As a doggie mom, I had no problem naming them. I tried a few on, messed with the spelling a bit, but all in all it was a pretty easy process.   First of all they will never be able to say their names, they’ll never be made fun of in school for how insane their name is, and when I give them cute pet names or nick names they don’t care.

My eldest, is a terrier mix, midsize,the best puppy eyes ever, and sad as it sounds I think he loves his food bowl nearly as much as he loves me.  His original name is Chewbaca, which I loathe, so it’s been shortened to Chewy.  Of course there is the occasional full name usage when he’s in trouble but isn’t that like every parent.  He has a variety of nicknames, Big Ol’ Dumb Dog, Chew-Boo, Chew-Chew, unfortunately the list could go on and on.

My youngest, is a Jack Russell mix, that has energy that never stops and a vertical bounce of about four feet.  Her name, Maci.  I changed the spelling because I wanted her name to be as unique like her.  Now nicknames for her are not nearly as creative, there is the ocassional, princess, and baby girl, but lately it’s more like NO-SHOES and Potty-Outside, not exactly the best nick names but they get shouted at her much more than her given name.

So why do I bring up my dogs? No it’s not because I have an obsession with them, and no I don’t dress them up in clothes (except for their winter coats).  I bring them up because naming them was so easy compared to naming my characters.  My hero and heroine do not have real heartbeats, they have no existence on this world but to make people happy to share their story.  Yet it’s often a terrible struggle for me to find just the right name.

For example, ever since I read A Wrinkle in Time, I have made fun of the name, Charles Wallace.  Seriously?  Did he need to have two names, and did we have to constantly call him by both of them.  *Eye Roll* Did Madeleine L’Engle not have word count issues.  She could eliminate nearly a third of her book by dropping just one of those names. This is not a gift I’d like to give my characters.  I want them to be memorable but not irritatingly cheesy.Since I’m on the topic of names I abhor let’s add, Jessie, Jamie, Casey, and any form of Alex, I think at least every author has one of those names in book.

When I wrote Keep Away, my hero came to me instantly.  I wanted a strong name, a unique name, no Jones or Smith for him.  It came to me like a New York Cabbie asking for his fare, Boston, Detective Rick Boston.  There it was my character was born.

I recently started a new WIP, and had the Hero’s name instantly, Grayson Turner, it rolled off my tongue without thinking about it.  For his counterpart, the heroine, I’ve spent hours on Behind the Name searching for her, the one name that fits this woman in my head.  I have finally settled on Camilla No-last-name.  Well settled is vague, it’s not like I can’t just replace her name anytime with a click of the mouse.

So how about you?  How did you ever pick names for your kids/pets?  What struggles do you have finding names?  What names do you love or hate? How do you name your characters?

Thanks for stopping by today. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on names.

Michelle – http://www.michelle-fryer.com