Fictional Names

Have you ever read a book or watched a movie, with a strange feeling that a character’s name just didn’t work?

The name of a fictional character is no accident. Naming an imaginary person can be almost as difficult as naming a real-life person, involving name books, internet searches for meanings and saying the name aloud and in different tones to ensure it sounds right.

The character’s name helps to form an image in the mind of its creator; for example, if a girl called Ebony teased you at school, you’re likely to think of that as your character’s enemy’s name. If your favourite boy’s name is Jack, you might use that for your book’s hero.

It is also important that the name conjures the same image in the minds of your readers. How do you ensure that? I don’t have the answers, unfortunately, but here are some of the do’s and don’ts for naming fictional beings, from other sources:

• A name gives a sense of the character’s personality, the plot of the story
• Nicknames can give us an insight into relationships between characters, by determining who uses which name. But if other names are not used well, having two names for one person can create confusion.
• Two characters with similar names, derivatives of the same name, or beginning with the same letter, can also create confusion.
• Sometimes a background character doesn’t even need to be named.
• It’s important to consider the origin of a name, its ethnicity and its meaning.

All this is worth keeping in mind as I work on my manuscript for a junior fiction novel. I have Roxy Jones, Mika, Nell, Bill and Lisa Jones. I wonder what hints you can gather from those names.