Naming Your Characters (Blog #8)

When you name a baby you’re taking a real chance, because you have no idea how the little tyke is going to turn out. We all know people whose names seem to belong to someone else. When you name a fictional character you have no excuse for getting it wrong because you should know him better than the members of your own family. The names you choose to give your characters should suggest certain traits, social and ethnic background, geography, and even things that have yet to occur in your story. Charles Dickens was so good at this that some of his characters’ names have become generic personality types – think Ebenezer Scrooge. The names you choose will have a strong influence on how your readers will respond to your characters. – from “What If?” by Anne Bernays & Pamela Painter

For this week’s blog I’d like you to think carefully about character names, and give a full name in your response to each of these 5 characters:

1.      A petty, white collar thief who robs his boss over several years.

2.      An envious, bitter woman who makes her sister miserable

3.      A sweet young man too shy to speak to an attractive woman he sees every day

4.      The owner of a fast food restaurant who comes on to his young female employees

5.      A grandmother who just won the lottery

Examples

1.      Robin Blackstone

2.      Mona Livids

3.      Tod Humboldt

4.      Lenny Salsa

5.      Nana Shimpkis