The Name Game

One of the challenges we face as authors is coming up with the perfect name for our characters. After all, not onl do they have to suit the individuals who populate our stories, but we also have to be concerned that we don't reuse our favorite names.

A lot of us us have spreadsheets where we keep track of not only the hero and heroine of our stories but also all the secondary folks that populate the towns and villages and cities we create. You'll find us looking up baby name sites, asking friends, even looking at old phone books...but recently I've  found an amazing resource! I mean...how can I resist names like Saram and Sybilla. But the remarkable thing is that I've found family going back literally to the 1400s. I know the names of people who lives 600 years ago with whom I share DNA. Blows me away. I don't know if any of them were famous or rich or if they lived in hovels and ate gruel twice a day to keep body and soul together, but there's something outrageous and unique about knowing the name of my great great great great great great grandma.

Next I want to start doing more research and see if I can find other references to these folks. Anything at all would be fascinating. Maybe they owned a little plot of land or fought in a battle I studied in school. Or invented somethingwonderful, or terrible. Maybe they had fifteen children and they all lived to adulthood. Maybe they were convicted of a crime or stood up for a cause and saved lives.

Or perhaps I won't find anything at all, but this is how we authors get lost in research, where one thing leads to another. I thought I'd use a name or two in honor of family long gone and am now trying to find out all about these people. My aunt Nancy's birth first name was Queen Anne. She wasn't a queen, just the only daughter in a houseful of boys and the youngest...and somehow that made my great grandparents so happy they named her Queen Anne. I only wish I'd known that when she was alive to ask if she knew why, but I think I know why she changed it to Nancy when she married her first husband. She must have taken a lot of teasing as a little girl!

Naming characters is part of the job, but it can sure set us off on a journey. If I find out anything fascinating, I'll let you know, and I think for now I won't use any of these names. Not until I get to know the bearers better. It just seems more respectful that way.