Category Archives: Names

Name That Character!

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By Elaine Viets

My St. Louis high school class had at least three girls named Kathy, two Peggys, a Debbie, and a Connie. Among the boys were a pair of Tims, two or three Bobs, a Curt (or Kurt if he was from the German side of town) and at least one Dick. I don’t have to tell you why that last nickname declined in popularity, but Dick Nixon didn’t help.

These names marked my class indelibly as baby boomers. Now those names are rapidly losing popularity with new parents.

Gen Xers, the babies born between 1960 and 1980, have a boatload of  Amys, Jennifers, Elizas,  Angelas and Marks.

Gen Z parents prefer names on the mystical side, including Luna, Nova, Orion and Kai.

When you’re naming your characters, choosing an appropriate name will help age them properly. There are a zillion baby-naming websites (that’s an exact scientific figure). My favorite is nameberry.com, because it has so many helpful lists, including Victorian  baby names, trending baby names, and badass girl names, like Scarlett, Lilith, and Jupiter.

In novels with well-named characters, grandparents and great-grandparents will most likely have boomer names. Their children, the ones now driving the old folks to their doctor appointments, will probably have Gen-X names. And those parents may be wondering what the heck Kai means, and if it’s a boy’s name or a girl’s. (According to nameberry.com it’s gender-neutral, though most Kais are boys. Kai is a Hawaiian name usually associated with the sea.)

If you give your character an unfamiliar name, be sure to check its meaning. I like Mazikeen, but Neil Gaiman invented this name for a character in his comic book series, “The Sandman.” The name may have come from the Hebrew word “mazzikin,” which are supposedly small harmful spirits. In the TV series “Lucifer,” Mazikeen is a companion demon for Lucifer Morningstar. Mazikeen would be a good name for a minor villain, but probably not an ideal baby name.

Here are three names I’ll never use for major characters I like:

Ernie. One of the most popular boys’ names in 1948. Ernie Pyle was a heroic World War II correspondent killed in Japan. Unfortunately, a less-than-heroic Ernie lived next door to me when I was a kid, and I can’t erase his image. This Ernie was a flabby, pot-bellied old geezer with cigar ashes trailing down his wifebeater shirt. He was usually sozzled by dinnertime.

Sara and Emma. Sara is a much-loved Gen X name, and Emma is one of the most popular girls’ names in the US. But nothing can erase the images of the first Sara and Emma I knew: my terrifying great-aunts. By the time I came along, Sara and Emma were in their eighties, had thin white hair and sturdy black Enna Jettick shoes. They wore black dresses, steel-rimmed glasses and talked about their surgeries. They also had white chin whiskers, which I didn’t know ladies could get. Sara and Emma scared the daylights out of me. No matter how many talented, glamorous women are named Sara or Emma, they can’t overcome the image of those old women. Or their whiskers.

As for my name, Elaine, it’s French and Scottish, and means “bright, shining light,” though those two adjectives don’t apply to me before I have my tea. Elaine was in the Top 100 names in the early 1920s, and peaked at Number 42. Now, it may be making a comeback. Nameberry suggests that “parents looking for a more unusual name, try Yvaine.”

Don’t do it, Mom and Dad. You’ll condemn your girl to a lifetime of saying, “No, it’s Yvaine. That’s spelled Y, like in yacht. V, like in victor, not B as in boy. Then A. I. N as in normal . . .”

How do you name your characters?

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Name That Car

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What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. –William Shakespeare

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Last week Sue Coletta wrote a post in which James Scott Bell facetiously commented his dream job would be to be a wine critic. That got me thinking about a vocation I’ve always said was my dream job: naming new models of automobiles.

Driving down the street is like sailing through a sea of fantasia. Those little boxes that are designed to carry people from here to there in various states of luxury have names that have nothing to do with their engineering.

Take the Aston Martin Valkyrie for example. If there were a contest of fantastic auto names, this would surely be the winner. According to Merriam-Webster, the meaning of VALKYRIE is “any of the maidens of Odin who choose the heroes to be slain in battle and conduct them to Valhalla.”

I have to say I haven’t seen any Valkyries driving around in my neighborhood, but I’m keeping an eye out just to see which end of this car is the front and which is the rear.

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Many automakers prefer animal names for their cars. Here are a few:

  • Chevrolet Impala
  • Plymouth Barracuda
  • Dodge Viper
  • Mercury Cougar
  • Ford Raptor
  • Ford Bronco
  • Ford Mustang — My husband owned one of these when we were married.
  • The Jaguar — I owned a Jaguar XKE when I was young, single, and foolish. To this day, I’m not sure if I owned the car or the car owned me. It seems like I spent a lot of time taking care of its issues.

 

  • Volkswagon Beetle — A hugely popular car that didn’t follow the ferocious animal paradigm.

 

 

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Weather seems to be big in car names. Consider these

  • Mercury Cyclone
  • GMC Syclone — The misspelling was intentional and used to avoid trademark infringement. But who would buy a misspelled name?
  • GMC Typhoon – GMC apparently likes weather names
  • Oldsmobile Toronado – Toronado is not actually a word, so I assume Oldsmobile was looking for a cool name to conjure up the force of a tornado.

 

  • And then there’s the Renault Wind. I don’t think this one was intended to invoke feelings of a powerful storm:

 

 

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Other notable car names:

  • Jeep Gladiator
  • Dodge Stealth
  • AMC Javelin
  • Triumph Spitfire
  • Acura Legend
  • Nissan Armada (One car is an armada?)
  • Aston Martin Superleggera (And the name doesn’t have anything to do with legroom!)

  • Nissan Maxima – Years ago, my husband and I had to replace an old car, and I had picked out a new Maxima as my car of choice. When I took Frank to the dealership to show him the car, the salesman took great pains and a lot of time to describe all the fantastic features. When the spiel finally concluded, Frank asked about the price. The salesman spouted a big number, then said, “But remember, this is a MAXIMA!” Frank didn’t bat an eyelash, but replied, “Do you have a Minima?”

(In case you’re wondering, we bought that Maxima and kept it for over ten years.)

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Another of the great cars I owned in my life was the Audi A4. Uninspired name. Fabulous car.

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I identify the cars my characters drive. Kathryn in The Watch Mysteries drives an old Maxima. Her boyfriend, Phil, owns a car repair shop and drives an Audi. Cassie Deakin in Lady Pilot-in-Command drives a Mustang. None of the cars in my stories have a personal name, but Cassie’s airplane is named Scout.

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So TKZers: What cars were special to you in your life? Do you identify the cars your characters drive? Do you give them names? If you could give a name to a new model car, what would it be?

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Kathryn Frasier prefers running to driving. You can find her training for marathons in The Watch Mysteries. The ebook boxset is on sale for $1.99