Tips on Naming Characters in Your Stories

My banner, which hangs on my sales
table at book sales. It needs to be
revised to include my two latest 
picture books written in Spanish!

 By Linda Wilson  @LinWilsonauthor

            A one-minute Google search titled "How to Name Characters in Fiction" will tell you everything you need/want to know about naming your characters. Thanks AI. Here are some tips to keep the names in your stories personal.

Story Magic: Make your Story Names Come from your Heart

            The names of characters in your stories are meant to reflect the world you've created.

            

Children: Pinpoint your story's time period. For ages 8-to-12, a search for children born in 2013 comes up with popular boys and girls' names. Once you decide on a name, consider making it unique. In my chapter book series, my character's name is Abi, derived from Abigal or Abby.

Adults:  After your Google search, parents and grandparents' names can be reassuring, like Mrs. Clark and Dee Rainey. Giving your colorful characters' names a twist is where the fun comes in. Such as a teacher named Mr. Wormwood in my current work in progress, and the name Thistletoe for my packrat character, that hints at a holiday story without using the term "Christmas," in order to include all who celebrate the holidays.

Pets:   Google popular pet names and make a list of pets you know. The name of the border collie in Secret in the Stars is, you guessed it, Star. In Secret in the Mist, coming soon, there are three horses. A horse named Tulips honors a horse I once knew; a horse in the 1800s is given the enduring name, Faith; and Rebel is a horse that lives up to his name.

Settings:   Much of the setting for the Abi Wunder series is fashioned after my home and neighborhood in Purcellville, Virginia, where I once lived. Not far from Washington, DC, at the time we lived there Purcellville was rural, though since then unfortunately the area has been taken over by development. But at the time, across the road from our house, we had a beautiful view of a grassy hill, which bordered on West Virigina. The small pond near our house, where tall cattails and swamp grass grew, and a lone bull frog lived, gives rise to the marsh in Secret in the Mist. The three stores in the tiny town of Round Hill just down the road from our house is the backdrop for the museum in that story. And Leesville is named after the town of Leesburg several miles away.

Back Matter:   Here is an opportunity to give some background about your stories and where the names you've chosen come from. Information about 4H and encouragement to join can be found in the back matter of Tall Boots, and the Spanish version, Botas Altas, sanctioned by 4H, which included the use of the 4H logo and an encouraging quote from the 4H Interum Department Head at the time the book was published. The back matter in Waddles the Duck encourages readers to feed ducks healthy food for water fowl, instead of bread.

        Whatever you decide to name your characters and settings, if you create names from research, your life, and your imagination, your stories will be meaningful not only for you, but for your readers, too.

Some of the most fun I have in
writing for children is meeting
people like this young man
who let me punch is big, fat
turkey belly during a holiday fair.
 

Linda Wilson is the author of the Abi Wunder Mystery series and

other books for children. Her two new releases are the Spanish versions of Tall Boots, Botas Altas (2024), translated by Graciela Moreno and Adriana Botero, and of Cradle in the Wild, Cuna en la Naturaleza (2025), translated by Adriana Botero. You'll find Linda on her Amazon author page, on her website at LindaWilsonAuthor.com, and on Facebook.

  

When Naming Your Characters, Use the Whole Alphabet

I recently read a book where eight significant characters (which was a good percentage of the significant characters) had names that began with the letter A.  To make matters more confusing, it was a fantasy book, so many of the names were not familiar to us.  The worst combo was Avem and Avarum.   I constantly had to stop and think about who was who.

My mom was just telling me about a book where almost all the main characters had names four letters long, including Lena, Luna, and Lisa.

We, as writers, know our characters very well.  We know who they are and how they fit in and we would never confuse Avem with Avarum or Lena with Luna.  But our readers don't know our characters so well.  They may have only spent a few hours with them, not weeks and months and even years.   And trust me, some of our readers WILL confuse Zola and Zora or Fur'langye and F'galen.

So, here's my challenge:

1)  Sit down with any short story or novel you're writing and make a list of all the significant characters.  Bonus points if you also list any minor character who appears more than once.

2)  Analyze the list.  Look for names that start with the same letter, names that rhyme, and other similar-sounding or similar-looking names.

3)  If you find two names that are too similar, change one.  "Wait!" you may protest, "I can't change their names.  That's like changing who they are!"  I know it's hard, but do it anyway.   You do NOT want your readers to have to stop and think about who is who every time a character comes into a scene.  You want them to stop and think about your mysteries or your characters' inner struggles or that particularly beautiful piece of writing they just read.  The sooner you change the name, the sooner you'll get used to the new one.  It sounds hard, but it'll be okay in the end.

4)  In your next novel or short story, use the list as you start naming your characters, so you don't have to go back and change anything later.

So, when can you let similar names slide?

-If it's really important to the plot or characterization

-If the names are distinct enough.  For example, you might leave Dr. Turgenev and Tom alone, because they're quite different, but if you have Trent and Trevor or Carol and Cheryl, change one.

Melinda Brasher's fiction appears most recently in Leading Edge (Volume 73) and Deep Magic (Spring 2019).  Her newest non-fiction book, Hiking Alaska from Cruise Ports is available for pre-order on Amazon.    

She loves hiking and taking photographs of nature's small miracles.  

Visit her online at http://www.melindabrasher.com

Creating Character Names - Ol’Whatshisname!

by Valerie Allen

When naming your characters it’s tempting to give your friends, family, or coworkers a chance for their 15 minutes of fame. Before indulging in the name game consider the the following implications that names reveal about characters.

1. Names have implications such as: status, education, religion, place of birth, heritage, culture,  sex, age, etc..

2. Short names with hard sounds such as Max, Kurt, Nick, and Zena are often used for the bad guys (or gals).

3. Two syllable names and two part names are typically used for children or to portray child like qualities: Bobby, Cathy, Jimmy, Lulu; Sally-Jean, Bobbi-Jo, Jimmy-Ray

4. Single names, multiple names, hyphenated names, and initials imply importance: Cher, Madonna, John Philip Sousa, Frank Lloyd Wright, Gertrude Hart-Taylor, Charles Miller-Wright, FDR, JFK, MLK

5. Names can indicate ethnicity:  Maria, Juan, Collin, Eileen, Anthony, Lisa, Nigel, Gretchen, Vijay, or Abdul

6. The spelling of a name can imply age or character traits: Smith vs Smyth, Elizabeth vs Lizabeth, Rose Ann vs Rosanne, Lisa vs Liza vs Lissa, Carl vs Karl

7. Names must fit the theme or time period of your story, such as, biblical, Civil War era, Native American, science fiction, European, aristocratic, etc.

8. Names often reflect popular public figures or famous families during specific time periods: Franklin or Eleanor, Elvis, Shirley (Temple), Douglas (MacArthur), Amy (Carter), Chelsea (Clinton).

9. Nicknames are typically used for extroverted characters: Barb, Liz, Bill, Joe, Rick. They can also be used to reveal characterization:  Shorty, Babe, Honey, Slim, Hot Stuff, Tex.

10. Use only one common name (Jim Jones) and only one exotic name (Theodora Ginasia-Peacock) per story.

11. Use unique names for each character, not: Jack, Jim, Jon, or John in the same story, nor Mary, Marie, Maria, Marla, Maureen.

12. Last names follow the same rule, do not have: Jamison, Johnson, Jenson, Jepson in the same story.

13. Use caution with names that have special significance such as, grandfather/father/son, Sr./Jr., The III, use of family names as a first name (Fulbright, Hathaway), unisex names (Taylor, Parker, Madison), flowers (Azalea, Buttercup, Lily), gems(Ruby, Pearl),  and nature (Summer, River, Plum)

Helpful resources for character names are The World of Baby Names, Character Naming Sourcebook, and the US Census of Common Names.

Readers make associations with names based on their unique experiences, however, stereotyping is alive and well. Who do you picture when you hear the name Bertha?

Valerie Allen writes fiction, nonfiction, short stories and children's books. (https://Amazon.com/author/valerieallen) She assists writers with marketing via Authors For Authors  in warm and sunny Florida. Meet the Authors Book Fair in the Fall and the Writers' Conference: Write, Publish, Sell! in the Spring. Vendor tables and presentations encourage networking and marketing to increase book sales. Book Display options are available for authors throughout the USA. Valerie loves to hear from readers and writers! Contact her at: VAllenWriter@gmail.com and http://AuthorsForAuthors.com


MORE ON WRITING

The Lazy Way to Be a Great Writer

Developing Dialogue

Avoid These Common Mistakes in Creating Characters for Your Story