Name Problem

I would change them, even if just slightly. For example, Aly could become Alice, Callie could become Cassie. I know what you're saying about their names being perfect for them, but maybe just a small change wouldn't make much difference, and would avoid readers getting confused?

I'd keep them. If the names are perfect, the names are perfect, and it shouldn't matter how they sound. If your name was Aly, and your best friend's name was Callie, you wouldn't tell her to change her name because it didn't sound right. I've never had this problem before, but I say that if the names fit, and the characters are different enough in their personalities, it shouldn't be annoying to the readers. The only thing that annoys me is when you can tell that the author put too much time into thinking of characer names and that, to me, makes the story less believable.

I've had this happen before and I've changed one of the names. With Callie and Kelly you really need to. They're almost identical in sound. Aly could probably use a change too.

Laura Wattenberg's marvelous The Baby Name Wizard suggests the following "sister" names for Callie: Allie, Josie, Maggie, Bess, Abbie. It suggests the following "sister" names for Kelly: Kimberly, Stacy, Shannon, Kerry, Robin. Maybe those will give you some ideas for similar-feeling names that don't sound alike.

ETA: I have substitute taught in classes where it seemed all the girls' names were some variation on Kelly: Callie, Cailie, Kelsey, Chelsea, etc. You're probably plugging into what's hot right now in naming trends, but keep in mind that you want people to read this book a few decades from now (presumably) and not think "fifty-year-old woman" when they read the name Callie. I'm sure you also want readers to be able to keep your characters straight, which I was never able to do with a classroom full of Kelly-clones.

Moon Daughter said:

B) Have you ever had this problem?

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Yes.

A) What would you do?

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I changed the names.

Yeah, maybe they're "perfect" but the agent/editor/slushpile maven skimming your work will trip over the names and get confused and toss it aside.

I'd change the names. If you're going to trip up readers (remember agents and editors will be the readers you really don't want to confuse) than it's not that perfect. Of course, I constantly change my character names on accident. Halfway through my manuscript I realize that Margret has somehow become Megan or Julie morphed into Julia in chapter 10. I guess you could say I'm flexible with some names and not others. Aly you can keep, but you have to choose which of the other two to keep and which to change. It would be a bit confusing and possibly annoying as a reader. Personally, I'd keep Callie and change Kelly just 'cuz I like that name better. No matter what, I wish you the best of luck!

Change the names. You will find other perfect names that don't sound exactly alike.

I finish writing the book then do a search and replace for the names I'm going to change.

Do what you need to do to write the story--then do what you need to do to edit/market it.

If more than one person tells you the same thing about some problem, including names, listen.

I kept ignoring friends' comments concerning a *perfect* character in my first book.

When the fifth reader in a row said the character stopped the book cold and dragged it into a black hole of boredom, I cut the character from the story. No one misses her. I sold the book.

Names are the same way.

:editor's hat on:

I'm tired, cranky, and my eyes feel like sandpaper marbles from reading slush all day, and I've just opened your submission.

Before me are three near-identical sounding names, and somehow I have to summon the energy to tell these characters apart. Two have identical sounding first letters: K and a hard C, and all three end with a Y sound.

I like the story, but after a phone exchange with the author, I find she is too attached to the names and would rather lose an advance check from me than change two of them.

I wonder what those characters would say to her?

:tosses submission and picks up the next:

Petty? Maybe, but that reaction told me all I needed to know about the writer's level of professionalism.

I've had to change names too. It's not like root canal with no happy juice. Just grab a phone book and start flipping! You'll find much better names.

This happens because characters in a story are extensions of the writer's mind, the mind likes order. Similar sounding names, names all starting with the same letter are the result. I've seen this again and again, often pointing it out to multi-published authors, who are shocked they let it pass unnoticed. It's happened to me plenty of times.


How to avoid this problem in the future:

Divide a page into 26 boxes, put one alphabet letter in each.

As you name a character, print it in the appropriate first letter box. Remove that letter from your naming list.

If you have an Adam, you can't have an Abby or Alphonse. They sound different, but you've used A up!

Karen and Sharon? Um, no. Don't go there.

Perry and Carrie? Run away.

Now go have fun. What names would your characters pick for themselves?

I knew a gal named Louise. It was perfect for her, but she renamed herself Raven because she wanted something more exotic in her life. She's not gotten her mom to call her that, but has retrained all her friends.

Maybe your characters have a dream name, too.

Change them -- the last thing you want to do is confuse the readers. If enough of your beta readers tell you that, then change them.

YOU may think they are perfect, but only you -- the writer -- know they're perfect. The readers don't. All they care is that Ally, Callie and Kelly sound silly together and they don't mean anything to them. They don't sound perfect to the readers, and the readers have the final call. Let go of your writer's ego and listen to your readers, unless you don't care if they say, "oh this is stupid, they all sound the same."

Yes, change them, for all the good reasons stated above.

View it as the improvement that it is... you'll find the right replacements and be thrilled in the end.

I'm already confused....Change them.

Only if there is a reason for them to rhyme do you keep them.

Example in my finished work I have a set of twins named Kerri and Terri.

For twins this is common and more accepted.

maestrowork said:

YOU may think they are perfect, but only you -- the writer -- know they're perfect. The readers don't. All they care is that Ally, Callie and Kelly sound silly together and they don't mean anything to them...

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Quoted for truth. For heaven's sake, change the names. Sure, in real life you might have two friends named Jennifer, and you'd never ask either one to change her name...but your novel isn't real life! You're in control!

Trust me, no one reading your novel will be thinking, "Hmm...this chick Sandra...she really seems more like a Kelly to me. What was that author thinking???"

(Spoken as one who has changed names I loved with tears in my eyes.)

--Q

Change them.
I have three A name characters, Aki, Angela and Amanda, Angela and Amanda are twins and their names were on purpose, but I know they can't stay the same.
When I rewrite, Amanda is going to be nicknamed Mandy and Angela is going to be nicknamed Ella, even if the names are perfect, you shouldn't confuse your readers.

Moon Daughter said:

Ok, I have three characters that have names that sound similar: Aly, Callie and Kelly. I didn't even realize this right away. People have told me before that I should definitely change them; however, their names are PERFECT for them,

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The names a PERFECT for them in your estimation. Probably not so for very many readers. To me, they all sound pretty valleygirlish. I'd recommend changing two of them to something less alliterative and echoy. You don't want your readers throwing the book across the room because they have trouble keeping characters straight on account of confusing names.

caw

superman skivvies said:

I'd keep them. If the names are perfect, the names are perfect, and it shouldn't matter how they sound. If your name was Aly, and your best friend's name was Callie, you wouldn't tell her to change her name because it didn't sound right.

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They are not real live personal friends, over whose names you have no control. They are characters in a novel, over whose names you do have control.

caw.

DeleyanLee said:

I finish writing the book then do a search and replace for the names I'm going to change.

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DeleyanLee said:

Do what you need to do to write the story--then do what you need to do to edit/market it.

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I suffer from names starting with the same letter and would spend countless hours I could be completing my WIP racking my brain for different names that suit my character. Now, I flow with the name that comes to mind and worry about changing them during my rewrites. It is hard to let go of a name you believe suits the character but I treat it as I treat the chapters or characters that doesn’t move my story alone and send it to my Perhaps Another Story folder.

I finish writing the book then do a search and replace for the names I'm going to change.

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That'll probably work fine with your names, but sometimes global edit and replace can be distastrous. I had a character named Mark once and wanted to change it. I even forgot to tick the "complete word" box... yeah, I ended up with some pretty interesting new words! It was a lot more work to undo the damage!

blacbird said:

They are not real live personal friends, over whose names you have no control.

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Oh, but they are. I'm sticking by my original statement. I'd keep them.

After merely browsing the other replies, I'd say I'm one of the very few people who'd say keep them as you like. If the characters are well developed enough, the reader won't keep confusing their names. (And this is coming from a person who is dreadful with names.) People don't tend to confuse their own friends' names. (And when I was in high school I hung out in a group that had a Michelle, a Rachel, another Rachel, a Diane, and a Dianne!) If you can get the reader to know these characters as well as they know their friends, the names shouldn't be confusing. And truthfully, even though "Aly" rhymes, there's no way I'd confuse it with Callie and Kelly.

Depending on the context/tone of the story, the similarity of the names might be kind of comical. Without knowing anything about your characters or their relations or the plot, I find the similarity kind of cute, like these are three very close friends, so close their names are almost alike! Maybe that's even why they became friends! Based on your post I can't even tell if they ARE friends. So if that's not the feeling you're going for, you might want to modify them.

I can't speak for any difficulty you might face with readers who DO get easily confused, or with publishers...sorry. Just my opinion. *shrug*

Oh. Me? I have similar names all the time. If I like the name, I just keep it. My current WIP has Makwaquae, Mishimakwa, Mishosha, Mishupishu, Michinimakinong, Michinimakinak, Manabozho, Maanaabiziiquae (sic?), I can't even remember all the M names... (My excuse is most are taken from mythology so nyeehh!)

I once changed the name of a character using the search and replace facility. Unforutunately I forgot to tell it to change whole words only so 'Mark' became 'Marcus' but 'market' became 'marcuset' and 'remark', 'remarcus'!

When I got it sorted Marcus suited him much better. I've changed names mid stream several times and you soon get to know your characters by their new names.

'market' became 'marcuset' and 'remark', 'remarcus'

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Hahaha! Glad to see I'm not alone! (although mine wasn't Marcus, it was Milon.)

Leave them the same, but you could allude to it in your story (assuming it's a light enough story to allow for humor) and make a joke of it.

I usually don't worry about names. If someone who wants to publish me asks me to change a name, I'll do it, but until then I'll leave them as is. I doubt an agent is going to toss your manuscript to the side just because a couple of names are similar.

Change them. You probably won't get to publish with three such similar names, and the sooner you change their names, the sooner you'll connect to their new names. I had to change a character's name VERY late in the game -- just before publication -- and it's murder for me to remember what to call him, some days. (This was for a different reason, but the same principle applies.)

It's good to think about this as early in the process as you can. The project I'm outlining now had three characters with longish names starting with P. "Had." Two of them already got new names.

tehuti88 said:

Oh. Me? I have similar names all the time. If I like the name, I just keep it. My current WIP has Makwaquae, Mishimakwa, Mishosha, Mishupishu, Michinimakinong, Michinimakinak, Manabozho, Maanaabiziiquae (sic?), I can't even remember all the M names... (My excuse is most are taken from mythology so nyeehh!)

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Not to be mean, but oh goodness. Not only do they all sound similar, all start with similar letters, but they're all non-English sounding. And pardon me if I ask, was that published? Or do you really think you can get that published?