22 April 2015

Some People You Know (and Their Names!)

**My theme for this year’s A to Z Challenge is THE NAME GAME. Everything you’d want to know about naming characters.**

There are plenty of places where you can find names for your characters. If you just look at things in your house—books, DVD cases, magazines—you’ll find an endless supply of possible names. But you may not even have to get up to come up with a name. If you had to make a list of the first names of every person you’ve ever met, how long would it be? You’d probably be sitting there for hours, right? So why not use one of those names?

This can actually be a bit tricky. If you think of a name and it just happens to be the same as someone you used to work with or was in your kindergarten class, you probably won’t have a problem. If it’s someone closer to you, it may be a bit harder. It depends on why you want to use this particular name. Does it have anything to do with the actual person, or do you just like the name?

If you’re actually trying to model your character after someone you know or have known (and it’s not a memoir), then it’s probably not a good idea to use their name. Unless, say, it’s your best friend and they’re totally on board. And of course, naming your villain after an ex can be extremely tempting. But it may be better to mold the character around the way the person behaves or things they have done, rather than using their name. 


On the other hand, first names should be pretty free to use. If it’s a name that everyone is familiar with, then it’s unlikely that you’ll get in trouble for using it. Especially if it’s somebody you don’t know anymore, or barely knew at all, and the character doesn’t actually resemble the person.

The problem for your character is that you have to separate who he/she is from the actual person whose name you’re using. If you don’t want this person’s personality traits influencing your character, it may be difficult if it’s a name that you automatically associate with someone you actually know. Try to think about why you want this particular name for this character. What does the name mean to you and how does it fit the character? Using a name that belongs to someone you know may not be the easiest thing to do, but if you really like a name, and it fits with how you see your character, go with it. 

WHAT I'VE DONE: Ok, this one's a stretch, but I do have a slight revenge based name. A minor character in UL, Brian, is very loosely based on a girl I used to be friends with (because teenage girls and boys go about things differently, so he really bears little resemblance to her). But I've kinda always had it in the back of my mind that he has the same last name as her. I don't actually use it in the story so I figure I can get away with it. But if anyone ever asks...

Have you ever named a character after someone you know? Did you just use the name or was the character like that person? 

18 comments:

  1. Well, there are a few names that are common enough (John, Jane etc) that people probably wouldn't think anything of it even if they were close to you. Hopefully. But anything slightly unusual, if they share a name with someone you know, it might raise questions. I think I'm totally of the "change the names to protect the innocent" school, especially with villains (maybe not so innocent in that case!)

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  2. I don't necessarily use names as revenge...well, sometimes, but more the character's personality.

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  3. So far I've not named any of my characters after real people. I've not modeled them after real people, either.

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  4. Yes, I will admit I have named characters after people I know or knew in high school. I only use a first or last name, never both. But it feels so good. *cackles* :)

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  5. I haven't named characters after people I know, but I have drawn them to look like them before, or taken their personalities.

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  6. I have used names similar to people I know, but I haven't actively used a name of a person and modeled the character after them.

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  7. I've never used names of people I know. I like to come up with something different. If I did though. I'd most likely change the spelling.

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  8. I hadn't considered revenge naming, but now you've given me an idea.

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  9. Sadly, I've done this several times by accident . . . don't ask me how that's possible. I named a younger, secondary character Helena, wrote the entire first book, gave it several revisions and self-published it and didn't realize that I had "named" her the same name as a young girl that our family knows . . .
    I've also used three other names that coincide with names of friends of my daughters . . . without meaning to . . . not using character traits or anything. I'm just used to those names and they were in the back of my head while I was writing. I've been trying to slow down my naming process and think it through more because of those instances.
    And my MC, Clara, has the same name as someone we know now - but when I first wrote the book, I didn't know her, so I decided that didn't count. Or, at least I hope it doesn't. agh.

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  10. I named a character for my cousin Allie. It made me love my character even more.

    Good luck with the A to Z Challenge!
    A to Z Co-Host S. L. Hennessy
    http://pensuasion.blogspot.com/

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  11. I never use names of people I know - I'd find it very difficult to separate them from the character! (This is also why I deliberately don't name any of my sims after real life people either). But I have subconsciously used traits from one of my friends for a character in my book - but I didn't realise how similar they were until after I'd written it!

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  12. I don't use names of people I know either. I don't think I ever considered it.

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  13. I actually do put characteristics of people that I know into my stories. What better way to get your moves right is by people watching....

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  14. That's funny. I guess authors do need to be careful. Unless the need for revenge proves otherwise. There's that saying about making authors angry....

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  15. I've used family and friends' names on very minor characters. Mostly, it's a little shoutout to them for their support. I did use two ex-boyfriends' first names for two bullies in Michael, Path of Angels. I was feeling slightly evil and thought it would make me laugh. It did.

    ~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
    Member of C. Lee's Muffin Commando Squad
    Story Dam
    Patricia Lynne, Indie Author

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  16. I know of one friend who used my name for one of her characters.

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  17. I don't use the name of people I know, not intentionally. I wrote a series of books with a character, then started a new job and found on the computer system a folder labelled with my character's name - exactly the same. I thought it unusual - obviously not!

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  18. I think I tried extra hard not to use names of people I'm friends with and then they all ask if their name made the books.

    Heather

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