Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Names

I've been reading on a few blogs about how to choose names for characters. I have to admit that I love picking names. I love searching baby name books and websites. For the book I'm working on now I tried to give everyone an Icelandic name. For my other WIP I've gone with old English names.

I've told this story before but when I was fourteen I spent a summer writing a book and collected both first and last names by going through the phone book.

Today I went looking for that old notebook in my Writing Project of Days Past bin. I found it so enthralled by the story I wrote when I was 14, that I spent a couple of hours reading it. Anyway at the back of this particular yellow coil binder was my collection so I'd thought I'd post what were some of my favourite names more than twenty years ago. Ouch it hurt to say that.

4 comments:

JKB said...

This is great.

I don't normally have to pick the names, they just sort of come. I love Icelandic names! In my current WIP, they've got Scandinavian names as well.

We rule!! :)

Jessie Oliveros said...

This is awesome, Patti! I enjoyed snooping through your notebooks. You have some great names.

Heidi Willis said...

I love names too! I spend a lot of time finding the perfect ones. On the last book I researched good Texas names. I try to make them accurate in time period and place - authentic, I guess.

For some reason it really bugs me to read names that are way out of synch with the book.

That is so cool that you keep notebooks of names! I may have to try that too!

Holly Kennedy said...

Very cool!
I keep a database of names (first and last, not to mention pet names as well). I'm forever pulling it out.