Deep Pencil - the musings of Morgan Bell

"You will probably want to use dictionaries of names to help you find a name that conveys the right picture of your character . . . "

A Richard is different from a Dick is different from a Richie is different from a Ricardo. Sue is not Suzannah, Suzie, or Susan. We expect an appliance repairman to be named Danny, not Danforth, or Fred instead of Frederick. An attorney or stockbroker will more likely be Charles than Charlie, or Lawrence instead of Larry. We’d probably be more comforted to have a doctor named Eleanor instead of Muffy, or an airline pilot named Virginia rather than Brittany.

So where do you get names? You can turn to the phone book, but you’ll want to mix and match first and last names so you don’t inadvertently create a character that’s too close to home for some real person you’ve never met and who might be litigious. I once encountered a real person who had the same two names as one of my fictional characters, and it gave me pause. Using local surnames can add authenticity if your fiction is set in the area where you live. I often scour the obituaries because I use a lot of rural characters with long local lineages. “Baby name” books are great resources, especially if you have multicultural characters, though you won’t always find help with surnames. The Internet is an obvious and easy tool, and don’t forget your own imagination.

You’ve probably read not to have two characters in a book with names that begin with the same letter because it gets confusing for the reader. The same rule applies to names that may be spelled differently but sound the same like Jack and Zack, Mary and Terry, Sam and Tammy.

And if you want the reader to take your characters seriously, avoid alliteration. Mandy Mathers and Tim Thomas may be wonderful characters for a children’s story, but a little too cute for adult reading. Likewise, be sure that the combination of your hero and heroine’s names don’t sound silly together—Jack and Jill, Pat and Mike, Mark and Cleo