Thursday, October 11, 2012

NAME THAT BABY, ER TUNE



I hate to admit this…
(and please don’t tell my family)
But I gave more thought…
To the character’s names in my novels…
Than to my two daughter’s names.
I know…
What kind of mother am I?
But in my defense…
I chose names after songs..
So I could sing lullabies to my babies...
That had their names in it.
And just so you don't think I'm a complete idiot...
The names (and songs) also happened to be…
Popular during the late ‘60’s early ’70’s.
What can I say? I’m not very original…
For my characters, however…
I researched ad nauseam…
To find the most fitting name…
To match their personalities…
The match the timeline of the story….
And even for the ‘meaning’ of the name.
So?
Am I alone?
Do/did you spend more time…
On your character’s names…
Than your kids?
And how do you go about...
Naming your characters?
 

Always, Em-Musing
P.S.One song is by Donavan, 
the other, The Beatles.

9 comments:

Sarah said...

I had my kids' names picked out for years before they actually entered the world, but I can't recall how much thought I put into it. They were just names I've loved for ages. As for character names, I do pick names by culture and meaning. It's pretty fun! But I also change them just as easily :)

Jessica Bell said...

I usually try to find names that have similar meanings to their personalities. For example, in Hebrew the girl's name Mia means uncertain, bitter and that fits her perfectly. yeah, readers aren't going to know this shit, but I do and it makes writing more fun :-)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

The Beatles? Is one of your daughters named Strawberry? Hopefully not Eleanore Rigby.
The main characters' names I've known for years. All the others - I take about twenty minutes to brainstorm unique, science fiction names and then match them to characters. Don't hate m...

Talli Roland said...

I love naming characters! Heck, I love naming anything. Give me an object, I'll give it a name.

Adam said...

I like to borrow from my favorite fiction when naming characters like combining the first of one with the last name of the other. Or from history.

Ella said...

I love that you did this! How sweet~
Writing is a whole different gig!
We have to find neutral ground-nothing too popular and ordinary, but something that doesn't conjure negative connotation.
There is one name for me, that symbolizes bad girl. I haven't met one yet with this name that hasn't been a mean girl... Nope can't say it! I could be wrong, but in my world, so far I'm not...
Is your other daughter named Jude or Lucy? ;D

Gossip_Grl said...

Hilarious, and I guess I am guilty too! I named my #3 after 2 of my favorite soap stars.

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

I don't have kids, but maybe someday I'll be able to afford to buy some from a surrogate in California. Then my parents can finally have grandkids if they are still alive. Poverty sucks!

Lydia Kang said...

I spent more time on my kids' names, for sure!