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: