How to choose character names

Getting the right name for characters can be a tricky business. Sometimes they come to me completely out of the blue as I am creating a character, other times I will struggle to find the name that best suits that particular character and until I do the personality refuses to come fully alive.  So here are my top tips for choosing the names for characters and some areas to be aware of:

1. The name has to fit.  If it's not right then the character isn't right.

2. The name also needs to fit with the age and nationality although you can have exceptions.

 3. When seeking inspiration for first names I turn to my little book of baby's names or I will look them up on the internet.

4. I also keep an ear out for any unusual or interesting names when meeting people and will jot these down.

5. Cemeteries are also a great inspiration for first names and for surnames although I don't pick the same first and surname of a deceased person.

6. Looking at rolling credits on films and TV programmes can also provide me with inspiration.

7.  When it comes to choosing surnames I let my fingers do the choosing and tend to pick these out of an atlas or street map. Then I see if it fits with the first name and the character.

The more novels I write, the more I am in danger of repeating names. It's very easy to forget the names I've already used and eagle-eyed readers may spot these!  Readers also tell me that some novelists have too many characters’ surnames all beginning with the same letter and they find this very confusing.  I scrutinise my work to check that not everyone has a surname beginning with the letter ‘C’ or 'A' or 'B' come to that but we all make mistakes.

Overusing a name is another pitfall.  For some reason I seem to have a penchant for the name Eric, and when I did a search through previous novels found that I’d used it before for different characters, albeit minor ones. So no more Erics (if I can help it!).

And where did the name of my main character in my contemporary Solent Murder Mystery series spring from - Detective Inspector Andy Horton? 

I've no idea.  It just came to mind.  It was after writing several books featuring him that I was contacted by his namesake in the Hampshire Police Force.   A polite e mail asked me whether he had inspired the name and/or the character.  I replied saying that if he was indeed tall, fit and handsome then maybe?  The police officer replied saying he was tall, fit, and his wife thought him rather handsome. I was somewhat relieved to find the real Inspector Houghton had a sense of humour and spelt his name differently.

There is also my 1950s set  Inspector Ryga mystery series. So how did I come up with his name?

Ryga (rhymes with Tiger) started off as Inspector Rees because he has a welsh background but had left Wales when he was 15 to join the Merchant Navy like his father. Ryga is actually Latvia’s capital on the Baltic Sea but that had no influence on my choice of the name. It wasn’t until I had got well into Eva Paisley’s character (a former war photographer who teems up with Ryga in his investigations) that I discovered from her lips ‘Rees’ didn’t sound right. Eva rarely calls him by his first name. I tried Regan but that kept making me think of the British TV programme The Sweeney with Regan in it (the marvellous actor, John Thaw) and my character was the opposite to him so I played around with it, dropped the ‘n’ got Rega then changed the ‘e’ to ‘y’ and got Ryga. It sounded good coming from  the mouths of the other characters, Eva  Paisley in particular.  I liked it and it stuck.

With my other main character, Art Marvik in the Marvik mystery thrillers, I wanted something edgier.

Marvik is a former Royal Marine Commando, Special Boat Services Officer who now works undercover for the UK Police Marine Intelligence Squad on dangerous missions that have their origins routed in the past.  He can operate outside the law and does because the job demands it. He’s not always right though. He makes mistakes. He misjudges people. Sometimes the consequences are shocking and disturbing. For his name I was orginally inspired by Art in the film Mercury Rising played by the brilliant actor, Bruce Willis.

As Marvik's mother was Swedish (Dr Eerika Marvik, a renowned marine archaeologist and his father was Professor Dan Coulter, a leading expert on ocean turbulence and the world’s ocean seabed both killed in an underwater explosion), I looked for a name that had a Scandavian feel and came up with Marvik. In Swedish law in 1963 women had an option to keep their birth family name when they married. This is what Eerika did and Marvik took her surname rather than his father's.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this article.