Similiar sounding names in novels

TwentyFour · Jan 28, 2007

Does it bother an editor/publisher/agent?

Several names in my novel sound similiar.

Ex. Denny, Maggie, Robbie, Davey

Should I rename most or half of them?

Christine N. · Jan 28, 2007

My biggest problem with similar sounding names is that it makes it hard to keep the characters all straight. Like Maggie and Mary or things like that. I don't know about the -ie sounds, but read it out loud and see if it bugs you. I usually choose different sounding names so I don't get myself confused.

Right now I'm reading HERE, THERE BE DRAGONS, by James Owen. The story is good so far, but there's a character John and one named Jack. That's rather distracting, because I often find myself confused. They haven't yet distinguished themselves as unique in my head, so I have to page back and remind myself which is which, especialyl during action scenes where the pacing is faster.

Just food for thought.

san_remo_ave · Jan 28, 2007

I wouldn't imagine that those similar names you list being a problem, unless every single character's name ends in an "e" sound.

The only time I've noticed or been bothered with similar names was in a series of books with two recurring characters: Honoria and Horatia. Every time one of them appeared I had to stop, back up and try and figure out which one it was --the young wife of so-and-so, or his aunt?

I heard one time that when reading rapidly, the brain triggers word recognition by the first couple of letters and last couple of letters. Makes sense why those tow trip me up every time....

Vaxil · Jan 28, 2007

I use to many letter names. I love A names and dimilar sounding names.

TwentyFour · Jan 28, 2007

I have Denny, Haley, Maggie, Robbie, Davey, Danny, Jimmy, Kerry (some are background characters so they might be changed to accomadate the mc and secondary characters.

Anysia · Jan 28, 2007

I would rename Davey, Danny, and Denny. Readers are going to have a really hard time telling those three apart without having to stop and check (which is just irritating to the reader and there's no need to irritate the reader).

Sage · Jan 28, 2007

Anysia said:
I would rename Davey, Danny, and Denny. Readers are going to have a really hard time telling those three apart without having to stop and check (which is just irritating to the reader and there's no need to irritate the reader).

Seconded. At the very least, Denny & Danny, unless there's a reason to confuse the reader.

TwentyFour · Jan 28, 2007

Danny and Denny, huh..I was thinking of renaming Robbie, Maggie, Davey, and leaving the rest. Mostly I thought nothing of Danny or Kerry since they are small characters who only show up once or twice in passing and I may not keep Kerry's name since she only shows once.

TwentyFour · Jan 28, 2007

Oh, I forgot to mention I will change Danny to a new name. Thanks for the ideas all. I heard once it was confusing but while in the middle of the novel I did not bother to change names...just kept trucking along.

Sage · Jan 28, 2007

SouthernWriter1978 said:
Danny and Denny, huh..I was thinking of renaming Robbie, Maggie, Davey, and leaving the rest. Mostly I thought nothing of Danny or Kerry since they are small characters who only show up once or twice in passing and I may not keep Kerry's name since she only shows once.

Actually the fact that Danny only shows up in passing might almost make it worse. The reader assumes it's a typo or ignores the difference completely, & wonders why Denny is doing something out of character or is someplace he's not supposed to be, or why he never acknowledges he was part of that scene, & so on.

ETA: Never mind.

BlueTexas · Jan 28, 2007

Anysia said:
I would rename Davey, Danny, and Denny. Readers are going to have a really hard time telling those three apart without having to stop and check (which is just irritating to the reader and there's no need to irritate the reader).

I third that. I hate having to stop and think about which character is which. Hate it. I will stop reading a book if I can't keep them straight.

gwendy85 · Jan 28, 2007

I have 3 characters whose names start with 'J':

Juanita
Janet
Janine (Janet's daughter)

I can't change Juanita or Janet, but Janine? Is it all right or too much? What other names (which start with 'J') are often used in the '40s? (other than Jessica)

alaskamatt17 · Jan 28, 2007

gwendy85 said:
I have 3 characters whose names start with 'J':

Juanita
Janet
Janine (Janet's daughter)

I can't change Juanita or Janet, but Janine? Is it all right or too much? What other names (which start with 'J') are often used in the '40s? (other than Jessica)

Does it have to start with 'J'? It might be good to change Janine to something else, even if it is something else that starts with a 'J', since all three names currently have an 'n' somewhere around the middle.

Of course, I'm one to talk ... there must be seven or eight characters in my Orion's Key trilogy with names starting with 'S.'

Judg · Jan 29, 2007

I've read advice from several published authors that the names of important characters should all start with different letters, because otherwise they are too easily confused. It sounds like good advice to me. I'm not sure if this applies to regardless of gender. I have two secondary characters whose names start with M, one male and one female and I'm giving serious consideration to changing one of them, just in case.

TwentyFour · Jan 29, 2007

I've heard that before too Judg! Good idea. If possible I will go through my old baby book and try that.

Tsu Dho Nimh · Jan 29, 2007

I get really annoyed when authors have similar names ... I can never remember who is who.

sfecphory · Jan 29, 2007

I recently looked back on something I wrote which I hadn't looked at in a while. Three characters had names that started with "Ch" and it drove me crazy. They weren't similar characters, and I wasn't confusing them with each other, but just seeing "Ch-Ch-Ch" over and over drove me Ch-nuts. If I were you I'd change a few of the names.

ChaosTitan · Jan 29, 2007

It may also depend on the reader. Several different betas have had one of my manuscripts, and so far, no one has brought up personal confusion over characters named Michael, Mitchell, and Matthias.

If you are going to use same letters, at least make the names sound different. Michael and Matthias share several scenes over the course of two books, but look different enough in spelling that I have no qualms about them. Michael and Mitchell, while similiar, are never in the same scene.

However, if I started populating a scene with Mandy, Marty, Mark, Mallory, Dick, Dirk, and Dory, I'd quickly find that "Replace All" button and do some name swapping.

Carmy · Jan 29, 2007

Anysia said:
I would rename Davey, Danny, and Denny. Readers are going to have a really hard time telling those three apart without having to stop and check (which is just irritating to the reader and there's no need to irritate the reader).

I agree. That would annoy me so much I would toss the novel.

Somewhere around I read that readers usually "recognize" the first letter in a character's name so, having more than one character's name start with the same letter is a no-no.

The_Grand_Duchess · Jan 29, 2007

I personally don't like similiar sounding names in novels becuase I always get confused as to who is who and then I feel stupid.

I think that anyone should steer clear of doing that unless there is a reason that their names sound similiar, ie plot or they happen to be twins with a hateful mother

TwentyFour · Jan 29, 2007

Reminds me of the Duggers on TLC and how they named all their kids beginning with J.

waylander · Jan 29, 2007

I was advised several times by publishers authors and agents that I should change the name of one of two sisters who had similar names in my novel. I took their advice.

MyFirstMystery · Jan 29, 2007

Not embarassing? I suppose I should scrap my plans to publish my next bodice ripper under my new pen name - Penish McEnvy

MFM

Zoombie · Jan 29, 2007

The only time you can get away with simmaler sounding names is if it's a joke.

Shara · Feb 1, 2007

I'm always being pulled up for having too many names that sound similar, or too many names beginning with the same letter. It seems to bother people. In my first novel I had ten characters, three of which began with M (Michael, Mark and Melissa. I changed Michael and kept the other 2).

In the second novel I had Anne, Leanne, Linda, Layla called into question. The only one I changed was Linda. Anne and Leanne really wouldn't let me change their names, so in spite of the similarity they still exist.

Nobody has made a comment about this in the novel I am currently writing, but I did take a bit more care in choosing names that don't sound quite so similar.

On the whole, I would say if you feel it might be an issue, it probably will be. Change the names now. It gets to be more of a hassle to do it later on.

Shara

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