Tayari's Blog: The Name Game
Posted by TayariJones on May 18, 2007 08:09 AM
Filed under
Writing
All the unpacking has giving me time to muse and when I muse, I usually muse about writing. While I was going through my stuff in Jersey, I found a book of baby names. Someone gave it to me to help me find names for my characters. I never opened it.
My students like to use this tool for finding names. They flip through the book and find really unusual and pretty-sounding names for their characters. I sometimes suspect that these are names for which they would like to trade thier own. I don't recommend this method as I think you just end up with names that give more information about the writer than the character.
A character's name really contextualizes that person. Take a look at your own name. I guarantee you that it gives the story of your family in microcosm. My name, Tayari, is a word from the Ki-Swahili language. Right there you know that I am a child of the 70s, a "Movement" baby. The meaning of my name is "ready" or "she is prepared." This, too, gives you a window into the way that my parents positioned me in the world. There were many movement baby girls out there with prettier names-- names that meant "beauty" "queen", etc. My folks were far more practical (for me at least). My older brother, they named Patrice Lumumba, after the freedom fighter in the Congo. My younger brother's name, Bomani, means "warrior." You can get the idea of what they expected from us.
Many of us look at our names and wonder what our parents were thinking. And almost everyone has gone through a period in life when they wanted a new name.
An exercise I do with my students is to have them put their own names into context. In other words, what were their parents thinking? Then, I ask them about the name they once (or currently) wish they had and why. (I, by the way, wanted to be called LaTasha Angelique.)
Then, the fun part is doing the same for a character of a story that you are working on in early draft form. I like to do this early enough that you are not quite sold on the name yet, so if you realise that the name and the context don't fit, you can still change it.
(I did this myself as an exercise and ended up with the opening line of The Untelling.) Try it out.
And if you want to tell the story of your name , or confess your secret name, do it in comments!
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There are 2 comments on "The Name Game". If you'd like to leave a comment, click here to jump down to the comments entry form.
Comment #1, by Michael Fischer ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.tayarijones.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
Well, let's see...
1) Background of Name, or What in the Hell were my Parents Thinking: My full name is, "Charles Michael Fischer." I go by my middle name because my father always wanted my first name to be "Michael," but my mother wanted to name me after my Grandfather, "Charles." Michael Charles doesn't sound as good as Charles Michael. So my name is basically a compromise. Anyway, to look into this more deeply, my parents divorced when I was two, and because I always felt like I was being pulled between them, it's sorta fitting that I basically have two "first" names. Finally, I was born in 1978, but I'm pretty much a child of the neocon 80's, and therefore my name is bland and fitting for the lame 80’s.
2) I’ve never really thought of a fantasy name, but it would be cool to be named like some hunky soap star for a day, or a Harlequin Heartthrob, like Logan Dupont Beauregard IV, or something like that.
3) When I publish for the first time, I still haven’t decided if I’ll go with “Michael Fischer” or “Charles Michael Fischer.”
3) Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about last names, because the book I’m working on is narrated by children or through the POV of children in a hospital, so the adults are named “Mr. X,” “Mrs. Y.” I showed one story to a friend and she laughed that I named a nurse “Mrs. White.” Said that was kinda cliché. I never really thought about it, because "White" is a common last name in NC, where the book is set, but I was immediately embarrassed and agreed that naming a nurse “Mrs. White” was kinda cliché. Also, lately I've been looking through the Raleigh phone book for last names, since my book is set in Raleigh.
May 18, 2007 12:36 PM
Comment #2, by Ladylee
I think I tried to use a children's name book to name my characters, and found it a bit overwhelming. I prefer to jot down names that I hear during the day that catch my ear. Thus, I have a list of first and last names that I pick and choose from. That seems to work for me, but I think I will try your way... That sounds interesting...
My first name is "Alesia", which I have found to mean "noble" and "truth". Basically, my mother wasn't trying to come up with anything wonderful... It was a name she liked. Plus she likes to joke about how she mispelled it by mistake, which I don't find very funny. And, it is not pronounced the way that one would think it should be pronounced, but I allow people to call me as they see it.
My middle name "Nicole" I think means "victory". Mother wasn't thinking that at all when she named me. Mother liked to watch the soap opera "One Life to Live". On the show, there was a character named Victoria who had a split personality. My middle name comes from Victoria's DARK alter ego personality "Nicole".
Geez, I didn't know what to make of that revelation (and I STILL don't). I saw many **crickets** when my mother told me that. ~sigh~
The name I wanted to be named? One name immediately comes to mind. I remember wanting my last name to be "Boyardee". That's from "Chef Boyardee", the canned pasta company.
Yeah, I was a strange child, LOL.
May 18, 2007 01:18 PM