Naming your characters

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet ... right? Who cares if my character is called Kasey or Laila or Persephone? Well, as irrelevant as it is, names are an important part of your character. It's easier to imagine a scary looking bouncer called Keith than Sandy or a stripper called Candy rather than Wendy. Names do account for a lot but whatever they're called, your character will inevitably grow around the name because of social stereotypes. 

Some may say that giving a character a name is the most important part of the story because a name tells you a lot about their background, nationality and class but that's not necessarily true. An upper class family of posh toffs could call their children Wayne and Sharon just as easily as a lower class family could call their children Rupert and Clementine. It depends on the parents so that doesn't come into it but names do matter. 

If you're really struggling, just give them a name: any name will do. In the first book I ever wrote, I called a guy Wendell (I don't know why - I had never heard of the name before) and I didn't like it. However, the guy grew into it and I found that I couldn't change it because it was his name already. 

Another example is with this month's Camp NaNoWriMo - I just started writing and the first name that came to mind was Roger. It doesn't really fit my character (a bumbling sixteen year old boy) but he's grown into it too. He's awkward and a bit cynical and old before his years, yet lovable. I hope. 

Your character's name will become a part of them - people will give them nicknames and make jokes if they can. Whole conversations can come about from characters' names so it may serve you well to think it through in depth, picking time and age appropriate names but in my experience, it's more fun to pick a name first and see what sort of character you create. (On a side note, doing this shows you what type of stereotypes you make!) 

Lydia