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| My name was invented by Jonathan Swift |
This argument, however, made me stop and think. Am I guilty of this as a writer? I spend ages trying to work out the best name and fit it to my character. I use photographs and ask lots of questions of them - their background, where they live, what they do etc etc. I create a whole character biog. Therefore, am I creating these stereotypes that she is using? Am I as bad as her...oh I hope not.
I have been known to spend days trawling through baby name books, looking on the internet and reading other books searching for the right character name. Why? Because a name can tell you so much but it also can tell you nothing if you want it to that is. In my WIP, Trafficking, I have two characters one called Saba and her mother is called Belqis. Both names give a clue as to where they might have come from. But also I know that Belqis means Queen of Saba. My readers will never know that but it meant a lot to me to use the name. The other two names of my main characters are Amina and Ben. Amina gives a slight hint to her heritage and Ben, is pretty nondescript. No offense meant if you are called Ben. I had an English Setter called Ben who was lovely and very elegant; my sons have numerous friends called Ben and they are lovely, so is that where the name came from? Who knows.. It is a name that doesn't say anything and that was deliberate. Maybe I should call him Tyler (see interview)...
If I said the name Harry to you I imagine you would come back with the name of a certain wizard. If I even said Bella or Edward, if you are of a certain age, the same vampirish images might appear in your head. This isn't new. Books, films, TV programmes, stage plays can all potentially have an impact on a name as can celebrities. Making it popular or equally ensuring it looses its popularity because a vile character has been allocated it. I haven't met many Voldemorts I must be honest.
As I said this interview has made me stop and think. I will consider even more carefully what names I am going to use and what characteristics they are going to have. I don't want to do anything that might add fuel to this woman's unreasonable biases.
How do you pick the names for your characters?
And here is an appropriate song: Barry Gibb and Michael Jackson singing 'All in your name.'
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Ah, I'm glad you explained that and gave a link. I have been bemused by the chatter about this woman, having never heard of her.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a bit different in fiction as you can trade on the established associations of a name. If you have two characters called Adolf and Benito, no one will expect them to be rescuing kittens. But that might be just the expectation you want to overthrow.
In my WIP I have characters called Pearson Gullet and Dromedary Hump. Oh, and Selina Wadge, but she was real. I don't think anyone would let their children play with that bunch. (But then, I named my own child after Lucrezia Borgia...)
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DeleteWonderful names in your latest WIP. Can't wait to read that. My son is called Leo, everyone assumed we had named him after a character in Howard's Way (dubious TV programme in the 80s). We hadn't but nobody believed us. You make a good point about being able to trade on the established associations of a name. Could we then be reinforcing the stereotypes perhaps? Interesting one.
DeleteNames can be class signifiers, we British know this, even if we don't agree with the vile Katie Hopkins on what to do with that information. I'm proud to have written three books about a Tyler!
ReplyDeleteAnd they are great books too. You are right names are, and always have been, class signifiers. As writers do we automatically still conform to these signifiers though?
DeleteAs a writer, I get hung up about names and find I have to get them exactly right before I move forward with a story. Paradoxically, though, I have no trouble changing them later on!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure there's anything wrong with choosing names that signify class, providing you're using it as shorthand rather than in a pejorative way. I think a lot of writers are of a sensitive persuasion and we can tie ourselves in knots worrying about who we're likely to offend!
Yes Nick, it is too easy to get caught up with thinking who you might offend or who might even think you have based a character on them. Enough to drive you mad!
DeleteFascinating piece, Vanessa: reminds me of the old saying among teachers that they can't have children because there aren't any names that wouldn't remind them of some difficult (polite form of the expression) kid they've taught.
ReplyDeleteIn French, by the way, a 'benjamin' is the youngest child in the family.
Oh I love the idea that 'benjamin' is the youngest child in the family.
DeleteAs a lecturer and a mother I come across a lot of 'names' and sometimes you it is difficult to disassociate the name from 'certain' types. Perhaps then we do all make these decisions we are just not unpleasant or ruthless about it.