Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor;
Richman, Poorman, Beggerman, Thief.
As a child’s rhyme, it’s okay, but there is more to the words used in various games.
Ticker, Taylor, Soder, Saller;
Rickman, Perriman, Beggman, Theiss;
Tucker, Tyler, Schroder, Chalder;
Reichmann, Merriman, Bridgman, Weiss.
A list of occupations has segued into a list of names, which is entirely what can happen over history. In the nineteenth century, literacy skills were not as they are today and priests marrying couples rarely asked how names were spelt; thus corruptions of the original through phonetics.
Not all names were accidentally changed. As we know, many kept the names of their occupations because it was easier: John the Clarke, Eric the Forrester, James the Cartwright, Frederick the Gardener, Paul the Miller, Lucius the Priest, Richard the Walker, and so on.
What was easy then is not so easy now. How often have you struggled with what to call your magnificent, heroic and clever protagonist? What name would fit? How, out of the millions of forenames, do you fit one with the millions of surnames?
You don’t want a disaster like, Sunny (or variations thereof) Day, Penny Lane or and you don’t want to attach names to occupations like, Joe Death, the Undertaker, or Doctor Pirahna the dentist (this one is true, he was my dentist as a kid); you also don’t want names, that when taken with another – like in marriage – they’re humorous, for example: Jo Bannister marrying Mathew King: she becomes Jo King. So not funny. Even double names can get you into trouble: Marta Thicke marries into the chicken empire of Legge’s and she becomes Marta Thicke-Legge.
And never, ever, forget about contractions. Can you imagine some young, buff guy, by the name of Pitt, having a father called Cecil? What’s Cecil going to be shortened to? Hmmm?
Your names must reflect at least some of the character’s personality. I don’t mean like Ridge, Thorne and Brook Forrester – they’re not as natural as the names suppose (what were those writer’s thinking?). Male names should be strong, but not ridiculous; female names can also be strong, but not overpowering, and feminine.
The solution, if names don’t just spring from your forehead like Athena fully grown, is threefold: first, get yourself a baby name book, and second, find an old phone book. Both will solve your problems. The third is to go to name sites, like: Think Baby Names. The page will also give you links to other sites.
3 comments:
Except if you write historical fiction. Then you need lists of Roman patrician names and which go with what cognomen, better learn some Old Norse and Gothic so you can combine the bipartie Germanic names correctly, and have fun de-Latinising the Gaelic names on the 12th century Pictish King list, your only source for tribal names 400 AD.
On the other hand, I can tell from a blurb that a romance taking place in Rome is badly researched because the hero's name is wrong. Don't even need to open the book. :)
Thanks for the link - and the hilarious examples. Thicke-Legge? That's horrid.
Gabriele makes a good point, but I agree that the name should, if at all possible, be a useful tag for a reader to remember specific traits (strength, courage, occupation) of the character. I actually hadn't considered contractions - that could prove difficult. Again - nice post and thanks for the link!
Excellent point, G. I should have remembered that since I often dig into my Classical Dictionary for ancient Roman and Greek names.
Bri, I often think of contractions: I knew one poor girl who's name, when the first was an initial, came out W. Hore - she had a hell of a time at high school; I know of others, but I don't want to put real names down.
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