Kia ora koutou, its interesting to think about how we all received our names and probably more importantly how we live with them, feel about them. We are given our names and we have no say. Its usually a name chosen by a parent, sometimes by someone in the whanau, sometimes in remembrance of a much loved sister, brother, friend, and of course sometimes just because its a name both parents can agree on. Occasionally, as in my case, there is no reason except that it was a name that was liked enough to want to call their daughter by it.
I have huge (I use that word advisedly) difficulty with names of characters and its nothing for my characters to have five or six name changes before I’m satisfied I’ve got it right. These days this is made very much easier by the Find and Replace tool.
Choosing the name for a character, especially a lead character or hero, is very difficult. I want a strong name so I look at the hard consonants like (for example) K or D or R, maybe B or J or N. Sometimes an A is good because quite often it has a hard consonant following it. Then I have to think of their age. Is this a name that was current around the year they were born? Or is it, like mine, quite out of kilter with her own generation’s female names.
Of course I start off with a name but as I go further into the story and things happen and my character acts, reacts or is silent, I start to rethink the name. Unlike parents I can change it simply by going to Find and Replace.
Once upon a time, in the days of the dreaded Twink, if I thought of a name change when I was well into the play or the novel, it was really hard work. However, because I have this ‘thing’ about names and how they need to match (in my eyes) the character, personality and actions of this imaginary person, I do it. I find a name and give it a history. I muse on how my character got it, how she feels about it and I realise all over again how amazing it is that although many of us real life characters dislike our names, only a few of us do anything about it.
I have a couple of friends who’ve changed their names and I love that they acted so boldly. In my own case I could never think of another name I wanted to be called so I kind of just stuck with this one.
Of course with characters its a whole different story. It took me ages to settle on Ruby for the name of the hero in The Wild Card. And not content with one R I gave her two. Ruby Ruth. Once I’d settled on these names there could be no other. Which is the beauty of it really. Once I’ve got the right one, bingo, no need to look for a name any more, no need for any uneasy feelings that I’ve chosen the wrong one. I can relax…until the next time…
Renée
