A character by any other name. . .
Naming characters is one of those things that makes me crazy.
If you’ve had children–and if you haven’t, you can just imagine–you know the hours of consideration, the lists and lists of names that go into finding just the right name for this new little person.
Now, multiply that by–I don’t know–some horribly large number, and you have a little bit of an idea of a writer’s naming burden.
The average number of children per household in the U.S., according to the 2010 census, is 0.94. That’s not even a whole person!
You really can’t write a book or a play without a whole person. Okay, you could write The Wind in the Willows or Freddy the Detective or one of those other children’s books filled with talking animals–but once an animal begins to talk, it has to have a name, so you’re back where you started.
If you’re going to write, you’re going to be naming people all the time. All the time.
Seriously, every time you turn around, you are going to be adding people to your play or your story, and most of them will need names. Minor characters can be “the waitress” or “the bus driver,” I suppose, and if you want your writing to appear really symbolic, I guess you could name them with capital letters. “The Waitress.” “The Bus Driver.” Usually, however, these people you just made up will need to have names, and unlike Dr. Seuss or George Foreman, you probably don’t want them all running around your pages with the same name.
There are all kinds of theories about naming babies, and I’m sure there are as many about naming characters.
The only real tip I have to offer this Tuesday is a couple of websites where you can find the online equivalent of a baby book.
and my personal favorite, the random name generator:
http://www.kleimo.com/random/name.cfm
You can find other online resources here.
Happy naming!
* Shakespeare again. Romeo & Juliet, remember? From yesterday? Act 2, sc 2
