Choosing character names
Thu, 05/28/2009 - 10:05
How do you choose character names? How much thought do / should you put into it?
Sat, 07/18/2009 - 14:08
#2
Put a lot of thought into them
They're very important. A character's name should help an audience remember them and represent who they are, at least to some degree. As soon as I finish my story, I'm going to go back and rethink all the characters names. I may not change them all, but make sure they fit and feel natural with the character.
Mon, 07/27/2009 - 11:04
#3
Agree that they're important
It's also a common mistake to name characters -- particuarly in period pieces -- inappropriately to the period. That's where baby-naming services are a good resource ... particularly ones that allow you to look up the most-popular names of a given year, like this great resurce (USA only) by the Social Security Administration: HERE. If you have a character born in 1970, for example, Michael was the most popular for boys; in 2007, it was Jacob (although Michael was #2, so resiliant he is).
It's easy to Google around for popular names in other countries ... I had to do it once for an ensemble project that had characters from several countries.
Thu, 02/04/2010 - 22:24
#4
Hm...
Interesting point, Randy. Making period-inappropriate decisions seems like a common mistake across the board in a lot of movies, even down to costumes. For instance, there was one recent movie that took place in the 80's in which one character wore a shirt featuring a band that didn't even exist until a decade later. Those little details really are so important.
Fri, 02/05/2010 - 09:28
#5
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Hiding Archetypes within Names
I also find that it's useful to take a cue from existing films in regards to how to plant subliminal ideas about a character in the mind of the audience with the use of names. For example (and these are really random) in the Pirates of the Carribbean films, the character of Jack Sparrow indicates flight and freedom, Elizabeth Swann indicates grace and elegance. (I encourage you to watch the commentary where the writers discuss the naming of characters.) This takes place in many films though, one of Andy Tennant's earliest films, "Fools Rush In", he names his leading man, a stodgy NYC business man, "Alex Whitman". He then falls in love with a beautiful Mexican woman, Isobel Fuentes. Looks closely at Alex's name, it almost breaks down to "white man" highlighting the diversity between the two leading characters and the cultural differences between them. It can be as subtle as that, or as straightforward as naming your character, "Swann" because you need to her to be associated with class and grace. Make sense?
:-)