I think an interesting question would be how people come up with the names (of course, it's probably been covered here). I use names that fit the personality of the character's voice that I hear in my "mental ear" and I'll also look up the meanings of the names for major characters to see if the name suits them. I use the "Character Naming Source Book" which is a great resource, as well as various baby naming sites online. And I want names (for the main characters especially) that fit easily in the mouth and roll easily off the tongue. JMO
Liam Matt Lenny Harry (My rabbits name too) Zechariah Dean Zeb Marty Alex Nathan Nathaniel (One of my favourites and have used for minor characters too) Jeff And many more.
Female:
Beth Sharin Leena Fran Deana Sharlie And a few more.
Jackie-boy, short for Jackson not a nickname for John (in my current WOTF entry) Brian Pantroth (My constantly ongoing WIP) Merrin Kaa (Ditto) Nemin (Ditto) Faldran (Ditto) Max Sam Tom Eric Nebi/Ben Wulfgar Jake Ganth Cody Groth Johnny Oberon Braga Rygar Percigul Ernie Dmitri Kenth Jig
Female: Tam Hattie Mae Sybil (WOTF entry) Ashiva (Constantly ongoing WIP) Sabrianna Mistaya Samnae/Sheriti Corrin Virginia Natasha Sarah (<--I think this is getting as common as Jack)
Male: Will (I think this is overused, so I've been trying to steer away from it lately. Possibly due to the influence of the Susan Cooper's excellent series.)
Glen (For the astronaut) Jonas Jake (Seems a bit phony to me, but what are you going to do)
(the following are all childhood friends) Daniel Ryan Aaron
Female: Celinda (Inspired by the title of the celistine prophecy which I saw in a bookstore. Really.)
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George Railroad Martin mentions in his Dreamsongs collection that the series characters he read that stood out for him all had great names. He mentions Nicholas van Rijn, Conan, Sherlock Holmes, Mowgli, Travis McGee, Horatio Hornblower, Elric of Melnibone, Batman, Northwest Smith, Flashman, Fafhrd and the Mouser, Retief, Susan Calvin, and and Magnus Ridolph. To which he added his own Haviland Tuf.
Of course they were also larger than life, as well...
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MALE Albert Andy Asklish Berens Brandon Canthius Casternack Clate Corck Enfarad Heldrick Hilt Kelmerane Kierkaven Lester Pandir Patch Ross Tommy Wellen
FEMALE Ana Artemina Asania Bess Chridis Dora Estrienn Gloria Holly Jessica Katie (Katharine as adult) Kishana Luna Needa Tracey Valanqua Vandelise (Lise for short)
[This message has been edited by rickfisher (edited February 18, 2008).]
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Is it just my imagination or are there waaaaay more male names than female names? Is it an indication of more male characters or just an accident? It really stood out to me the more posts in this thread I read.
For me - I have a preference for A names for females (both ending and beginning)
quote:Is it just my imagination or are there waaaaay more male names than female names?
It's your imaginination.
However, there ARE more male names, significantly more. It's definitely a trend. In some of the lists it's very obvious, in others it's quite close or equal; but on average, definitely more males.
In my own case, it would probably balance out except that in my "Cloaks" series the bad guys (or, more correctly, the characters who come from the bad guys group, whether they are really bad, good, or indifferent) are all male, because that group can't have female children. (They're human, but genetically engineered in a number of ways, this being one of them, so they need to find regular women to mate with.)
There's definitely a bias, though. Even in books that have strong female lead characters, a preponderance of the other characters seems to be male. However, compare it to SF from 50 years ago. And compare that to SF from 20 years before that. That earliest batch of writers didn't even seem to know that women existed.
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A passing comment about Hillary and and Hillary Clinton reminded me how linking a name to some real person or fictional character often kills it for me until I can come up with a good change of name...and it's really hard to come up with something somebody else hasn't used somewhere...
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Males: Thor Zakry Kevin Rikar Izykk (y-k syndrome ) Izak (same character, different spelling) Prestyn (for some reason I like y's) Dave/David Hal Elias Evan Gemmin (I now realize this one has real pronunciation problems)
Female: Rose Bryony Olwen Tania Tanaia (dropped it because it sounded too much like 'denial') Anne Hannah Shyla Susan Phlynn (er, yes . . .) Lisa Dendy Daria Alexis
(I'm sure there's more . . . Lots of unfinished stories and story set-ups in the old files . . . )
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