On the naming of characters

[winter]

I'm trolling babynames sites, and there are such a lot of names that are just begging to be used in fiction. Aldona, Indré, Frauke, Berenika, Larissa - why don't they appear more often? It seems like anyone writing, say, HP fic uses the same three names all over again. Why not have a Nicodemus Malfoy, Theodosia Black, Malvina Weasley? Dare to leaf through that baby names book, people ;)

NaNo news: Part 9 and another Interlude - tape transcript this time. I'm a little behind, but I'm damn proud of Part 9 - it might not look like much, but it's the first time I've written an almost 5K-word action scene that actually has action in it. Normally, I can't write action at all.

Four hours until Vampires. Mrr. Krolock 4EVA.

Comments

[muzivitch.livejournal.com]

Maybe its because I don't write HP fic, but generally when I'm writing original fiction or putting original characters in fanfiction, I want to use a name that's more common.

It's possibly because I don't write fantasy, though. I think when I'm doing modern fiction, I have to be careful to make the names more realistic: would two American parents in the 1970s name their daughter Berenika? Perhaps, if there's a family history for that name, but in my head something like Abigail is more likely.

I do agree that I keep seeing the same names over and over again, though - not every protagonist needs to be named Michael or Elizabeth. :) I think I named the love interest in last year's defunct NaNo Ezra.

[winter]

What I mostly meant is fandoms like HP, with canonly used old-fashioned names from various traditions. And yet the most adventurous that people get when naming OCs are traditional British names like Marjorie, because apparently Sky Raven Cloud is much cooler *eyeroll* Same for most fantasy fandoms without set naming patterns, really. Say what you want about Star Trek: DS9, but at least they used old names like Kira, Odo, Jadzia or Dukat instead of coming up with apostrophe-laden monstrosities.

When writing Americans, you do have the dual excuses of heritage and the long tradition of people finding some word and deciding it sounds cool ;) If they could do it with Madison (and in droves at that), why not with an actual name?

And then there's the crowd that names themselves, like just about every person younger than a hundred in my NaNo :) I haven't yet touched on that, but all those Damiens, Alyssa, Virgil, Carmilla etc definitely didn't get them from their parents...

[muzivitch.livejournal.com]

Ugh, Madison. I've always hated that name. ;)

It's partially a personal preference with me; characters are in some ways my babies, and I can't imagine giving them a name I wouldn't want to have myself. Therefore, I tend to be traditional with my names.

It's funny how names give you a feeling for the kind of story you think they'd be in: a Mackenzie or a Madison, for instance, screams chick lit to me. I'm more likely to name a character Sophia or Anna.

I haven't yet touched on that, but all those Damiens, Alyssa, Virgil, Carmilla etc definitely didn't get them from their parents...

I think Alyssa might be more common then you think. I've known five, and they've all gotten the name from their parents. Its a fairly accepted variation of Alicia and Alison.

[winter]

I know - I've known one Alyssa myself - but my Alyssa's real human name was Jo Mackenzie. The first thing she did as a vampire was threaten to tear the throat out of anyone who called her that ;)

Names are my greatest trouble with characters - they tend to name themselves, really, but first I need to try on every name in the book. Hence the trolling of baby names sites. I once spent three days trying to name a walk-on in Once Upon A Time In Mexico before settling for Renarda. Bloody characters :/