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A Heroine Named Mildred?
What’s in a name? Could you create a kick-butt heroine named Mildred? Not Millie, not another variation, but plain old Mildred? When I hear that name I think of the movie Mildred Pierce…and she was not a nice woman. Or if you break it down further, the first part of the name is “Mild” and I ask you, is that a trait that should be associated with your main female character?
Names need to be age appropriate. There are very few women older than 35 named Tiffany running around in our neck of the woods. Ditto for 25 yr old women named Gladys. I don’t necessarily struggle with first names when I’m creating characters, but the “don’t” rules always seem to stick in my head. Don’t pick a name more than three syllables long. Don’t pick a name ending in “s” and don’t have the last name start with the last letter of the first name. The best example? Hermione in the Harry Potter series. Everyone mispronounced it to the point JK Rowling claims she wishes she would’ve named her Jane. But would Hermoine, a quirky do-gooder, a fiercely loyal friend, a girl smarter than the boys who’s a bit of a pain, be the same girl if she were indeed just plain old Jane? I don’t think so.
The point of this? Last week my editor asked me to change the name of my female lead in the next cowboy book, a book I’m only a few chapters into. I had this woman character set in my mind and her name was…Maisie. Evidently that is the same name of a children’s TV show. With an annoying theme song. My kids are older, I hadn’t heard of it. I asked my friends who have younger children and their reaction was the same as my editor’s: don’t use it. Luckily, I wasn’t in love with it and I easily changed it to a variation that works – Macy. But it got me to thinking about another character I’m working on, who’s entire personality is the antithesis of her name. If I’d were forced to change that one, it would ruin not only her character, but the entire scope of the novel. Does that mean I have too much invested in a simple name?
My husband and I fought like crazy over baby names. His name is Erin – and yes, it is spelled in the Irish fashion, not the Hebrew version Aaron. He was teased his entire childhood for having a “girl’s name.” We still get mail addressed to Ms. Erin Armstrong. He informed me we would not be naming our children something weird. It was a good thing we had 9 months to hash it out – and now I can indulge my need for unique names with characters, not real live humans. Our daughters ended up with normal names, nothing we made up, nothing to make them cower in the corner because their parents thought “Hoover” was classiest name on the planet to bestow upon an innocent babe.
So what are your pet peeves for names? Likes and dislikes about character names? Or doesn’t it matter?
Lorelei James
www.loreleijames.com
Great post! ‘Mildred’ always reminds me of ‘mildew’, so it’s never been a name I’ve liked LOL.
My father named me after his favourite actress (my real name, I should add, not my writing pseud) and I have a middle name I absolutely loathe. Because my father is from a different country to where I grew up, no one had a clue how to spell it if they heard it said or how to say it if they saw it written. I still have that problem today and many a time I’ve thought of changing my name by deed poll. So maybe that’s why I like playing around with character names, because I badly want to change my own name!
As for character names, in my stories they either fit the character or they have the opposite meaning to the character’s personality. A lot of countries place so much importance on a person’s name that I think you’re right to invest a lot of time and emotion into a character name.
And ‘Macy’ does conjure up a different image to me than ‘Maisie’. I’ve never heard of the TV show you referred to since I live in the UK, but Maisie sounds like a sweet homespun girl in gingham and Macy sounds more like a kick-ass tomboy. Almost the same name but they evoke totally different images, at least in my head and from the associations I have with them.
I only ‘dislike’ a character name if it is very hard to pronounce in my head, or if it seems totally out of character (unless of course it is a deliberate plot-enhancing ploy of some sort). And I think authors shoud avoid using similar sounding names or even names beginning with the same letter for different characters. It can become confusing for the reader otherwise.
My partner (spouse – whatever you may call it!) has also got a more traditionally female name – ‘Hilary’ – it makes for all sorts of confusion and bewildered looks!
I asked my friends who have younger children and their reaction was the same as my editor’s: don’t use it.
I’d make the neener-neener face but that wouldn’t be very professional ;)
I don’t actually ask authors to change character names often. It’s pretty rare. One time there was an author who seemed to have followed the alphabet in the baby name book to name her characters—as each new one was introduced their name started with the next letter in the alphabet.
I also have had an author use two very similar names for two different characters in one book and requested a change there, to avoid confusion.
But to avoid a visceral dislike reaction, or a reminder of something I don’t like, I don’t think I’ve ever asked for a change before. In this case, I think I said this to you, but I figured I wouldn’t be the only parent of a toddler reading the book and Maisie is not a common enough name that I could move past it to a different imagery. The cartoon show isn’t the image you want your readers having to overcome—or thinking of when they read the blurb in the bookstore while deciding to buy, lol!
And look, great inspiration for a blog post. My work here is done ;)
Ooh, Rebecca, you win. I’m assuming hubby is English?
Do people assume…anything about your sexual orientation? I often wonder if people do when they see our personal checks with both names on.
Olivia~ now you’ve got my curiosity piqued…what is your middle name?
Oh Great Editor – I shouldn’t have questioned your wisdom…but I’m glad I did, for the reason Olivia listed. Macy works better. And lord knows, it is my goal in life to make things go smoothly for you :)
I’ve heard of Maisie mouse is that who you mean? But I wouldn’t have connected it with a book I was buying.
Fun post! I don’t have much trouble with character names, but I could strangle myself for thinking that folks would know how to pronounce my pseudonym (my mom’s name), Ciar.
I’ve only had the need to correct someone once in person, but it’s embarrassing.
I don’t like characters with those “new” kids names too much—Madison, Tyler, Taylor. My niece just named her daughter Peyton. Eesh. I dunno.
I don’t like heroines who’s names are men’s names. I’m not talking about “Alexandra” shortened to “Alex”, although that can be a bit grating, but more like Ciar said, “Taylor” or “Quincy” or “Preston”... Yes, I’ve seen all of these.
When a woman has a masculine-sounding name, it freaks me out. If I can’t tell who’s the hero and who’s the heroine from the book’s blurb, I’m probably not going to buy that book. LOL
~~Becka
Names that irritate me…That’s such a great question. I just hate that it when multiple characters in a story or series have names that either sound alike or start with the same letter.
One thing to note, however, children in the past four years or so have been named mostly outside the norm. Brannum, Aylia, Delynn, etc. I’ve seen all types.
One that sticks in my mind was a heroine named Ione. And she lived on the island of Iona. (Both cases, starting with a capital i.)
My eye kept mistaking the first letter of her name for a lower case L, so I kept reading it as “Lone”. :)
snork I see a name change coming up in my future, Carolan. ;)
I’m with Becka on the masculine name thing. It’s tough to tell Peyton and Brock apart. Which one’s the heroine?
My first-born is named Sarah Mary Victoria Lillian. My second is Alice Mae Eleri Rhiannon. God help me if I ever have another girl because we’ve run out of female names we can agree on. We both prefer family names. The problem? His family is Welsh and I am a Kentucky country girl. I insisted on names that my poor ol’ Granny could both pronounce and spell, which left most of his choices in the dust.
My rule of thumb for male characters is simple: if it doesn’t work when cried out in passion, think again. If I read, ‘‘Oh, Dylan!’ I’m thinking yeah baby! If I read ‘‘Oh, Cornelius!’‘ No offence to anyone by that name, but I cringe.
Daisy-Head Maisie is a Dr. Seuss character. Great book, but I have to agree; I would have serious freudian problems with trying to associate the name with a grown-up character. It would be like calling her Smurfette. =)