Apr
What’s in a name?
Hello everyone!
I’ve been thinking lately. Where do the names, or even titles for that matter come from? We’ve all seen or heard of very odd names for people. But as a writer, where did the name of your hero and heroine come from?
I’ll use my H/H from my first book as an example. When I was in the beginning stages, I knew that the setting was medieval Scotland. That helped cause I knew the location of where these characters lived, and a bit of history of the country was so useful! I had to be careful, cause I would catch myself studying names for an hour and not writing, or plotting anything for the book!
So I began to look up Celtic names. And boy is the internet chock-full of them! Some of the names made me lol. Like: Drostan which means the Noisy one. Or: Ginebra which means White as Foam! hehehe. Like I said, you can find names of all kinds on the web.
Who knows, perhaps to some people these would be the perfect names for their characters. I choose Tess as my heroine, and Aiden for my hero. Even if the names weren’t Celtic, not everything as far as names has to be politically correct. Tess is actually a Greek name, but it fit my shy, insecure heroine like a glove. Good thing too. But on the other hand, you don’t want the names so extreme that the reader is turned off by them. I started to read a book once by a world-known romance writer, but the heroines name was just so strange, hard to pronounce, let alone ignore in the book that I returned the book to the library unread.
So how about you…where did you get the ideas for the names of your Hero and Heroine? Or for the readers, tell us the strangest, funniest, or sweetest names you’ve come across while reading great romance. (It can be names for any character, even animals.) Have a good weekend!
Hero: Jonathan, as in Jonathan Crane in Batman Begins; Hart, because I wanted something soft that still is pronounced with sharp vowels, and Rader, because it sounds like Vader…and who could be more evil?
Hero: Kisahthoi is a Shawnee name. The ’sah’ is pronounced “th.” Wallingford is the name of a nearby street/section of town.
I’m pretty tired of Sebastian and Devlin. I have a name I desperately want to use but am waiting for the “right” hero. And no, I’m not telling! I’m hording.
April 13th, 2007 at 9:24 amHmm, I don’t really know where my names came from originally. My first hero’s name is Nathaniel, a name I’ve always loved. My heroine’s name is Angelique but she’s called Angel. I actually took both names from an old old story I wrote when I was thirteen or so and changed the setting to Regency and worked out more details *lol*
My second hero’s name is Jacob, just a name I like too. Then there’s Gabriel, another name I really like. I think I just pick names I like. Then I just make sure that they’re not unknown for the time period
For titles and surnames I usually do research on British names and estates etc. Then put something together.
Oh, and Nathaniel and his sisters (Jessica, Miranda and Hero) all have names from Shakespeare’s writings.
Gabriel and his brother Michael are obviously names of angels
Jacob.. um.. nothing.. he’s just.. well.. Jacob. The rake with daddy issues
April 13th, 2007 at 9:26 amThe funnist name I’ve read is for a dog, an ancient chihuahua. Marianne Stillings in her debut book “Damsel” named the dog Piddle.
April 13th, 2007 at 11:15 amNicholas (Nick)–always been a favorite hero name…means “victorious people”
Mia–my aunt’s name and I’ve always thought it was pretty…means “mine”
Like Emily, I pick names that I like. I also make sure that the hero and heroine’s names sound good together.
April 13th, 2007 at 1:55 pmGood topic, Michelle
Umm, I have been spent months and months thinking names for my
h/h.
Currently my hero’s name is Devon meaning -according to one name site - “black one or from the name of a county in England” I really like that name. My heroine has been recently re-named Annabel meaning, “Gracious and Merciful”, quite appropriate for what I had in mind.
Lacey, is Devon too close to Devlin? lol.
Keira, lol on the dog named Piddle.
Andrea, I love the name Nicholas aka Nick.
Emmie, *shakes head* Jacob and his daddy issues, I love him though.
April 13th, 2007 at 7:33 pmLets see…
Hero: Ashton Manning
Heroine: Lindsey Spencer
The last names were just spur of the moment. They needed a last name so I searched fitting names. The first names though, just sorta appeared to me. It was actually in a dream. The dream was playing out like a movie and I woke up and wrote the first names down. Since then that’s been their names. Sorry it’s not more glamorous.
April 14th, 2007 at 5:09 amI seem to like the names ending with ick. :). Garrick, Merrick, Erik….
I love all of the Irish and Scottish names, too. Last names are harder for me to figure out, unless I am writing a Regency, then I look in the Peerage book.
Keira, Damsle in this Dress is one of my favorite books~! Piddle was great having so much character himself. lol.
April 14th, 2007 at 5:18 am