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An interesting question when you are writing fiction. The author gets to decide how to name their characters and why. Now, names are important. As important a decision as when you chose the name for your own children. Characters are a lot like creating your own children. You have to choose names which match their personality, their ethnic origins, their color (yes, I said color), their family history, their religion.

A bit much you might be thinking. Just choose a name and get on with it. Yet, again, what’s in a name? Let’s look at some examples of what I mean. Take Jack and Jill. Wholesome, old school nursery rhyme, right. Let’s look at the rhyme.

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.

Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after.

First off, who among us thinks this is wholesome. Sounds like the beginnings of a horror story or murder mystery to me. First off, we associate the name Jack with a young white male. Period. Even though tons of people of different colors use the name Jack, most anyone you ask to identify the name Jack by color would say he is white.

Plus, the name is a shortened version of both John and Jackson and a couple of others. In fact, I have known several who answer to Jack even though it has nothing to do with their original name. And then there is gender of course. Jack is an obviously male name, isn’t it?

I have known a few women with the name Jacqueline who answered to Jack or Jackie. Jackie of course is the feminine version of Jack. See what is in a name? Now comes the fun part. Say the name was Jacqueline and it was two women who went up the hill. Is this Jack white or black or brown or yellow or red?

Names convey a lot. They have power. Especially when you are naming a character. What about Jill? Is she white? It’s obvious she is, right?  Jill and Jillian and Gillian are all female names for white women. Sounds completely racist doesn’t it? And yet, what if I asked you the color of the person’s name associated with a person you’ve never seen?

Let’s try these: Dashiniqua, Serena, Akira, Charlotte, Carmelina, Aria, Zoya

Dashinqua – Black. Admit it, this is the first color of skin that popped into your mind. Yet I know a woman with this name, and she’s Korean. Goes by Dash. Korean isn’t a color by the way. It’s a race and a place. Her skin tone was a sallow yellow. She’s a techie type. Doesn’t get much sun.

Serena – White up until Serena Willams burst on the scene. Now the name is associated with black females. It is a name that dates back to the ancient Greeks.

Akira – I bet you said Japanese. What does race and place have to do with the color of the name bearer?

Charlotte – White. Without a doubt most who are asked this question would say Charlotte is a name that belongs to a white female. Another misconception.

Carmelina – Mexican. Again, this would be brown as the color but then again Mexicans come in all colors so which color would this name represent?

Aria – White right? Think Aria of The Game of Thrones. Yet, it is Jewish name and few Jews are actually white. They are a separate race unto themselves with different skin tones due to marriage outside the religion and the race.

Zoya – White right? You thought maybe Greek or Turkish or even Russian. Again, places not colors. Funny thing about the name Zoya. It is a popular name among Muslims, and I have never met a Muslim who identifies as white.

See how important a name can be in a story? The name sets the tone of the character and their past. Let me give you another example. In our eBook, The Trouble in Nunya , the main character’s name is Cheyenne Dances in Moonbeams. An obvious Indian name. Notice I didn’t say Native American. I hate anything that is put in front of American. You are either an American or you are not. You don’t put anything in front of it.

In fact, Cheyenne identifies as a Nez Perce woman. She isn’t an Indian or Native American or a member of an indigenous tribe. She is a Nez Perce woman, period. This is a large part of her character’s personality.

In the story lines Cheyenne chose the name Cheyenne. The name she was given at birth was Mathilda Hawkins. A completely English name. Notice I didn’t say white. A name she hates since it connects her to her past. Something she wants to put as much distance behind her as she can. So, she creates her own name. Cheyenne. A funny name for a Nez Perce woman. She chose the name of another tribe for her first name.

The Dances in Moonbeams comes later as she does just that. The name came from the way some Indian cultures choose to name a person after an action in their lives. So is their use of secret names. Which Cheyenne also finds along the way in the story.

Names. Such important things. What if the nursery rhyme went Jan and Bill went up the hill? What if it was Monique and Jefferson? 

Take away the color factor. Move the time frame back a couple of hundred years. How were people named back in 1607? Move forward into the future a couple of hundred years. How would children be named then? Of course, there are the factors about where the character is located.

The location is as important to a name as the color or race or ethnic grouping. What would you name a girl who was born in space? How about the names shoved onto the children of the hippies of the sixties? Children who are now in their fifties and sixties.

How many girls were named Farah after Charlie’s Angels came out? Or Jacqueline or Kate? How many Serena’s are there now thanks to the popularity of Serena Williams? Or the name Michelle? When someone says the name Michelle I think of Michelle Pfeiffer. However, today most think of Michelle Obama.

See how important a name can be. When you think about your character think about who they are. About how their parents would have named them. If their parents were a military controlled governmental state or a scientific lab, would their name be Bill Jameson, or would it be William 1675?

Use the names of your characters to set their lives up. Set the tone of the story and the place. If I see the character named William 1675, I doubt he is on a small ship on the Atlantic in the hold of a slave ship in the year 1675. Unless you set the story up as such.

Consider the names you use in a story. They are more important than you think.

I’m Ross, The Editor-in-Chief at The Pyrateheart Press and I’m out.