I’m obsessed with finding the perfect names for my characters. I can’t speak for every writer, but I would say that most share the same preoccupation.  Sometimes names are collected from real life people or locations, tweaked in some instances to ‘protect’ the innocent, but in some instances I have to dig deeper.

I put a lot of thought into names, sometimes I spend hours deeply immerse in naming sites looking for that perfect name. Sometimes I’m looking for a moniker with a specific sound sometimes it’s a specific meaning and other times it’s one that comes from a certain part of the world. In the Spellbinder Universe, for instance, many of the appellations are Nordic origin.

Then there are the times a name is fabricated. Jellfree, for instance, is a corrupted form of Jeffrey. Khala, believe it or not, descended from the name Alicia.

I’ve had other writers tell me that strange or fabricated monikers tend to pull a reader out of the story, but I believe that it really depends on the tale. One set in rural Connecticut, obviously shouldn’t feature a protagonist named ‘Kilthar the Oathbringer’, but rather something like Jake or Steve might just be a little more appropriate. It all just depends on the setting.

I do hope other folks will chime in and give their opinion.

 

Until tomorrow, everyone have a delightfully demented day,

 

Daniel A. Wolfe

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