On the Topic of Names

In addition to this writing hobby, I read a lot.  I read 137 books last year, and 20 so far this year.  I know I'm a little behind the pace if I want to read over 100, but I'll get caught up when I'm on a few long flights and trips this summer.

Strange things can sometimes come up in a search history, and the least innocuous is "Popular Names of people born in 1940."

Why is this on my mind, you ask?

While writing, I try to find names that suit the characters.  Sometimes, yes, the bad guy gets a name from someone in my past (bwa-ha-ha!).  Or the hero gets a name from someone I admire.  Although, more often than not, I make the character to resemble someone I love  or admire, and give them a different name; maybe one that is trendy now, or reflects the age of the character in the story.  Sometimes the story is much more...ahem...exciting than real life.

Imagine writing about your bestie using her name, and that character is getting it on with her boss in an elevator...awkward!

Naming those characters requires just a little bit of forethought.  The characters I create are mostly people in their 20s, that are single and looking for romantic partners.  As such, I try to choose names that are trendy for young people of that age range.  Sierra, Cameron, Maya, Justin, Ryan, Max, Quinn, Colt, etc.

Some names are ageless.  Timeless:  Jacob, John, Elizabeth, Sarah, Olivia, Alexander, Jack.  You could find someone that is 100 years old and 100 days old sharing that same name.

I stay away from names that are "too old" for those younger characters.  Names that GenXers would have because they were popular only in that small window of time.  In the 1960s and 70s, popular names included Jennifer, Karen, Julie, Linda, Bryan, Kevin, Greg, Todd, etc.

Same goes for names for Boomers.  Larry, Dick, Bruce, Patricia, Susan, Wendy.

However, I've come across a few books that had "80 year old ladies" with names like Gertrude, Myrtle, Gladys, Thema, Bertha, and Edna.

The problem is, those are names of 130 year old ladies.

80 year old ladies are Boomers.  They have names like Donna.  Lois.  Gail.  Shirley.  Barbara.  Nancy.  Or have hyphenated names like Betty-Sue or Mary-Lou.  Guys are named Rich, Frank, Billy, Jerry.  Or maybe have the -ie ending:  Richie, Frankie, Johnnie.  Think of all the movies of teenagers in the 50s.  Those teenagers are now 80-year-olds.  

So while I wouldn't have batted an eye if I read that book when I was a teenager, it's been a lotta years since then.  Gertrude passed away before Y2K.  She's not a flight attendant on Air Grandma.

Thank you for joining me for my rant for today.

Now I have to get back to editing three books that I've been writing kind of at the same time.


Happy reading,

KayLee

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