Good Morning Readers! I have a book signing coming up next month, and wanted to share the whens and wheres. If you're in the Las Vegas area, I'll be at the Paseo Verde Library on May 17th.
With that being said, I wanted to talk about character names. I was having a discussion on Facebook about how do authors name their characters. I mentioned that with my Time Travel romances, it's easier to choose names because I can pull up old censuses. When everyone is named William or Edward, it makes it easy. Finding a less commonly used name requires going into the census of which ever year you're using, and even then, you can still find some more unique names. In fact, did you know Tiffany (Tifanie) was first used in the 1200s? In fact there's a name for that example: The Tiffany Problem. It's where modern names sound out of place in Historical settings, but they are actually accurate.
One thing I didn't see mentioned was are there any names authors stay away from?
I do tend to steer clear of any trendy names. I love the fun names we are seeing in kids, but I don't love a thirty year old hero or heroine being named something that's trendy with the 5 year olds right now. I'm not saying that there aren't thirty year olds named Bryxxtonn, but I don't think it's super common among the men I know.
I lean towards names like Kyle, Scott, Jason, Ryan...but not everyone is the same. What are some names you don't like seeing in books? And what are some names you've gotten from books that you love! Someone named their daughter after one of my characters and it was the most flattering thing I've ever heard! Have you ever done that? Let me know in the comments.
At my signing next month, I'll be selling paperbacks of the New York Empires series.
Hockey, Romance, werewolves...this series has it all!
Congratulations on the book signing and Good Luck! Names I hate most in books are the ones I can't pronounce and it makes it much worse, if there are other names that sound similar.
ReplyDeleteOh man, Fantasy Romance and Alien Romance...those are some tough to pronounce names!
DeleteI'm with you on the trendy names, unless there's one I just truly love. Then I just adopt it and pretend I'm the only person who ever used it. :-) The spelling are insane, though, aren't they? "Bryxxtonn" is going to be spelling his name for everyone he meets for his entire life! (I also have to spell Flaherty, which I don't mind because I really love my last name.)
ReplyDeleteIrish names are their own genre LOL But girl I'm Hunsaker...no one gets that one right on the first try!
Deletey mom named me after a character in a book she read while+ she was pregnant.
ReplyDelete