Q is for Questionable Names

One day when my daughter was seven years old, she told me what she wanted to name her daughter someday. Are you ready for it?

Cinder Block

She said she heard her brother say that name, and thought it was the prettiest sounding name she had ever heard! I didn't have the heart to replace her mental image of the name with this:

Plus, she said I could call her "Cindy" for short. ;)

Now I can't say I want my future granddaughter's name to be Cinder Block, but I LOVE when characters have interesting names. I'm not talking super long, hard-to-pronounce, hard to sound out names. But clever names. Names you wouldn't really expect to be a name, yet totally fit the character.  Like Hiccup on How to Train Your Dragon. Or Buttercup from the Princess Bride. (Or other first names ending in cup. ;)) Or River from Firefly. Or Forrest from Forrest Gump. Or Napoleon Dynamite. Or Primrose from The Hunger Games. Or, even though it's just a nickname, Bones. Or Squints.

I've gotta say, I'm kind of in love with those names that aren't really a name, but ARE a real word. What about you? Take them or leave them?

P is for Pen Name

In an email thread a couple of months ago, as Lucky 13s, we were discussing pen names. I was blown away when I realized how many of us were using pen names! The reasons ranged from a hard to spell last name, to not wanting steamy writing to be reflect negatively on their parents (which totally made me giggle), to their name being the same as an evil dictator's, to having a name that is much too common to be easily Google-able.

I found the entire conversation fascinating! I seriously had not ever thought there were so many good reasons to use a pen name.

(For the record, Peggy Eddleman is not a pen name. As the owner of a last name that gets misspelled virtually every single time it's written, you'd think I would have considered that. Nope! I just figured Eddleman is a very uncommon last name; Peggy is an uncommon first name. People weren't likely to have to sift through the lawyer Peggy Eddleman, the comic Peggy Eddleman, and the renowned chef Peggy Eddleman to find the author Peggy Eddleman. Know what I mean?)

But anyway, it got me wondering about you guys.

Do you use (or are you planning to use) a pen name? Why or why not?

And if you are, how did you go about choosing what your pen name was? I've got to admit. I think I nipped in the bud the mere thought of whether or not a pen name was a good idea, simply because of how VERY HARD coming up with a name is! I mean, seriously. I have a hard time naming my MCs. I'm supposed to name myself?! I don't think this....

is going to cut it. Turner Sixty North just doesn't have quite the ring to it.

Top Names

First off, I just have to say that the comments from yesterday's post were some of my favorites EVER. Those were some incredible WIP Spark stories! Some of them made me laugh, some gave me chills, and some made me go Whoa. That is so cool. All of them put me in awe. I loved them!

At the very beginning stages of a manuscript, I heard the name "Livi," and thought, Oh! That fits my MC perfectly! (Turns out it didn't, actually, and half-way through the draft, it felt like I was typing someone else's name every time I typed it, but that's different story.) About the time I finished the draft (and still hadn't come up with an alternate name), the end-of-the-year lists came out for most popular baby names. Guess which one had become number one over the course of that year?

Olivia.

To which the Change it! Change it! Change it! voices got louder. (Which may or may not have been because her name just really needed to be changed.)

I guess there's two ways of looking at the popular name lists.

1. A lot of people LOVE seeing their name (or even the name of someone they know) in print. If you have a character with their name, chances are they are going to relate the character that much more. If you choose a popular name, there's going to be a lot more people experiencing that. (And with the speed of publishing, those kids who were born this year... might be old enough to read when your book comes out. ;))

2. The name stands out less. It's not unique. It's not different. It's not as easy to remember. (And if you're writing first person, the MC's name is going to be harder to remember by is nature.)

So if you are choosing TO name a character with a popular name or of you're choosing NOT to name a character with a popular name, here's the list in all it's glory, taken from msn's site (where they talk about patterns a lot more, if you're interested).

Top Baby Names of 2011

Girls---Boys

Sophia---Aiden

Emma---Jackson

Isabella---Mason

Olivia---Liam

Ava---Jacob

Lily---Jayden

Chloe---Ethan

Madison---Noah

And just because I found it interesting, this bit from the article: "This year it’s all about two letters: A and N. For girls, the top five names all end with –a: Sophia, Emma, Isabella, Olivia and Ava. On the boys’ side, the –n ending ruled five of the top eight: Aiden, Jackson, Mason, Jayden and Ethan."

Do you choose names more on the popular side, or less?

I've Got a Theory: An Untested Name Tag Theory

You know when you go to some kind of function where everyone is not very likely to know your name, they have those little "Hello, my name is" stickers?

I cannot seem to grab the marker and write my ACTUAL name. Maybe a crazy version of my name, but not my name itself. And if it's a type of thing where it's of great importance to actually have my real name there and I manage to write it, I can barely manage to wear it.

My theory is that it's a writer thing.

But I've never actually tested my theory, since the only place I usually hang out with authors in hordes is at writing conferences-- the one place where I actually LIKE my name tag to say the correct name. So other than at writing conferences, any of you guys have this same problem? Is it a writer thing, or is it just a me thing?

(Side note: I've always wanted to go to a function with a group of people who were all on board with the changing-of-the-names thing, and have our names be Aie, Bea, Cici, Dede, Effie, Gigi, etc.)

(And did this post remind anyone else of that one Buffy episode the year after they all turned into their costumes? They all worried the same thing would happen again, so they dressed in costumes of much more capable people than they did the last Halloween. Xander dressed as 007. Willow dressed as Joan of Arc because "I figured we had a lot in common, seeing as how I was almost burned at the stake. Plus she has that close relationship with God." Then they asked her boyfriend Oz who he was, and he moved his jacket away so you could see his name tag. It read "God." If you were worried you'd get turned into your costumes, yet still have to fight baddies, I can't say that was a bad choice. :))

OKAY. A couple of tangents later, let's get back to the question. When you see that blank name tag, what are you likely to write in the blank?