Name of a character help

skb · 03-03-2018, 05:28 PM

Okay, the other thread was such a thumping success, I thought I'd try out this one. It's the sort of thing that I fret waaaay too much about and sometimes can't get passed - which in this case, is just ridiculous, but...

I've got a never seen, only talked about, character. He's incredibly good looking. He's been assigned as an assistant to my female MC. The idea of him (poor pet) is that all the MC's colleagues talk and speculate about him. We don't know anything else about him and he never actually is in any scenes, just that he's stunning. In my head is a lovely guy, so I don't want to make fun of him or saddle him with a p0rn name.

My initial name for him is "Fabio" (which he currently is all through a 90% finished story) but...it's too...bodice rippery, I think. I have a vision of totally ripped Fabio on a romance type novel cover wearing only half a white shirt*.

I'm thinking something French or Italian (because everything seems sexier in French or Italian). But...my google-fu has failed me. There must be a better name for poor Fabio that isn't too over the top or cliched.

I usually don't have issues naming characters. I don't always name them in the early stages, so I just use AAA, BBB, CCC etc throughout and then do a search & replace when the story is just about done. But Fabio has me stumped. I can currently search but not...replace. Drat it all.

Any suggestions gratefully accepted.

Edit: I just found this (it was link on a possum learning to knit site). Hmm.

* I think there actually was a guy named Fabio who made a living being a romance novel cover model, so this is another reason his name has to change.

crich70 · 03-03-2018, 09:54 PM

Yep there really is a Fabio who did romance covers. He's been on TV. Have you considered "The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook"? It's in both paper and ebook formats and has names by nationality. It also gives tips on surnames for various nationalities as well.

Catlady · 03-03-2018, 10:29 PM

Marcello, Francisco, or Pierre.

BenG · 03-03-2018, 10:36 PM

“By the way, the best place to find names for fictional characters, if you are ever foolish enough to write a novel, is in a Bradshaw or an ABC. All the nicest people always sound like railway stations.”
― Beverley Nichols, Merry Hall

Bradshaw and ABC are railway schedules.

Hitch · 03-03-2018, 11:39 PM

Why not turn tropes on their ear, and name him something decidedly UNsexy?

I mean, we've all seen, for example,the ubiquitous ultra-sexy male vamps, from Lestat to Victor to Jean-Claude, yadda. It's really old, in some ways.

What about...Dudley? George? (The Georges on the forum, forgive me.) Fred? (Ditto.).

Just twist it up, and tweak your reader. If it were me, I'd talk about yon Studly Do Right, in a way that leads the reader to believe that he's completely different--a nerd, etc., by using a nerdly or dull name, like Dudley or Duddley. Then surprise them, with his studly good looks.

Just an idea.

Hitch

gmw · 03-03-2018, 11:50 PM

My character names come from all over the place. If the name wasn't obvious up front (I don't know why, but sometimes it is - or seems to be, but sometimes I'm wrong), then like you I tend to use place holders while I get to know them and then settle on something later. Otherwise I use anything from babynames.com (lets you easily see where the name is from and what it means etc), to my own database of random names, to adaptations from old myths etc., to simply "oh, that sounds good/right".

However, in a situation like you describe, I turned to imdb

In my first book I had a character that I knew almost exactly what I wanted: a very young Tony Curtis. That young, slender, bright eyed and cheeky little boy look he had. And I knew I was remembering the particular look from some movie that I hadn't seen in years ... turns out it was Taras Bulba (also starred Yul Brunner). And so I got my character name from the part he played in that movie.

skb · 03-04-2018, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenG

“By the way, the best place to find names for fictional characters, if you are ever foolish enough to write a novel, is in a Bradshaw or an ABC. All the nicest people always sound like railway stations.”
― Beverley Nichols, Merry Hall

Bradshaw and ABC are railway schedules.

Oooh, I like this idea too. Nice. Thanks. That's actually quite clever.

Holy smoke, even just the single image of one route in Wikipedia is a treasure trove of names.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catlady

Marcello, Francisco, or Pierre.

Pierre! That would've been it, I think (if Hitch hadn't come along and turn my world upside down).

Quote:

Originally Posted by crich70

Yep there really is a Fabio who did romance covers. He's been on TV. Have you considered "The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook"? It's in both paper and ebook formats and has names by nationality. It also gives tips on surnames for various nationalities as well.

I had no idea there was a book devoted to naming characters. But that's a great idea when you think about it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hitch

Why not turn tropes on their ear, and name him something decidedly UNsexy?

I mean, we've all seen, for example,the ubiquitous ultra-sexy male vamps, from Lestat to Victor to Jean-Claude, yadda. It's really old, in some ways.

What about...Dudley? George? (The Georges on the forum, forgive me.) Fred? (Ditto.).

Just twist it up, and tweak your reader. If it were me, I'd talk about yon Studly Do Right, in a way that leads the reader to believe that he's completely different--a nerd, etc., by using a nerdly or dull name, like Dudley or Duddley. Then surprise them, with his studly good looks.

Just an idea.

Hitch

Oh, crap. LOL!!! I think his name is now Dudley. That's...kind of hilarious (sorry to all the Dudleys out there). But that's such a good idea. Oh wait...Myron, Cyril, Cedric, Nigel.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmw

My character names come from all over the place. If the name wasn't obvious up front (I don't know why, but sometimes it is - or seems to be, but sometimes I'm wrong), then like you I tend to use place holders while I get to know them and then settle on something later. Otherwise I use anything from babynames.com (lets you easily see where the name is from and what it means etc), to my own database of random names, to adaptations from old myths etc., to simply "oh, that sounds good/right".

However, in a situation like you describe, I turned to imdb

In my first book I had a character that I knew almost exactly what I wanted: a very young Tony Curtis. That young, slender, bright eyed and cheeky little boy look he had. And I knew I was remembering the particular look from some movie that I hadn't seen in years ... turns out it was Taras Bulba (also starred Yul Brunner). And so I got my character name from the part he played in that movie.

I always loved Tony Curtis ("yonda lies the cassle of my fada") and thought he was a totally under-rated actor with a real flair for comedy. Also a devastating Cary Grant impersonator.
Now you've got me thinking about actor's real names: Marion (John Wayne), Eldred (Gregory Peck), Archibold (Cary Grant) and my favourite, Spangler (Robert Taylor).

Thanks everyone! So many good ideas and so much fun. I feel better about good old Fabio now (poor thing - he doesn't even get an appearance or dialogue and he has endure people making fun of his name).

Nabeel · 03-04-2018, 04:26 PM

It's gotta be Joaquim. And he's hates it if people abbreviate it to Joe.

skb · 03-04-2018, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nabeel

It's gotta be Joaquim. And he's hates it if people abbreviate it to Joe.

Oh no! I like that too. Woe (is Joe). "My name is Joe, but you can call me Joaquim".

So many excellent suggestions (including the excellent railway guide for future characters). Thanks!

sjfan · 03-04-2018, 05:27 PM

Conflating Joaquim and Joe doesn't really make sense. They're different names (not like José/Joe, for instance), and they're not pronounced anything alike so Joe as an ignorant truncation doesn't really track.

crich70 · 03-04-2018, 05:28 PM

Another source of names is Baby Name books, and there are the phone books. A first name here and a last name there and viola! you have a character name. WDCNS is still the best of the lot though I think. Sherrilyn Kenyon is the name of the author.

crich70 · 03-04-2018, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sjfan

Conflating Joaquim and Joe doesn't really make sense. They're different names (not like José/Joe, for instance), and they're not pronounced anything alike so Joe as an ignorant truncation doesn't really track.

Joc maybe though? The french for James.

rcentros · 03-04-2018, 06:06 PM

Go against type and name him Mac or Clint.

GrannyGrump · 03-05-2018, 01:56 AM

Or give a thought to some of those really old-fashioned names that nobody uses any more.
Homer. Irving. Oscar. Ferd. Jethro. Harvey. Zeke. Rufus. Buford. Alvin. Floyd. Hubert. Oswald. Wilbur.

skb · 03-05-2018, 04:45 AM

Thanks GrannyGrump. I'll add some of those to my short list. He's definitely been de-Fabioed. Well & truly.

So far, it's a toss up between Dudley, Nigel, Buford and Hubert.

Dudley is hard to beat, but Hubert calls to me.

I think I'm enjoying this way more than would be considered normal. So many fantastic ideas!

03-03-2018, 05:28 PM	#1
skb Evangelist Posts: 401 Karma: 1597305 Join Date: Mar 2010 Device: Ipod G4, MacOS 10.12, Calibre, Pocketbook Touch HD 3	Name of a character help Okay, the other thread was such a thumping success, I thought I'd try out this one. It's the sort of thing that I fret waaaay too much about and sometimes can't get passed - which in this case, is just ridiculous, but... I've got a never seen, only talked about, character. He's incredibly good looking. He's been assigned as an assistant to my female MC. The idea of him (poor pet) is that all the MC's colleagues talk and speculate about him. We don't know anything else about him and he never actually is in any scenes, just that he's stunning. In my head is a lovely guy, so I don't want to make fun of him or saddle him with a p0rn name. My initial name for him is "Fabio" (which he currently is all through a 90% finished story) but...it's too...bodice rippery, I think. I have a vision of totally ripped Fabio on a romance type novel cover wearing only half a white shirt. I'm thinking something French or Italian (because everything seems sexier in French or Italian). But...my google-fu has failed me. There must be a better name for poor Fabio that isn't too over the top or cliched. I usually don't have issues naming characters. I don't always name them in the early stages, so I just use AAA, BBB, CCC etc throughout and then do a search & replace when the story is just about done. But Fabio has me stumped. I can currently search but not...replace. Drat it all. Any suggestions gratefully accepted. Edit: I just found this (it was link on a possum learning to knit site). Hmm. I think there actually was a guy named Fabio who made a living being a romance novel cover model, so this is another reason his name has to change. Last edited by skb; 03-03-2018 at 05:46 PM. Reason: Knitting possums for the win!

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Character Evolution	tmpazn	Reading Recommendations	9	03-10-2015 08:47 AM
Can you match a NON-character...?	ElMiko	Sigil	10	03-26-2013 10:18 PM
LACK OF CHARACTER	Beyle	Writers' Corner	27	12-31-2010 03:08 AM
Character with accent: è, é, ò, à, ù, ì. How?	dubmehard	Amazon Kindle	3	01-07-2010 03:57 PM
Unutterably Silly Name this character!	AprilHare	Lounge	7	08-23-2009 05:01 PM

03-03-2018, 09:54 PM	#2
crich70 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,310 Karma: 43993832 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Monroe Wisconsin Device: K3, Kindle Paperwhite, Calibre, and Mobipocket for Pc (netbook)	Yep there really is a Fabio who did romance covers. He's been on TV. Have you considered "The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook"? It's in both paper and ebook formats and has names by nationality. It also gives tips on surnames for various nationalities as well.

03-03-2018, 10:29 PM	#3
Catlady Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,408 Karma: 52613881 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kindle Fire, Kindle Paperwhite, AGPTek Bluetooth Clip	Marcello, Francisco, or Pierre.

03-03-2018, 10:36 PM	#4
BenG Home Guard Posts: 4,730 Karma: 86721650 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Alpha Ralpha Boulevard Device: Kindle Oasis 3G, iPhone 6	“By the way, the best place to find names for fictional characters, if you are ever foolish enough to write a novel, is in a Bradshaw or an ABC. All the nicest people always sound like railway stations.” ― Beverley Nichols, Merry Hall Bradshaw and ABC are railway schedules.

03-03-2018, 11:39 PM	#5
Hitch Bookmaker & Cat Slave Posts: 11,503 Karma: 158448243 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Phoenix, AZ Device: K2, iPad, KFire, PPW, Voyage, NookColor. 2 Droid, Oasis, Boox Note2	Why not turn tropes on their ear, and name him something decidedly UNsexy? I mean, we've all seen, for example,the ubiquitous ultra-sexy male vamps, from Lestat to Victor to Jean-Claude, yadda. It's really old, in some ways. What about...Dudley? George? (The Georges on the forum, forgive me.) Fred? (Ditto.). Just twist it up, and tweak your reader. If it were me, I'd talk about yon Studly Do Right, in a way that leads the reader to believe that he's completely different--a nerd, etc., by using a nerdly or dull name, like Dudley or Duddley. Then surprise them, with his studly good looks. Just an idea. Hitch

03-03-2018, 11:50 PM	#6
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	My character names come from all over the place. If the name wasn't obvious up front (I don't know why, but sometimes it is - or seems to be, but sometimes I'm wrong), then like you I tend to use place holders while I get to know them and then settle on something later. Otherwise I use anything from babynames.com (lets you easily see where the name is from and what it means etc), to my own database of random names, to adaptations from old myths etc., to simply "oh, that sounds good/right". However, in a situation like you describe, I turned to imdb In my first book I had a character that I knew almost exactly what I wanted: a very young Tony Curtis. That young, slender, bright eyed and cheeky little boy look he had. And I knew I was remembering the particular look from some movie that I hadn't seen in years ... turns out it was Taras Bulba (also starred Yul Brunner). And so I got my character name from the part he played in that movie.

03-04-2018, 04:26 PM	#8
Nabeel Zealot Posts: 147 Karma: 2747136 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Britain Device: Kobo Aura One	It's gotta be Joaquim. And he's hates it if people abbreviate it to Joe.

03-04-2018, 05:27 PM	#10
sjfan Addict Posts: 281 Karma: 7724454 Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Bethesda, MD, USA Device: Kobo Aura H20, Kobo Clara HD	Conflating Joaquim and Joe doesn't really make sense. They're different names (not like José/Joe, for instance), and they're not pronounced anything alike so Joe as an ignorant truncation doesn't really track.

03-04-2018, 05:28 PM	#11
crich70 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,310 Karma: 43993832 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Monroe Wisconsin Device: K3, Kindle Paperwhite, Calibre, and Mobipocket for Pc (netbook)	Another source of names is Baby Name books, and there are the phone books. A first name here and a last name there and viola! you have a character name. WDCNS is still the best of the lot though I think. Sherrilyn Kenyon is the name of the author.

03-04-2018, 06:06 PM	#13
rcentros eReader Wrangler Posts: 7,841 Karma: 51000001 Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Boise, ID Device: PB HD3, GL3, Tolino Vision 4, Voyage, Clara HD	Go against type and name him Mac or Clint.

03-05-2018, 01:56 AM	#14
GrannyGrump Obsessively Dedicated... Posts: 3,209 Karma: 34984330 Join Date: May 2011 Location: JAPAN (US expatriate) Device: Sony PRS-T2, ADE on PC	Or give a thought to some of those really old-fashioned names that nobody uses any more. Homer. Irving. Oscar. Ferd. Jethro. Harvey. Zeke. Rufus. Buford. Alvin. Floyd. Hubert. Oswald. Wilbur.

03-05-2018, 04:45 AM	#15
skb Evangelist Posts: 401 Karma: 1597305 Join Date: Mar 2010 Device: Ipod G4, MacOS 10.12, Calibre, Pocketbook Touch HD 3	Thanks GrannyGrump. I'll add some of those to my short list. He's definitely been de-Fabioed. Well & truly. So far, it's a toss up between Dudley, Nigel, Buford and Hubert. Dudley is hard to beat, but Hubert calls to me. I think I'm enjoying this way more than would be considered normal. So many fantastic ideas!