What is in a Name?

I love naming things. It's one of the joys of life to me, giving names. If you ask any member of my family or close friend, they could tell you that I have a compulsion to name everything. Everything.

For example: My car is named Phil. Laptop: Toshi. Tablet: Sherlock, not to mention the whole zoo of stuffed animals on my bed which all have names. I've even named the machinery at work.

The newest addition is my cell phone, which I thought long and hard about before naming it Greg.

And one of the things I love about writing is finding that perfect name for my character. You know the one that fits them like a glove. Either with their personality, or even what the name means or what it may come to mean. I love names, and to me that's the best part of starting a story is figuring out my names.

A name is an important part of any story. Even if the character is nameless, that is important. An author doesn't name or not name their characters, places, items, lightly.

Sometimes names come easy, like with my main characters in my novel. Henry and Andrew just came to me, names attatched and I can't see naming them anything else.

But others, like Colibri and Steven Lamb, I had to think about. I couldn't just hand out names like willy nilly and expect them to work. For Lamb's name, I had to think of something that wouldn't tip off that he was more than he seemed. (I don't want to spoil my unpublished writing for you so I will just leave it at that) My sister suggested Steve, since he seemed like a Steve to her. Steve didn't fit, but Steven did.

Colibri needed more research. He was a character that just popped up and integrated himself as part of the main gang. But he needed a name that fit his personality and give him an added flair (not that Colibri need's any help in the flair department) So, I named him Colibri which is French for Hummingbird, and thankfully Colibri liked it.

Names are important. They are what people identify us with. They have meanings. Parents think and debate and research names for their children. Authors are no different. Characters are like our children. Albeit we don't have to physically care for their well-being, but we take responisbility for them all the same.

Names can come from anywhere. I tend to use Baby naming websites, because of the huge data base of names and I can filter my search based on meaning or origin. Which is helpful. But names can also come from music, or your own personal expeirances.

It all depends on what you want from a name. Do you want people to connect with them? Do you want it to be ironic? Perhaps you want the name to stand for something...

Names are important. In both life and in writing.