Favorite Overused Names?

Allie · Oct 18, 2006

While I was editing my novel, I found that I had accidentely named three different characters in the book John. Granted, one was just in one scene, the other was in three scenes and the last was maybe in five scenes. It's was like John popcorn. Has this happened to anyone else?

You think I could have been a bit more creative than John... Any other favorite overused names?

CaroGirl · Oct 18, 2006

I'd have to say no to this one. Names are pretty meaningful in my work, and I pay a lot of attention to them when I choose them. I know it's not always important to most people, but it's one of the things that's fairly important to me.

Be creative. Kick all those Johns to the curb, dig out a good baby names book, and pepper your prose with Alejandros, Xaviers, and Maximillians.

Pisarz · Oct 18, 2006

I also take into consideration names that are popular for a given generation. For example, Gens X and Y have a lot more Jennifers and Jessicas than the Baby Boomers, who tend to have more Lindas and Nancys than Gen X-ers, etc.

Jack_Roberts · Oct 18, 2006

Why do I love the letter R so much? I don’t, but you wouldn’t know it from book 2 of Night Children, my WIP.
Roland is my main character. He’s with these pirates. The captain is Reginald and the tough girl pirate is Rachael.

Sigh.

Soccer Mom · Oct 18, 2006

I just love the name Hepzebah. Feel free to use it in your writing.

cree · Oct 18, 2006

Allie said:
While I was editing my novel, I found that I had accidentely named three different characters in the book John.

You think I could have been a bit more creative than John... Any other favorite overused names?

Only the fact that 78% of my family members are named John and Mary. Makes family reunions chaos. Talk about un-creative.

stormie · Oct 18, 2006

Looking back over my short stories and novels (pubbed or not), these are the names I use the most:

Jennette (For some reason, I like spelling it that way, too)
Kristen
Lisa
David
Julie

I really, really, have to be more creative in the names department!

RedMolly · Oct 18, 2006

There are too many Jacks in the literary world, both in my own and others' stories.

I bought a great baby name book, called "A World of Baby Names." It has names sorted by ethnicity/culture of origin... a few Broders (Scan.) and Tavis (Jewish/Hebrew) go a long way toward spicing up a world of Susans and Maxes. (And Tavi's just a cool name anyway.)

CaroGirl · Oct 18, 2006

stormie said:
Looking back over my short stories and novels (pubbed or not), these are the names I use the most:

Jennette (For some reason, I like spelling it that way, too)
Kristen
Lisa
David
Julie

I really, really, have to be more creative in the names department!

That's an interesting idea, stormie. Over the past few shorts, plus my WIP, I've used the following names: Madeleine, Calista, Zubaida, Mitchell, Jayson, Linda, Oliver, Curtis, Stella, Elise, Mort and Darcy.

wordmonkey · Oct 18, 2006

Like RedMolly, I have sworn to never use Jack in anything I write.

However, I tend to use real words, often in foreign languages, as sirnames for my characters. I carefully pick names that offer clues to the character so once I find the right word I go with a first name that works with that.

RG570 · Oct 18, 2006

I don't mind using boring names, because most people actually have boring names.

I mean, I don't remember ever picking up a book, then tossing it in the trash because it had realistic names in it. It's only bad if it's applied to a cardboard character, but then no five dollar name is going to save a boring character.

Allie · Oct 18, 2006

RG570 said:
I don't mind using boring names, because most people actually have boring names.

Yes, in fact, I there are so many Johns, and Michaels in the world that if a story didn't have one of each, would it reflect reality? Now granted three in one story is bit much, but that was an with accident in periferal characters. Kind of like a bike accident, just a couple of skinned knees, nothing serious.

Click to expand...

FennelGiraffe · Oct 18, 2006

I like the rule of no two names beginning with the same letter, although I think it's sometimes OK if one is male and the other female, and they aren't too similar. For example, I might use Joe and Jennifer together, but not Daisy and Dusty. Of course, if name confusion is a plot point, then do whatever you need to to make it work.

I think varying the syllable count is a good idea, too. You don't want a whole book full of single-syllable names, or a whole book full of three-syllable names, either.

Beyond those considerations, I think staying true to the setting is more important than worrying about whether the names are boring.

Maprilynne · Oct 18, 2006

I find that I have a zillion names with the same ending. en (or an, or in) for males and a for females. I didn't think it was a big deal till I started listing them for my husband the other day.

Brinda, Sabra, Henna, Betta, Marya, Jelta, Sira, Calla, Yanah, Tasna, Rala, Graetta, and Shavah

For guys: Ferren, Gambrin, Brevan, Madden, Caillen, Damyon, She'em, Jeram and Wendon.

It's a book with a ton of characters, and I don't think the casual reader would notice. But I've been reading it out loud and had to stop when I hit a sentence with She'em, Jeram, and Ferren in it. *D'oh!*

Maprilynne

HorrorWriter · Oct 18, 2006

I use various names from all sources. My actual name is NOT common at all. As a matter-of-fact I googled it and found only 1 other person with my name, and it was spelled exactly like mine. That was the only one I found though. I tend to have great meaning in my names. My completed manuscript involves some exotic names, all with special meanings. :e2BIC:

Stormhawk · Oct 18, 2006

Here's a trick I use: I have a baby-name book (even though the cover had fallen off) with lots of strange names in it, I merely flip it and point to a name - if it's the right gender, I'll probably use it.

However, this is only for more minor characters, for major ones, I usually have reasons for naming them, or people they're named after.

JoeEkaitis · Oct 18, 2006

"You gonna call him 'John'? Every Tom, Dick and Harry is called 'John'!"

--attributed to Samuel Goldwyn

KimJo · Oct 18, 2006

I don't reuse the same names, but I tend to use almost excruciatingly similar names. In one novel, I had a character named Callie and another named Carla, and was constantly mixing them up. (I ended up changing Carla to Laura.) I now have two characters who are brothers; one is Matthew and the other Mark. (They came from a very Christian family, and all the kids have biblical names.) I'm constantly mixing them up. I think I'll have to change Mark to something else...

Bartholomew · Oct 18, 2006

wordmonkey said:
Like RedMolly, I have sworn to never use Jack in anything I write.

However, I tend to use real words, often in foreign languages, as sirnames for my characters. I carefully pick names that offer clues to the character so once I find the right word I go with a first name that works with that.

Mr. Daniels influences a great deal of modern writing.

We just like to pay our respects.

(Has anyone here ever met a 'Jack'...?)

scribbler1382 · Oct 18, 2006

Frank and Sam have been prevalent in my stories for years. No idea why. I don't know anyone named Frank (never have) and the only Sam I know is my cousin Samantha. Once you get 50 or 60 stories under your belt, the common threads that run through them all can be downright scary!

wordmonkey · Oct 18, 2006

Bartholomew said:
(Has anyone here ever met a 'Jack'...?)

I actually have an Uncle Jack.

Serenity · Oct 18, 2006

My cousin's son's name is Jack Gabriel. Never anything *but* Jack. My grandfather's name on his birth certificate was John, but he frequently went by 'Jack'.

Go figure.

ChaosTitan · Oct 18, 2006

I'm with CaroGirl on this one. There are a few names that I love and have reused in fanfic or in RPG's, but for my novels, the names become intertwined with the character. It would be extremely difficult to reuse certain names.

maddythemad · Oct 18, 2006

Bartholomew said:
(Has anyone here ever met a 'Jack'...?)

Yeah, one of my dad's good friends is named Jack. He's like 60, though. I think it's a bit of an old-fashioned name.

Anyway, I never re-use names for later stories, because once I assign a certain character a name, it's stuck with them for life, and I could never use it for a different character.

Also, you can usually date my stories by the character names. When I was really little (seven or so) all my characters had very odd-sounding names like "Tilishlana" and "Carieva." About a year ago I was fond of old, old names like "Evadne" and "Chauncey" (still love those names, actually) and now I tend to name my (hot) main guys things that end in -er. Decker, Tucker, and Chaser are current favorites, despite the fact that my father constantly reminds me that Chaser sounds like a skirt-chaser or an alcoholic drink.

Serenity · Oct 18, 2006

My names range from normal: Matt, to somewhat exotic: Morrigan. I like different names. But I do choose names 99.9% of the time based on some characteristic of the character I'm writing. I love http://www.20000-names.com/http://www.20000names.com. I will pick a country and search either the male or female names until one catches my attention. It's normally the one I end up using.

Although I confess to having an affinity for 'k' sounding names. I've used: Caelan (pronounced Kee-lyn), Kyra, Kara, Kisa, Kayla, Kyla, Kyle... you get the hint. But I will say that except for one occasion I've never used them in the same story.

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ook

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