My two innocent characters were named Solomon and Sammi. I really liked both names and felt like they fit the pair. What could go wrong?
Um…a lot.
My sister, who had been reading through my novella, barged into my room, intent on showing me I had messed up.
Sammi had said or done something and my sister assumed it had been Solomon. I read the sentence aloud, and my sister’s mind was blown. You see, she’d only seen the S at the beginning of the name and hadn’t bothered reading the rest. The result, confusion. The last thing I want to do is confuse my readers, distract from the story, or lose a possible fan.
I looked for a solution.
I learned to pick names that don’t look the same. I now keep a baby name book on hand as I write. This helps when my main character stumbles across a man in town and I need to find a quick name.
Maybe you have two really similar names and need to change one. I find that when I flip through my name book, I usually stumble upon some names I love. Other times, I find a name can be spelled differently and this can be used to fix my problem.
What about you? What are some ways you choose names for your characters?
Ashley Schaller enjoys reading about reckless, headstrong heroes, prefers tea over coffee,
and loves dollhouse miniatures. When not writing, she can often be found curled up with a book.
You can find out more about Ashley and what she writers here:
4 replies on “Why We Should Be Careful When Naming Characters-Ashley”
My main character had a stimilar name as her pet cat. Stella and Bella. I have to change the name of the cat and haven’t decided on one yet. 🙂
Haha, I can relate. It can be so hard to pick a new name after you’ve already fallen in love with the old.
When it comes to last names, I try to pick names that are easy to sound out. A last name like the Polish “Wietecha” could confuse readers or make them just skip over it.
That’s great that you take the time to make sure the names are pronounceable. I know I’ve skipped over names I can’t pronounce or just come up with a pronunciation that probably isn’t even close to accurate. 🙂