On Naming Your Characters

Deciding on a name for your characters can be one of the most important decisions you make as a writer. Especially if you're the sort of person who considers things like meaning, origin, culture, history, alliteration and popularity of a given name in a certain year (remember how Bella notes immediately that names like Rosalie, Alice and Emmett are old fashioned unpopular names....first tip off they are vampires).

It's easy to learn the meaning behind a name by picking up a baby naming book or doing a quick google search and often a name can help give you some insight into symbolism behind your character or their role in your story. Sometimes we just like the way a name sounds...this was the case with Maggie Stiefvater and naming her wolf-boy Sam, it was all about the way she could hear Grace saying it and the emotion behind it.

Names can tell you a lot about a character...or it can say a lot about a character's parents...Hermione Granger for instance...though Hermione is the female form of Hermes, who is the Greek god og messages and communication...who always has the answers for Harry? And remember how she sends him the message about the basilisk when she's petrified...with a note in her hand... But beyond that, according to J.K. Rowling, she felt that Hermione's parents, well educated and working as dentists would have picked the name from a Shakespeare play...just because they liked it.

But whatever your reason for choosing your characters' names and however much symbolism you put behind it, one thing that's important to remember is that a character's name then becomes part of their identity and most likely at some point it's something they have given some thought to--at least once. I mean, how many times have you thought about your name and liked it, or hated it, or wondered about if your parents have given you a different name, or shuddered to think about the other name you almost got.

And since my name is somewhat unusual...I thought I'd give you the story behind my name and how it's affected me and yeah...ok...so technically I'm not a character...but the girls in the FNC all call me high-concept, so close enough.

Ok...here you go.

The story behind my name:

My full name is Frankie Diane Mallis...which I think you guys know.

It's baby book meaning is...Divine Evil Spear (ok so I played with that a bit, but its better than the alternative of Frenchman Divine Evil....yeah thought so). Now possibly if it turns out in some kind of loopy Stranger Than Fiction twilight zone thingy I'm actually a character that someone is writing a story about...quite possibly there is a very significant meaning to that...like I'm a divine spear...that's going to kill all evil. But...most likely....I'm not. And so...the baby name book interpretation doesn't do much for me... at least not on a day to day basis.

My name's origin...comes from my maternal grandfather Frank David Millman. So automatically this teaches you two things about me as a character....1) I was born into a family that honors tradition and values family and 2) (this isn't always necessarily the case but it is with us) My family is Jewish...and traditionally you always name your child after deceased relatives.

What else about origin...well I've partly been informed by my grandfather's legacy...he was a psychologist (if I'd pursued an actual career in psychology I'd be a third generation psychologist), and...he was a writer. He used to write mystery and detective short stories that were published in magazines. And...well I'm a writer too.

What about my parents...So we know where the initials F.D.M. came from...but I could have easily been Fiona Danielle Mallis, or Franchescha Deborah Mallis, or Fern Delores Mallis (YUCK). But luckily (Thank goodness) my parents went with Frankie...which is a totally unisex name, but most people seem to think it's still more of a boy's name than a girl's. It's also more of a nickname usually than a real name...usually short for Franchesca or Francis. What does this say about my parents? Mostly...they don't really care what anyone thinks, they have their own standards and do things their way and aren't guided by trends or the norm. Also they don't seem to like fancy...or Franchesca it would be. These things have kind of seeped their way into me and the way I live and make my choices...

So that's the background behind my name and you can start to see how its shaped me a little...but how has my name actually affected me?

A Girl Named Frankie

Icebreaker!
99% of the people I meet are bound to ask me, "Is that your real name?" or "What's Frankie short for?" or "Is Frankie you're nickname?".  Which I don't mind at all, answering this question is as normal to me as answering "I'm good, how are you?". What it does is it creates an instant ice breaker for me and anyone I meet. Blogger Natalie Bahm who I got to meet briefly at the SCBWI NY conference said I was the first extroverted writer she met and I really think its just because of my name. I'm used to socializing and making people feel comfortable around me because I usually can bond with people instantly...just over my name. People tend to feel like they can talk to me because they automatically have something to say:-)


But its a boys name....

So I kind of had a phase where I didn't like my name...maybe around age 4 or 5. I was convinced it was a boy's name and my parents needed to change it immediately. But...I was also convinced that the president had passed a law making it illegal for girls to wear pants and for an entire year would only wear skirts and dresses...don't ask.

But now I love it. However...it can be confusing for some people. I've had plenty of substitute teachers take attendance and not see me raise my hand and ask "Where is he?" and during one SCBWI conference when I took part in a group critique I had comments like "Wow you really can write girls well for a guy."

So I made the choice to use Diane professionally so just in case you didn't see my picture, you'd know I was a girl.

Ok time to wrap this up...my name overall has informed a lot of my values, but beyond the symbolism --which only the imaginary author writing my story cares about along with her small legion of obsessed fans--it's mostly had an effect on my personality and how I deal in social situations...I tend to be very outgoing, joke around a lot (which you have to do after youve been accused of having a boy's name) and I'm also pretty open with people---hey you learn all of what I just said about me within a minute of meeting me on some level or another.

So...how do your characters feel about their names? How has their name affected a part of their life? Beyond what the name means to you, what does it mean to them? How has it shaped their values or influenced the way they feel in social situations particularly if their name is incredibly plain and popular, or unusual, or comes with a unique spelling? I'd love to hear about your characters and their names:)