Attached to the Names of Your Characters?

I recently had to do this for a short story and yeah, it felt weird. I try not to become too attached to anything in particular during the drafting stage, though I really, really like the names I've chosen for my two POV character's in the novel I'm currently working on, so clearly I don't always follow my own advice. If I have to change a name, I try and pick something that sounds or feels similar to me. Regardless of what it is, I have to like it.

For what it's worth, I think Jewel and Caillou are both great names. Zync and Illenia might be a trickier sell, but they're still pronounceable.

I often use babycenter.com to brainstorm. There's a little "Related" tab for each name, as well as origin and meaning info, plus alternate spellings. Worth checking out.

I have no problem with any of those names individually-- it's when the whole cast has self-consciously cool names that it feels contrived (in a contemporary, at least).

I recommend picking the character who feels most tied to his or her name, and keeping it. (But not Caillou, because that will forever be the horrible whiny children's TV character. ) Then look for names that have a similar feel to the original name. I can see how Illenia doesn't feel like an Ashley, but could she feel like an Iliana? An Elena? Could Jewel be Jule, short for Julia? Could Zync be a nickname he gave himself because his real name is Courtney or something?

I decided to change the names of most of my characters from the time when they were conceived, and it was hard, especially for the MC.

As I wrote the story, the new names grew on me until they became the characters.

I think if you just go with it for a while, the characters and their names will come together.

This is one of those things I am totally irrational and unrepentant about. I'm pretty pragmatic when it comes to plots, character development, setting, etc. I'll change all of it. I'll rewrite a whole chapter to tweak the tone. I cannot touch names. I just go completely out of my mind.

Unhelpfully, I'm also in love with the Aerith and Bob trope. More helpfully, it's fairly common. I did some of the names in my current WIP with a bunch of accents, which are a real problem to deal with at just about every stage after the first draft. I still haven't got around to changing all of them, and the ones I have changed I've spent hours fiddling with how to get the correct sound to correspond to the character's culture. In other words, I'm spending way too long on the worldbuilding.

I, too, have no problems with your names above. I actually kind of like complicated names, if they're lampshaded occasionally or part of a cultural thing. Having spent some time in Vancouver recently, I can definitely imagine someone naming a kind Zync in some attempt to ensure he's in tune with his inner minerals. Illenia is just a really good, solid fantasy name. Jewel's pretty common even now and Caillou is French. There's even a really popular children's TV show with a Caillou as the titular character.

Go in peace.

I'd argue that the modern world might give us more free reign for strange names than a historical or pre-industrial fantasy setting. It seems to be increasingly common for parents to give their kids names simply because they like the way they sound with no regard to family history or culture. Naming fads seem to come and go more quickly than they once did too. Calliou was a character in a kid's show when my nieces were little, so someone in the US or UK might actually name a kid born around that time, even if they're not of French ancestry themselves.

But it might be strange if every character in a modern setting had a fanciful or improbable name.

Another possibility is to have all the kids' parents part of some counter culture that picks unusual names for their kids, or the kids even just being drawn to one another as friends because they had the "weirdest" names in their class or something.

I'm not seeing a problem with the names to be honest. I've added whole layers to a fantasy world to keep a name like Angus and added elements to the story that means Socrates has to be Socrates. However some character have changed very easily a Matt became a Nate and I now wonder how he could ever be Matt and a Jim became an Ian and he grew as a character as a result. Actually, Angus was originally Jonathan... ok I can sometimes change names.

Illenia, Jewel, Caillou, and Zync.

Jewel is fine. You male Cailiou - Cail or Cal and maybe Illenia could be Lena or Lenia and Zync - I really like.

I'm not seeing *too* much of a problem with the names either. Maybe a little YA-ish, but if that's what you're going for, no worries.

And me, I'm not terribly attached to names. I've changed the main character's name in a completed book before. but I hear a lot of people saying they have deep attachments to specific names, so I may be the odd one out

When you have a character named something for a while it can feel weird to change it, but...one gets used to it, I think. I've changed most of the names in a book after a draft was written, anyway, and the characters were the same It will be all right. I think you'll get used to it, if you pick something you like.

Why don't you use whatever names feel right, as you write your manuscript? Then, if you decide names should be changed, do a search-and-replace before you send the book out. After making changes that way, the only serious problem would arise when one of your original names happens to be part of another word. Example: I might call a character Nat, and later decide he should be called Izzy. If I use my word processor to change every Nat to Izzy I end up with words like extermiIzzye ,Izzyional, Izzyurally, destiIzzyion, and orIzzye.

However, with the highly original names you want to use, you are unlikely to face such a problem.

Sage said:

It's worth noting that if you do the find and replace, do manually hit "replace" for each one instead of doing it globally. Sure, there's probably not a word that has one of those names inside, but it's worth checking anyway. (my worst one was a change from Gus who showed disgust during August; yeah, the global replace was epic). Also, still read it through afterwards, in case you did something weird, like cut off or draw out the name in dialogue. I've been fooled by those as well.

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Many word processors have a "whole word only" or "match case" option that cuts down on such mistakes immensely... though they can still have problems with apostrophes (as in "Bob's hat" wouldn't be changed when you change "Bob" to "Joe") and, as you mentioned, altered forms (the whiny drawn-out "But, Bo-oob, why can't I have a cookie?", or the choked off "Run, Bo-!") So, definitely not worth relying on Find/Replace alone. But it does usually save an awful lot of work... when used properly, of course.

As for the OP's names, if Illenia's sis and family have "normal" names (I'm guessing you mean "Standard modern English-speaking middle-class American-sounding names" for your "normal" - not necessarily a given), then, yeah, I'd need an explanation as to why she got the oddball name - though it could happen. (My name's odd, while my sister's is "normal" - Mother was expecting a boy, and was thrown for a loop when I turned out to be a girl. I'm thinking pain meds and lingering anesthesia had something to do with it, too, but I can't prove it...) Same with Zync, unless it's a nickname or derived from initials or an online handle or something. (Maybe his initials are ZNC, and he didn't want to be associated with the element zinc, so he spells it "Zync" when he uses it for e-mail addys and such...)

Roxxsmom said:

It seems to be increasingly common for parents to give their kids names simply because they like the way they sound with no regard to family history or culture. Naming fads seem to come and go more quickly than they once did too. Calliou was a character in a kid's show when my nieces were little, so someone in the US or UK might actually name a kid born around that time, even if they're not of French ancestry themselves.

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Ditto this. During my day job I typed titleblocks for school group pictures, and I've seen some really, really creative names. Names with capitalization in odd places, names with apostrophes in odd places, phonetic spellings vs historical spellings, and some interesting combinations of two names merged together as one. I remember being fascinated by a lot of the names, especially since I hadn't really seen them before. I've even seen names like "Abcde" used for multiple kids. Or siblings who very clearly had parents of certain fandoms (I want to say it was siblings named Mara and Luke... which could have easily been a Star Wars reference).

So, if you play it right, you might not have to change their names.

"Jewel" is a pretty normal name. You might not see it a whole lot, but naming girls after pretty things, particularly pretty rocks, is common enough that most people would not blink. "Jewel" next to "Zync" might be a little weird unless they're siblings and their parents are geologists or something.

"Illenia" might be a good name for a girl born January 1st, 2000. Otherwise, I'm not sure.

As a personal preference, I wouldn't change Caillou. If you name him Kyle, he might blur together with a bunch of other kyles from forgettable books.

Nicknames they call themselves, and call each other among friends. Not at all strange for teenagers.

FWIW, 'Zync' sounds like something a kid would as make up as a nickname because he though it would look cool when he became a famous musician. With a little 'nothing to remind me of the uncool teenager I am now' going on as well.
As for Illenia, yeah, hard if it was the name you personally picked for her. On the other hand, is it pronounced at all like 'Helenia', which, along with Elenia, sounds like the nearest 'normal' variant? Near enough, in fact, that Illenia sounds not-too-odd (maybe a foreign grandparent with spelling issues?) but only if all her friends don't have unusual names as well.

Well, Jewel is common, and the problem with "Caillou" is that it's already a very well-known name in the world of children's cartoons.

I really don't know whether I'm attached to the names of my characters or not. I give them names, and no editor has ever asked that a name be changed, so it's never been an issue.

May I present some of the characters in the UF series The Black Dagger Brotherhood by JR Ward?


Wrath
Rhage
Zsadist
Dhestroyer
Vishous
Phury
Rehvenge
Tohrment
Tehrror
Qhuinn
Blaylock
Xhex
Ehlena
Lash
Xcor
Assail
Murhder

And may I suggest that it's a very popular series?

But I get you. Although my names aren't that far out, I do have characters that I've been calling by names now that I find it very hard to change.

bearilou said:

May I present some of the characters in the UF series The Black Dagger Brotherhood by JR Ward?


Wrath
Rhage
Zsadist
Dhestroyer
Vishous
Phury
Rehvenge
Tohrment
Tehrror
Qhuinn
Blaylock
Xhex
Ehlena
Lash
Xcor
Assail
Murhder

And may I suggest that it's a very popular series?

But I get you. Although my names aren't that far out, I do have characters that I've been calling by names now that I find it very hard to change.

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It isn't popular because of the names. I read more reviews about readers who find those names laughably bad than I have about any other series, ever.

I realized I had to change the name of a secondary character because it started with the same letter as the main character's. I might have tried to justify it, but even I used the wrong name from time to time. It was hard, but I've gotten used to the new name. I've thought maybe I should change the MC's name, too. Tanya is a perfectly respectable name in her native Russia, but for Americans it might bring to mind a certain trashy celebrity.

Miss Strawberrii said:

What's FWIW? O_O I see that a lot, but never knew what it stood for. XD

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FWIW = For What It's Worth.

(Or Furry White Ice Weasel, depending on context...)