Thoughts on names and the sound of them

[valarltd]

This is mostly for reannon whose new book is being a dreadful child. This is me, talking on my own, expressing how names resonate with me.

Male names have specific sounds that are short and punchy and macho.
A good demonstration of this is in the movie Rick where Rick, Mick, Duke and Buck all share a scene. The hard k sounds fly fast and furious and you can almost smell the testosterone.

Short names, especially a short first and last name combined that have the same vowel sound is VERY masculine. Jim Kirk. Ron Moss. Jack Twist. John Wayne.

The longer the name gets, the softer it gets. By the time you're at four syllables between the names, you better have some serious ks, ds or ts happening or you've got someone who is bookish or sleazy.

Be careful of M and N. The nasals will soften any name. As will L and R and W. R in the wrong place, especially in a blend, makes someone evil. Nothing good will be expected of someone whose name starts with Dr-. It brings to mind dragon and drag and dread and Dracula and Draco.


Short hard names:
Pete
Matt
Cliff
Jake
Jack
John(can go soft, depending on surname)
Bill
Jim
Frank
Fred
Tom (see John)
Nick

These tend to be suited to rougher characters. Cigar chomping alpha males, blue-collar workers, etc.

The longer forms are more elegant
Peter
Matthew
Clifford
Jacob (still pretty hard)
Jonathan
William
James
Franklin
Frederick
Thomas
Nicholas

The change to longer vowels softens the names, takes the edge off of them. Patrick is one of the few that works well either way

Surnames: Remember there are four kinds.
1) Descriptive: Brown, Black, Short
2) Location: Bradley, Hill, Woods, Johnston
3) Patronymic: O'Conner, MacRory, Jackson, Fitzgerald, Williams
4) Professional: Carpenter, Baxter, d'Eath, Miller


And something I've learned?
Steer clear of names that end in S. it will make your writing ever so much easier.

Please add any thoughts to this ramble in the comments.

Comments

[drewbeartx.livejournal.com]

So you're saying I have a soft, evil name? :-P

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

And the hiss at the end of the surname just makes it EXTRA evil. 8)

I knew someone was going to have a counter example. None of this is set in stone.

But yes, if I was writing a character with your name, he'd be bookish and quiet, not Mr Shoot-first-and-fuck-it after-to-see-if-it-moves.

[drewbeartx.livejournal.com]

True, I'd be much more likely to be the strategist, figuring out how to lure you into my bed where I could thoroughly ravish you. ;)

[celestinenox]

I would very much like to hear your opinion on female names as well.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Those aren;t as well formulated.
I don't use a lot of female names.

One thing to be wary of is era. Some names are tied to very specific eras and age groups.

Mildred is never less than 70.
Peggy grew up between the 30s and 50s. You don't encounter too many born after 1960.
Emily is either very old or she's under 20. Ditto Hannah.
Mary and Elizabeth are universal. An Elizabeth now will go by her full name, Liz or Beth. one born in the 40s will be Betty.

-y and -ie endings are diminuative. They do not create strong women characters. Betty, Peggy, Lizzie, even Angie are child-like.

Giving a woman a man's name with a -y ending is much the same. Scotty, Tommy, Bobbie, Johnnie are all southern women of a certain age.

Odd spellings and overly elaborate names tend to the provenance of the lower class. Girls' names move down the class scale.

[celestinenox]

Not as well formulated, maybe, but still insightful and useful. :) Thank you!

[megleigh.livejournal.com]

Interesting post. I'm fascinated by names and usually like to find a good evil sounding name for my villains eg "Emlyn Darcy" in one book I wrote.

Never really gave much thought to the hardness of softness of a name though. Mostly my characters tend to tell me their names, though, so I don't get much say in it at all. :)

[reannon.livejournal.com]

I missed this! Thank you. Yes, my book is being awfully naughty. It needs to sit in the corner a bit and think about what it's done. Of course, it will probably start talking to me while I drive to Nashville and can't do a damn thing about it.