On Naming a Character Thelonious

October 10th is the birthday of that great jazz pianist, THELONIOUS MONK.

Here's an image of his fabulous portrait, via the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery (which may be my new favorite DC museum):

His music and his name inspired a little backstory in my second middle-grade novel, THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY.

Theo was named by his musician parents. But they died when he was quite young and the grandparents who raised him lived on a farm and weren't exactly music or jazz aficionados so he never fully understood the significance of his name. 

I love creating backstories like his. Even if my readers never know them, they deepen and complicate a character. There may not be a lot of middle-grade readers familiar with Monk's music. Perhaps after reading my book, they'll be curious to listen. But that's not why I chose the name. It's part of my Theo's story. And when I happened upon the reason to give Theo that name, it opened a part of the plot that I hadn't figured out yet.

Here's a little more about CHOOSING CHARACTER NAMES.

From Writer's Digest. Great "rules" which of course can be broken.

This one has a thought or two about the ethnicity of names.

And a name generator!
"Aim to have the name suggest something about the character. Think of the book Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, and that family of girls. Beth was the quiet, gentle daughter; Jo the strong, boisterous one; and Amy the baby of the family." 

(I'm about to name a character after a great guy I worked with. Doesn't Mr. King sound like somebody you'd trust?)


So Happy Birthday to Thelonious Monk. Here's a little music for you, your students, or to save for later:

Naming Names!

I think long and hard about a character's name. I've even changed a name or two when it wasn't working and suddenly the true nature of that character emerged.

In MAKING FRIENDS WITH BILLY WONG, I had fun naming the characters. Maybe more fun than with any of the folks who peopled my first two books.

Azalea, for example. A line from something- who knows what at this point- stuck in my brain from way back. A baby named Azalea by her daddy when he saw the pink flowers from her mama's hospital window. Azalea it was! From the beginning.

How about Sergeant Steele for a policeman? That came to me when I remembered my high school classmate, Donna Steele. But I have NO idea how the name Miss Jane Partridge appeared, attached to a goody-goody social worker. Not my friend Joan Partridge. Not my sister Jane. Just a name that had the right ring to it. 

I have a huge collection of saved names. If I created a zillion more characters, I could never use them all. 

Maybe it's a southern thing? I adore this piece by Julia Reed (who grew up down the road a piece from me in the Mississippi Delta) in GARDEN AND GUN magazine, about choosing names.

Here's an excerpt:

It didn’t end up mattering much because both boys were almost always referred to as Brother or Bubba, and to this day no one in my immediate family or its orbit has ever called me anything but Sister. Which leads us to another Southern phenomenon. There’s Tennessee Williams’s Sister Woman, of course, and a character in a Lee Smith short story is named Uncle Baby Brother.  

When I first started writing THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY, I called my tap-dancing, fun-loving character "Miss Sister" just plain Sister. She was a tribute to two much-loved dance teachers in our town, Sister Cockersole and Ruth Hart. At a first-pages critique session early on, a young editor remarked that she liked the story, but she didn't understand why a former nun would be wearing red tap shoes...

Since I knew actual people who added the "Miss" in front of names all the time, changing her to Miss Sister was easy.

If you're still reading, here are the previous posts I've written about character names:
This, with a link to Dorian Cirrone's excellent post

And this, with lots of naming names links

(my rejected names notebook)

How do you decide what to name a character? Have you ever (mistakenly perhaps?) named a villain for someone you actually know? What are some of your favorite book characters' names?

Nerd for the Day!

One of my favorite things to do is nerd out about books.

I'm always proud to be featured on the NerdyBookClub blog. 

CLICK HERE for my most recent post about choosing names for your characters and places.

I constantly borrow names. In fact, tomorrow I'm driving to Wachula Elementary School down a road named Moccasin Hollow Road.

(Whoa! I'll be on the lookout for critters on that trip. )

School visits are a great place to discover interesting character names. 
Can't you just imagine this girl in a story?

What are some of your favorite borrowed names?

Don't Miss This Blog

Are you following Dorian Cirrone's blog?

If not, you should be. 
Amazing writing craft tips.

Great recent post, especially the paragraph about NAMES. (see link below)

I love finding the perfect name for a troublesome character. It's crucial that we nail our characters' names, don't you think? 

 
A few currently under consideration for my latest effort.

 (One of these days, I WILL find a use for Taxi Jones.)




Check out what Dorian says about the names and what they say about their characters in Liar & Spy.  
I was always intrigued by "Georges." I mean, who uses that for a kid's name in a book? A terrifically talented writer, that's who. 

Here's the link:
http://doriancirrone.com/welcome/raffle-winner-and-kicking-writers-block/

What's in a Name?

I've met so many kids this year and have considered borrowing so many of their names.

I tell them about my Name Notebook and warn them that I may just use their names if one speaks to me. So to speak. 

I know, I obsess over naming characters. I can't help it. If you type Character Names, or even names, into the search box on my blog, you'll find an embarrassing number of posts on this topic.

(Don't tell my Writers Group but I'm thinking of changing a character's name. He's got the best name in the manuscript. So good -I think- that I'm considering saving it for a leading man, later. I've been lying awake in bed at night going through the remaining letters of the alphabet trying to find a good name for this fellow.)

Recently a writer friend told me how a name and the resulting book title just magically came to her.  On a walk. I won't give more details-- they are hers to share-- but it involves the name IVY. Two members of my immediate family as well as my lifelong best friend are named Ivy. I thought it was a "normal" name until I moved out of the South and realized no one could even understand what I was saying. And that there were no book characters named Ivy!

That's sure changed.
Witness MOONPIE AND IVY. IVY AND BEAN. And the list goes on.

 (Three of my Ivys)

I found this good advice, as well as a name generator here.

Surprisingly, there were some names to think about on that name generator.
Bo Bones, anyone?

Character Names

You know how much I love collecting names, right?

I tell the kids at my School Visits that I have an entire notebook filled with potential character names. And I'm always looking for more.

Serenity!

(Her friend's name was Story.)






And Gertie! I love Gertie!

My latest link, just discovered? 
http://nameberry.com/blog/the-next-baby-name-style-wave

The hot new names. 
Except guess what's on the New Baby Name Style Wave---
GLORY.
Yep, an old name making a comeback. 
(I won't hold my breath waiting for Augusta...)



Here are a few previous posts on The Name Thing.
Yes, I do obsess...

http://ascattergood.blogspot.com/2013/09/whats-in-name.html

http://ascattergood.blogspot.com/2008/05/naming-names.html

http://ascattergood.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-name-game-again.html

The Name Game again

Looking for a name?

Turns out naming a child (or a book character!) after a place is nothing new.

http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n426/Geovalue/16.jpg

 Check out this list of STATE NAMES given to children. 

http://mlcref.blogspot.com/2012/11/youre-named-where.html

Here's a little from that post, above. Doesn't it make you want to click over and read it all?

And because fiction can be more satisfying than real life, here are some fictional characters with US State names:
Alaska Young in John Green's Looking for Alaska
Nevada Smith in Harold Robbins' The Carpetbaggers
Montana Wildhack in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five
Wyoming Knott in Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Arizona Ames in Zane Grey's Arizona Ames.

The daughter named KIM in Edna Ferber's Showboat:
And as Kim Ravenal you doubtless are familiar with her. It is no secret that the absurd monosyllable which comprises her given name is made up of the first letters of three states - Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri - in all of which she was, incredibly enough, born - if she can be said to have been born in any state at all (Ferber 1).


And yes, I do obsess over names.
Can't seem to flesh out a character without the name fitting perfectly.
So I rejected Virginia, a state name?--not entirely, as a big sister.
She just wasn't a Virginia. Turns out, she was a Jesslyn.
Blogged about, here: http://ascattergood.blogspot.com/2011/08/name-game.html

And for my current, in revision, manuscript, I blogged about my Main Character's elusive name, here:
http://ascattergood.blogspot.com/2008/05/naming-names.html

But I'm liking those state names. Great post. Thank you, Mississippi Library Commission!

What's in a Name?

Sorry if I seem to obsess over the Name Thing.
But I LOVE what Liesl Shurtliff says in her Author's Note to one of my most favorite, fun-to-read, perfectly voiced (is voice a verb yet?) middle-grade novels of 2013, RUMP: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin.

She, too, seems to collect names.

Here's a thought, from that Note, about names shaping characters, real or imagined.

"Did their parents intuitively know that was the name for them, or did the name have a role in shaping their behavior and self-perception?"

Maybe it's just writers who have unusual names, the names rarely found on any of "those personalized pencils and key chains in gift shops" who obsess over naming things.
She kept looking, between Leslie and Lisa, to no avail. 

Growing up, my name didn't seem unusual. It just seemed un-glamorous. Some days, I wanted my friend Peggy's name, changed to Peggi when she hit High School. 

As Liesl Shurtliff notes, RUMP is her way of answering that age-old question, What's in a name?

I love this book! 
Here's my review from the Christian Science Monitor.

But I also love pondering the influence names have on our persona. 
Would you be a different person if you'd been given a different name?

Is it true of your fictional people?

Naming Names

 Here I am again, worrying over a character's name. 

I can't seem to get passed needing just the right name, so I was glad to find none other than the great Betsy Byars has the same problem. 



She says a lot about naming book characters, via her website, but I especially love this about McMummy:

One of the things that's important to me is getting the names right, and I couldn't think of a good name for Mozie's friend. Then one day I was out in the yard talking to my neighbor. Her name's Batson. and she started telling me a story and then she interrupted herself to say, "Now, I'm not taking about Little Batty - I'm talking about Big Batty." That's how Batty Batson got his name.

Also I didn't have a name for the beauty contestant. Then one day I stopped at a red light and looked at a sign on a gas station that said Valvoline. Yes!

That's how we feel when the perfect name jumps out and says USE ME!


Someone once posted somewhere that he uses names plucked from his spam email.
 From my spam email?
CLEMMIE MARLINE

I like it!

But I'm looking for a boy name. And it's got to be perfect. When I shared this on Facebook, I got some doozies.  So far, nothing's speaking to me. Yet.

I keep a notebook filled with great names. None seems right for this bad boy, but I'm saving the most recent addition, from a funny kid in Indiana who told me his friend's name is Lyric. Don't you love that! I already have a character in mind for that great name.

Anybody else out there struggling with a character's name?



Related Posts: The Name Game!
Character Naming

The Name Game

1965? Hand jive? Man, could we dance. (Or not.)

Okay, now that you're inspired-

I usually don't have trouble coming up with a character's name. In fact, that's where I start. With a name or two, definitely a place and a time.

But unlike some of my fellow writers who shall remain nameless, for me all that can change in a heartbeat.

Take Cletus, for example. Cletus, you say? Yes, a real boy from my past, going into a story kind of from my past. Missing May, one of my favorite middle grade novels of all times, featured a boy named Cletus. I thought it was a perfect name.

But then a few teachers and young moms perused the manuscript. Cletus was deemed unsuitable. So I named him after two "Franks"--one is a favorite life-long friend, the other a new little boy in our extended family. Both really nice people! And I like his new name even better: Franklin (Franklin Cletus Smith, in my mind's eye), Frankie, AKA Frankfurter when teased. A character I love a lot.

Problem solved.

Move on to the next. Now mind you, naming characters can totally change their personality. Glory's big sister in my forthcoming novel GLORY BE was originally called Virginia. Not for long. A very wise writer in my critique group pointed out that naming characters after states, in children's books, can be confusing. I thought about that name and it seemed way too milktoasty for this big sister. She became Jesslyn. She became more daring. An aspiring fire baton twirler, sneaking away to visit Elvis's house in Tupelo, standing up to Old Lady Simpson who wants to close her public pool.

If you're stuck on a name, or a place name, there are websites that will generate a name for you.

If you love Scrivener as much as I do, perhaps you've tried their very own Name Generator? I've never actually chosen a name this way, but I did play around with Scrivener on this and see how it might actually work.

And if you care to know more, I attached more links in this post I wrote about Character Names.

Character Naming

You'd have to be living in a newspaper/computer/TV-less world this week not to have seen the recent story about the most popular baby names. It was everywhere. Yes, there's the whole Isabella and Jacob thing, as it relates to the Twilight movies and books. But writers have known for a while about the usefulness of baby name sites for choosing character names. Matching a name and a character can change the way you think about your people!

Click here for an interesting post from Darcy Pattison's always helpful writing blog.

Don't forget to check the Social Security Administration site, as she recommends. And ponder her comment about how popular President Obama's girls' names are becoming!

Here's an earlier posting of mine about naming characters in books. Makes me realize how long I've been living with some of my fictional people.

Names, again, 2008 trends

For obvious reasons, names fascinate me. (I've been asked more than once if my own name is a pseudonym...) You never know when you'll need a character named Narcissus or Rivers or Big Timmy or Lil'bit, so I keep those names handy. And I also collect place names. Can't wait to use Swallowwater, TX as a setting!

One thing my sage writer friend Leslie taught me was to match the name with the "person." And not just personality-wise. Think about when the character lived, and where.

So I'm always intrigued to read what the latest trends in naming babies might be. Click here to read all about it-- Baby Naming for the current year. Short names like Ty and Dax are in because they are easy for texters and e-mailers to type? An interesting theory.
Another trend-- naming babies after presidents. And I thought I was being unique when I named two kids in a story after a president and a president's wife. Though it did seem like Mamie was the perfect name for that little girl in my story.

Naming Names

Choosing names is a lot more fun than picking a title. Early on I learned from the best. My friend and critique buddy, Leslie Guccione, guided me as I wrote a mid-grade novel in my first critique group. At first the sisters were named Virginia and Alice Ann. Nope, kids might be confused by Virginia. Even though the story takes place in 1964 and Virginia was more popular then, we (my critique group) decided most kids nowadays think of Virginia as a state. Then Jesslyn popped into my head, and it was the perfect name for a bossy, big sister. Alice Ann was working just fine until I read a new book, set in approximately the same time, with a main character named--you guessed it-- Alice Ann! So Alice Ann became Gloriana, Glory for short. Great name changes. Both girls grew into their names and were better for it.

In my current manuscript, the character is a 12-year-old boy who longs to play the piano. His uncle forbids him to, but he manages to find a way around Uncle Chester's rules. He started out as Shelton. Don't ask. The name appeared to me. I began this manuscript in the amazing Writing for Children class at the New School, taught by Bunny Gabel. A Southerner like me, she understands how wonderfully unusual Southern names might be but she pointed out that, on the first page of the earliest version, she didn't have a clear idea of whether Shelton was male or female. It took me over a year to go back to the drawing board and find him a new name. This piano-playing character is now named Theo, short for Thelonious Monk Smith. Destiny!

I love names, collect them in my head and in notebooks and on pieces of paper tucked into boxes. Southerners seem particularly adept at names. Names like Squirrel (it's true!), double-named girls, Big Jack and Little Jack (my brother and dad). Play around with the USA DeepSouth website if you want to know everything there is to know about Southern names.


Perhaps choosing the perfect name for a character is my way of avoiding the perfect plot. I could create names forever, but without a problem to solve, thorny issues to get in the way, and an interesting backstory, it's just a group of kids and their grownups sitting on the porch under the ceiling fan.