Xmas presents

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Jenny

Thought I might ask for useful books for a writer, including something with names - first and surnames. I struggle to name characters. Any suggestions?
 

HConn

Ask for books that can help you with research. What injuries are like and how police do their jobs and how marriages fail and how emergency rooms handle their workload and what different parts of the world look like.

Names you can find online. If you have a chance to get someone to buy you books, find a good research book and ask for it.

IMO
 

pdr

Names

I sympathize with your struggle for character names. I'm still living out of a suitcase far from home so I can't give you the correct titles and authors but on my shelves at home are some excellent books on names. Two are from Oxford University Press in their dictionary of... series. One is on Christian names and the other Surnames and they use those words in the titles. Then I have a Penguin (U.K.) Dictionary of Names and a very good book from the Writer's Digest press called - I think - 'Names from Around the World'. Like many of their books it's excellent. Try www.abebooks.com for second hand copies.
 

macalicious731

Re: Names

I've heard of this book, but never actually seen or used it myself. It's called "The Reverse Name Dictionary" (couldn't help with the author, sorry) but it lists names according to their meanings, rather than the way most dictionaries are written. So, if you want your character to have a meaningful name, it's easier to look up.
 

evanaharris

Re: Names

Yeah, ask for nonfiction texts. There are plenty of good ones out there.
 

sc211

Re: Names

The phone book's always worked for me.

You can also ask someone who just had a child for their baby name book. Hopefully they won't need it again for a while.
 

Jamesaritchie

Re: Names

The Writer's Digest "Character Naming Sourcebook" is handy because it breaks names down be male and female, and by nationality.

It also includes advice on naming characters for Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mysterym etc., and advice for naming a settin
 

Jenny

Thanks

Great! Thanks for the suggestions. The reverse naming book sounds perfect, but then, so does James's suggestion.

Until I get hold of them - thanks for the websites.

The reason I'm not so stressed about getting reference books is due to the great libraries I have close to home. I can always go look stuff up, but names - I hate not being able to just flick open a book, pick a name and continue with the writing.

Thanks all.

Jenny
 

Kempo Kid

The New Age Baby Name Book. Covers names that are a lot more interesting than the run of the mill Scott and Jennifer types. (Apologies to Scott and Jennifer. :D )
 

Jamesaritchie

Re: Thanks

I hate not being able to just flick open a book, pick a name and continue with the writing

I can't do this, even with a ton of resources for names. Most of my characters are named for people I know, but when I actually have to pick a name, I believe it takes longer using a book. There are so many names with so many meanings and sounds that picking and choosing can be tough.

Do I want an Irish name? Maybe English? Or, wow, some of these Greek names are neat. And how many syllables should it have? Two for the first and one for the last? Or the other way around? And, wait, I already have a name that starts with a K, so I probably shouldn't use that one.

If I want the perfect, and slow, name, I grab for a book. If I want quick I just pick one out of the air and go on.
 

Kempo Kid

Re: Thanks

Sure picking a name out of the air takes less time. But the book helps me get the RIGHT name.
 

novelator

Re: Thanks

Do you ever just "hear" your characters' names when you're writing? At the risk of being considered weird (and believe me, no one here will be the first to do that), I hear them most of the time. I've had to change a few names due to alliteration, but those were minor characters. What's funny is to find out later--midway through the book for instance--the name has related connotations I never intentionally pursued when I started the story. Now some will call this serendipity, but it's happened enough times that I'm well beyond believing the process is purely coincidental.

Mari
 

James D Macdonald

Re: Thanks

If it works for you, it works.

Me, I give my characters nonce-names in the first draft, then go through after I've gotten to know them better and give them their real names.

But that's just me.
 

Jamesaritchie

Re: Thanks

Sure picking a name out of the air takes less time. But the book helps me get the RIGHT name.

Yep, there is that. But for me, the right name is really just a matter of getting the nationality right. I'm not a writer who spends any time worrying about whether or not a name is "right."

I tend to prefer characters who have names like all the people I meet in daily life. I've always believed that, just like in life, it's the person who makes the name, not the name that makes the person.
 

Kempo Kid

Re: Thanks

I write fantasy, so names like George, Bill, and Susie just won't cut it.

And the people I meet every day tend to have American names, but I don't necessarily want all my characters to have American names. So if I want an Indian or Japanese or Russian name, a book is the best bet.
 

Jamesaritchie

Re: Thanks

So if I want an Indian or Japanese or Russian name, a book is the best bet.

I tend to use online newspapers for the country of choice for such names. It gives me current and common names for the country.
 
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