In honor of January, I was going to write about goals and resolutions and stuff, but since I haven’t figured mine out yet, I felt a bit of a fraud. So I went to my FAQ’s for a topic I love.
I spend way too much time naming my characters. Even before I knew I wanted to write novels, I was always fascinated with names… their origins, their meanings are in books, but there are also images and connotations that can’t be put into a baby name dictionary.
The names, of course, have to fit the character, and a lot of times they convey deeper meaning as well. Plus, you’re going to have to type them a lot, so it’s better to give it thought and not pick something you hate.
Maggie Quinn, the protagonist of the Girl vs. Evil series, was a character in search of a story when I got the germ of the idea for Prom Dates From Hell. She was named last name first (which is a trend with my protagonists for some reason). Maggie’s original concept was as a kind of female Kolchak (from the 70′s TV show, the Nightstalker, which was the inspiration behind X-Files), and oddly enough, she’s named after another 70′s rerun staple–Quincy. (Quincy, M.E. was about a medical examiner who solved mysteries). This was before C.S.I., Kathy Reichs and Bones, etc., and so even cheesy 70′s reruns were addictive because there was nothing else like it. I also loved Columbo. These were all shown in rerun every afternoon, back when cable TV was only 20 channels or something.)
ANYway. Her first name “Maggie” just popped into my head from there. It went with the Irish/Gaelic flavor of the last name, it was both girlish but also down to earth. You’d expect it to belong to some hard working Irish washerwoman.
What’s really funny is that her full name, Magdalena, emerged as a complete surprise to me. Proof that my subconscious is often smarter than I am. By then I knew that Maggie wasn’t just going to be investigating your average zombies or vampires. She was going up against the forces of darkness, and she needed a name with some weight to it.
Justin, Maggie’s love interest, is named after a rat in Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. I loved that book (and that movie, even though they were substantially different.) But Justin was a young, handsome and noble sort of rat in both, so it works.
Oh, and further proof that our subconscious is weird? Maggie’s best friend is named Lisa. I was three books in when someone pointed out to me that Maggie and Lisa are Bart Simpson’s sisters. That is completely unintentional. Oops. (I turned it into a joke in the third book, and made it look on purpose. Shhhh.)
The heroine of The Splendor Falls is a ballet dancer, but she’s also got a connection with growing things. I wanted a name that reflected both the ethereal image of a ballerina, and the elemental and natural spirit that was tied to her nature. The name “Sylvie” was instantly her name. (She’s the only one of my main characters to be named first name first. I wonder what this says about my writing philosophy. Probably that family and heritage is always important to my characters.) Sylvie (from “Sylvia”) means ‘forest’, and there’s even a ballet, La Sylphide, about forest sprites. From the moment I thought of that character, that had to be her name.
The character in the book I just turned in is “Amy Goodnight.” I’ll leave it to conjecture what kind of character she is. (Or at least, save it for a future post.)
Here’s my question: Do you think your name fits you, as a character in your own story? Personally, I’m on the fence on this question. Rosemarys are kind of all over the place as far as image. We have not fared well in American movies, though books have been kinder to us. (And video games, oddly enough. Though still the brainy girl, I notice.)
