters, a strategy I borrowed from Georgette Heyer. I remember when I first saw the village of Stanton-Lacy, which was the surname of The Grand Sophy — it was an eye-opener.
I hope it doesn’t take as long to name your characters! 🥺😊
Yes,, the same thing happened to me when i visited England. Names of characters from books kept popping up in names of villages or country houses we visited,
especially from Heyer’s novels. I have just finished Frederica by Heyer and discovered that the hero (Alverstoke) is named after a villlage in Hampshire not far from Portsmouth. She must have had fun picking out names from a map of England(or maybe she was familiar with the area?).
No, my characters don’t take as long as that. LOL. But finding the right name for a character is part of recognizing who they are.
Love this post! When I was writing my Face Down mystery series, I had a huge list of names in use in 16th century England and crossed them off as I used them. Some real ones (Philadelphia, Dowsabella, Euphemia, Ethelreda) were quite a surprise. For last names I occasionally resorted to taking a look at the books on the shelf above my desk and borrowing an author’s surname. Maine placenames were useful, too.
Dowsabella? Really? Oy, poor girl who was named that! 🙄😊
Yes, and it’s always the girls who get saddled with stupid names, isn’t it?
Thanks, Kathy — isn’t is almost always that it’s a female that gets saddled with a peculiar name! I confess I have also resorted to borrowing names of authors on my bookshelf, but only for minor characters.
An interesting and fun read. Loved hearing how you picked names. Thank you for the link to the peerage. I’ll have fun going through that!!
Thanks, Teresa — beware the peerage site! *g* It’s a real rabbit-hole.
How interesting (as always)! I love Irish names – well, American Irish so I know how they’re pronounced. When authors use “different” names I always wish they’d include a pronunciation guide.
Thanks, Jeanne, I’m with you on finding some Irish names difficult to pronounce. I suppose I need a guide to Irish Gaelic spelling.
Using the Yale and Harvard buildings is a hilarious idea-you can always move on to other Ivy League schools, or Cambridge and Oxford buildings!
Thanks, Karin, yes, that’s a possibility. I did briefly consider the buildings that are part of Melbourne University (where I attended) but the names are all associated with people whose history I know a bit about, so for me it would interfere with the character coming to life in my brain.
My major peeves as both reader and editor are names starting with the same letter, names that rhyme, etc. This wasn’t such an issue when I had phone books to flip through and moved on to other letters once one was used, but way too many writers are not paying attention. I got stuck in a book with a Laura and a Louise and couldn’t tell one from the other without a cheat sheet. Things went better when I changed one to Emily.
The worst offender last year was a mystery writer who had 7 characters with names starting with “R” — including the hero. It was just too easy to figure out the killer. Her editor was asleep at the wheel.
The best way out is divide a paper into 26 squares, a letter in each, and once named, retire the letter. It’s hard for epics, but at least make an effort! 😉
Avoid mentioning Tolkien. Someone always does, but he was wrong. I stumbled over Sauron/Saruman for years!
Oh yes! In fact it was even worse when I was watching the Tolkien movies it was difficult to figure out which one they were talking about! Made me crazy…..
Thanks Jane — oh yes, it’s worse when you have to listen for the difference, and it’s not clear.
Oh I quite agree about the problem of using several characters whose names start with the same letter— in fact it’s one of the first things I teach new writers. As well, I occasionally get confused with names that start with different letters but have the same sound, or “feel”. It’s a tricky business.
That mystery writer was clearly trying for a feature, and probably talked her editor into leaving it as is.
I am certain that writer was wholly unaware of the problem. It was a debut novel, so she wouldn’t have any clout with the editor–who was asleep at the wheel.
Even long time pros fall into that pit, giving same letter names to the most important characters. One of them had four “M” names–of course the killer was on that short list. Yikes.
I enjoy writing and discovering names. Generally, the names come from baby name books or lists I find on the internet. One day, my husband challenged me to come up with names using one of his D&D books and a D20 die. The book had sections for different nationalities and time periods. I chose the period, then started rolling. For the most part, I liked the names, and several were included in stories. I haven’t started rolling for various attributes yet.
Thanks, Pamela — it’s fun discovering a new method of finding names for characters, I agree. Not sure the D&D source would be good for Regencies, though. *g*
This makes me think of a library question we had once. A woman called, saying she had just had her baby girl, and didn’t know how to spell the name she chose. The librarian searched for several hours (this was before the Internet), looking in every baby name book – circulating and reference, encyclopedias of biographies, whatever she could check. She finally called the patron back, saying she couldn’t find the name, and asked where the woman had heard it. The response? “Oh, I just made it up!”
Oh, that’s brilliant, Becky. I think making up names is becoming more common, and spelling conventions are also being ignored — or are unknown. A friend who is a teacher once had a new student with an unfamiliar name listed. “Is it Nickyoni?” she asked. “No,” the mother said, “it’s nice one.”