Names, Names, Names

Just because you know my name doesn’t mean you know my story.

That is a slightly enhanced version of a quote attributed to Jonathan Anthony Burkett. “You know my name, not my story.” Sometimes that’s where I am when writing a new story. Names are important to me as I try to get to know my characters. I have a name book I’ve used for years until now it’s falling apart because of all the times I’ve searched through it looking for the exactly right name that will help my fictional people spring to life in my mind.

Sometimes the first name I pick out that I think is good just keeps being not quite right. Each time I type it as I begin my story there is a slightly uneasy feeling as if the character is frowning at me and saying, “That’s not really my name.” If I don’t know her or his name, how can I even begin to know his or her story?

I like names. Whenever I see one that’s a little different, I can’t help but wonder how the person got that name. Sometimes I even ask. My mistake is not rushing home and writing all that down in a personal name book. Sadly, I often forget the name and the story when I let other thoughts push it out of my mind. I remember things much better if I write them down. Don’t you?

But when I’m starting a new novel, I do need to remember the names I pick and I do need those names to fit. Sometimes it’s like when you first hear the name of a baby and you’re shaking your head and thinking that doesn’t sound right at all. Then after a while, usually a short while, the name seems perfect for the baby. That’s how it can be when I pick names for my characters. It can be a little odd at first before it settles on the person who suddenly couldn’t be called anything else.

Other times, the names never settle. I have come up with perfect names like Tansy in Along a Storied Trail. I changed Perdita’s (Aunt Perdy) name a couple of times before I decided Perdita was right even though someone told me later that it has a Latin neaning of lost, ruined, and at one time ages ago could mean prostitute. I figured Perdita’s parents didn’t know Latin, and I obviously have forgotten all I once knew from my high school Latin classes. I still like Perdita for her name and she was sort of lost and at the end of her rope, but certainly never ruined in the way of being a fallen woman.

Granny Em was just as perfect in These Healing Hills, although I think I changed the name of my main character, Francine,  a couple of times after I started her story.

I used to keep a list of all the main characters and important secondary characters in my stories. But I stopped doing that a few years ago. I should go back and update it so that I won’t use the same names over. After more than thirty-five books, I have a lot of names swirling around in my head.

That brings me to my work in progress. I’ve written nearly a third of the book but I don’t like my main character’s name. Well, I do like it. I just don’t think she does. It’s not fitting her and that is keeping me from fully immersing myself in her story. So I wasted most of the afternoon looking through that falling apart name book. I already had a name I liked. One I just came across on Facebook, but to use it meant I needed to change other characters’ names since some of them sounded too similar. Sigh.

So I’m testing out this new name. It’s different. One I’d never heard before. I’m almost afraid to tell you what it is since you might say you don’t like it. But I guess it’s my character who needs to like it. Jacinth is a girl’s name meaning “blue larkspur; precious stone.” The name I had seen and want to use is Jacci which could be short for Jacinth which is a variation of Hyacinth. Perhaps the name is too odd. So it can be that my poor character will undergo another name change. And sooner or later, and I’m hoping sooner, that name will help me know her story.

Names have power like magic spells. (Cinderella)

Is there a name for a character in a book that you thought was a perfect fit or maybe one that you didn’t like at all?