I’ve
discussed some names I chose for my books in Write a Western in 30 Days; here’s a snippet:
‘Screenwriters tend to steer clear of
names that begin with the same letter or are homophones. I’ll never understand
why Tolkien settled on two villains with the names Sauron and Saruman! So, try
to avoid naming characters with similar monikers or even with their names
beginning with the same letter.
‘While in real life you might know three
or four Daves, Johns or Mikes, fiction isn’t the real world, so take it easy on
the reader and don’t introduce unnecessary confusion and only use a name once.
It’s not as if there aren’t enough to choose from.
‘One place to research names is on the
Internet. Decide on the character’s nationality and key in first names for that
country. You’ll be surprised at the amount of choice offered, together with
meanings. Another place is the Dictionary of First Names or equivalent
books; just make sure that the names you choose are contemporary for the
period.’ (pp89/90).
Going
back to real life, it’s hard to comprehend why some parents will inflict outlandish
names on their children.
Recently,
a judge in Valenciennes, France decreed a couple could not name their daughter
Nutella because it’s the trade name of a spread.’ Now, if their surname had
been Spread, perhaps, it might have worked…
New
Zealand’s births, deaths and marriages department has a list of banned names,
among them Majesty, Queen Victoria, Lucifer and, believe it or not, Mafia No
Fear. Any parent wanting to saddle their child with that last moniker really
ought to wake up with a horse’s head next to them!
Iceland
has a Personal Names Register, listing 1,712 male and 1,853 female permitted names.
Rejected
names in other countries include Anus, Monkey, Superman, Scrotum, Terminator,
Burger King, Virgin, Hitler and Megane. Germany bans the use of surnames as
first names, and they must be gender-specific; Malaysia bans the use of
animals, fruit and vegetables as children’s names; Portugal has a 41-page of
banned names and doesn’t allow contractions, such as Tom; Morocco would reject
Sarah (Hebrew) but accept Sara; most Arabic countries insist on Arabic names.
So,
if you’re going to create a foreign character, make sure the name is
appropriate; but do strive to avoid the cliché options.
Amazon COM
Amazon UK
My wife, a crime fiction fan, was just saying she would not read a novel with a female character named Andi. Not gender-appropriate maybe, and too fussily self-conscious.
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