Similar character names too confusing?

Yes, to many readers, it could easily get confusing. It doesn't matter that you like it. Or that you think it "fits" her, whatever that means. Or that it is "-er-meaningful". Thou shalt not confuse the reader.

caw

I'd change it, especially since she doesn't appear in the sequel. No sense in borrowing trouble.

I'd change it, too. No sense unduly confusing the reader.

I would not dumb it down. I would credit your readers with the ability to tell the difference in spelling.

More importantly, if you have done your job, described your characters and established they have their own personalities and "voice" there should be no problem. Especially if the characters don't even appear in the same book.

And depending on sales, (not knowing where you are in the loop) you might not even get to publish the second book, so the worrying is moot.

The Ralph Bakshi animated Lord of the Rings changed the name of Saruman to Arumon because they thought it would confuse the audience since Sauron was also a villain. Even as a kid I found that insulting.

I'd leave it.

wordmonkey said:

I would not dumb it down. I would credit your readers with the ability to tell the difference in spelling.

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It's not a matter of dumbing down. It's a matter of smartening up. There are plenty of solid period-accurate names to use without risking confusion. As to your contention that readers will understand the difference in spelling, 3/4 of the reading population today can't use there, their or they're properly.

Make her a Catherine or Anne or something. I don't see any name-inherent quality that would differentiate a Catherine from a Margrethe.

Don't make her a Buffy, though.

caw

Maybe a caveat at the front of the second book which explains that although this is a work of historical fiction, it includes several real characters from history, such as blah blah blah... ?

Then use your original name in the first book.

CatSlave said:

Maybe a caveat at the front of the second book which explains that although this is a work of historical fiction, it includes several real characters from history, such as blah blah blah... ?

Then use your original name in the first book.

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Or a genealogy of your characters if enough of them are related. Or a "cast" of characters so they can be easily differentiated.

Miss Plum said:

Or a genealogy of your characters if enough of them are related. Or a "cast" of characters so they can be easily differentiated.

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I appreciate when long stories offer a genealogy up front...it makes it so much easier to keep track of the characters and relationships.
Good suggestion!

It wouldn't confuse me enough to throw the book down in disgust (even when I misread names, I tend to go back and look again and then see that they're different), but I've learned on these forums that I'm a lot more patient and forgiving than most when it comes to similar names.

The two names in your case really are quite similar in more than just starting with the same letter. If it were me I wouldn't change a name that I like just because it's similar to another. But 1. that's just me and 2. I'm not trying to get published.

I think it might depend on how big a role both characters play and how unique they are as individual characters. I've found that similar names are easier to get away with if their owners are quite distinct from each other and well developed, because then the individual name is more closely associated with the individual character.

I'd change the first name. Some readers might not be confused -- but some might, and why take the risk?

tehuti88 said:

I think it might depend on how big a role both characters play and how unique they are as individual characters. I've found that similar names are easier to get away with if their owners are quite distinct from each other and well developed, because then the individual name is more closely associated with the individual character.

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this.

like, if Maggie1 is a huge major character, and then in the 2nd book Maggie2 is a minor character (but with enough defining characteristics that she's obviously different) that'd be okay.

also, if you called the second one (too lazy to scroll back) Maggie2 de Navarone or whatever her name was, that'd also be a clue that it's someone else.

why is Maggie1 not in the second book? did she die? or is she just, like, somewhere else? maybe have a character mention it in the beginning of book2.

so I say keep them both if both names really really fit. But I'm all about "author knows best and readers can just keep up."

I think there's a big enough difference between the names. Nothing confusing about it to me.

Use the names you want. If beta readers/agents/editors come back with complaints, then you can decide whether you want to change a name.

As you explain it here, in one post, the names and character distinctions are clear to me. But readers may, over time, have a harder time separating the obvious spelling difference if the names are not juxtaposed so clearly.

Also, as you shift from one book to the next, readers may not be clear about whether the similarity is an irrelevant detail about separate characters or an intentional naming of the same character as perceived under alternate circumstances (hard to tell having not read your work).

To expand upon the Sauron/Saruman example, Gandalf had several names and was known in each region by the one that was appropriate for the Tolkien lore befitting that area/people. So readers might assume, with similar names, that there is some relation.

Sage said:

Saruman and Sauron always confused me.

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Me, too!

My two cents: I'd change the first name. Just too much similarity there. I would keep mistaking one for the other when I get to Book Two.

Miss Plum said:

Or a genealogy of your characters if enough of them are related. Or a "cast" of characters so they can be easily differentiated.

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Gag.

I hate such devices worse than I hate confusing similarity in names.

The very fact that the OP asked the question in the first place is indicative of the problem. My rule of thumb is always, if I have a doubt about X, X is weak, subject to improvement and needs to be changed.

caw

I had that issue in the novel I finished last year--two characters with similar names. I changed one of them. And it didn't hurt a bit.

kct webber said:

I had that issue in the novel I finished last year--two characters with similar names. I changed one of them. And it didn't hurt a bit.

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to which I would append: I've never understood the concept that a particular common name in fiction "fits" a particular character, to the point that it could not possibly be some other name. What on earth does "Margrethe" mean to a reader? I can understand some unusual names, like Shakespeare's Iago, Dickens's Ebenezer Scrooge or Faulkner's Flem Snopes carrying a subliminal aura of evil, but "Margrethe"? One of Hemingway's major heroes was Robert Jordan. Which means . . . what? Ditto Hammett's Philip Marlowe, Fowles's Daniel Martin, Orwell's Winston Smith, Stephen King's Dolores Claiborne. Any of these authors could have renamed any of these characters without remorse, if it became advantageous to avoid reader confusion.

caw

Don't change it. Don't change it. Don't change it.

I think it's only a problem if the characters are similar. If your Margrethe is a peasant, she's not likely to be confused with Marguerite de Navarre - if she's a Spanish princess, it might be confusing.

blacbird said:

to which I would append: I've never understood the concept that a particular common name in fiction "fits" a particular character, to the point that it could not possibly be some other name. What on earth does "Margrethe" mean to a reader? I can understand some unusual names, like Shakespeare's Iago, Dickens's Ebenezer Scrooge or Faulkner's Flem Snopes carrying a subliminal aura of evil, but "Margrethe"? One of Hemingway's major heroes was Robert Jordan. Which means . . . what? Ditto Hammett's Philip Marlowe, Fowles's Daniel Martin, Orwell's Winston Smith, Stephen King's Dolores Claiborne. Any of these authors could have renamed any of these characters without remorse, if it became advantageous to avoid reader confusion.

caw

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Betcha King knows his character's name means 'sorrows'. And I'd bet Hemingway and Hammett chose strong-sounding WASPy names on purpose and that Orwell was shooting for 'generic English'. If Hemingway had named his character Isidore Paskudnyak, you'd have quite different expectations.

Dichroic said:

Betcha King knows his character's name means 'sorrows'. And I'd bet Hemingway and Hammett chose strong-sounding WASPy names on purpose and that Orwell was shooting for 'generic English'.

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Of course Hemingway and Hammett chose "strong-sounding WASPy names on purpose". My point is that those specific names could be altered to any of a hundred other strong-sounding WASPy forms and be equally effective.

But perhaps I was being a little too hasty. I'm beginning to quite like "Buffy".

caw

I think the first time you have to change a name in a book, especially of a major character, it is very painful. But honestly, it really isn't such a big deal. I've done it so many times now. It might take some effort to find just the right name, and you'll probably hate and resent many suggestions, but then someone will suggest a name and you'll think, "Actually that's not bad . . ."

Personally I am a fan of making the life of the reader as easy as possible. I don't mean to avoid all challenges, but what exactly is the point in challenging the reader in this fashion? It doesn't seem like you are trying to make a statement about their names being the same.

Anyway, as ever, pick your battles. If this is one you feel passionate about, then go for it, but why not, just for a lark, try to find a new name for her. See if there is any other name out there that might work. And who knows, you might find one you like more!

Case in point, and one of the chief reasons I object to similar-sounding names: In my last unpublishable completed novel, I initially had two characters surnamed Mathes and Maxwell. Until, in editing, I discovered that I my very own self had misidentified one of them with the other one's name. It took about five seconds, via global "Replace" to transform every instance of "Maxwell" to "Barnes".

caw