I have a few books on my shelf which I bought because I liked the premise.
They are still on my shelf, but mainly to remind me never to buy a batch of books again without having read at least one by the author.
So why did I get as far as three pages in, and then threw them at the wall?

The hero (and each of his friends for that matter) has a name that makes me want to ram a name book down the author's throat.

I won't tell you who the author is, or which series this is. I don't want to slam anyone, and people like her stuff.

This is simply to highlight that a reader can reject an entire series because of something as simple as a name. Until I picked up the first book, I thought I'd never do something like dismiss a whole series, just because of a name. I did. If it had been just one name, I could live with it. But they all had mutilated names. Adding an H, or a Y instead of an I isn't going to disguise a dumb name choice. Do it for each one… ugh.

I'm talking about names like (I'm making this one up) "Paagan" for a pagan hero. Wholf for a werewolf. You know, stuff like that. Or hey, how about just adding an apostrophe in the middle to make it look different? P'Agan the Druid. Whyld the Warrior. Why not R'Evenge? I've seen that kind of stuff a lot and it's a total turnoff for me.

The thing is, I don't mind off the wall weird names. I don't. I use them myself, all the time. Lots of them. But I don't disguise a common word with an H here and a Y there, just to spell it differently. When I use a weird name, I'll either make it up, or find a source. Actually, I wouldn't necessarily call the names I use weird. Just… unique. And most of all, if I can't say it out loud without breaking into a sweat, then I don't use it.

So next time you're tempted… please don't.

It's annoying.

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So you’ve decided on your hero’s name, and it’s Edward.
Edward is a nice name. Just not for an alpha male.
While there are no hard and fast rules about names, and any name should be fine — you’ll soon find it’s not.
K, T and R names are the strongest sounds, hard sounds, making your hero sound tougher.
John vs Jack
Jack sounds stronger, John sounds softer.

Short can be better than long. (Not always!)
Donovan vs Don
Don sounds stronger.
Donovan sounds more reliable though.

Then there is meaning to consider.
You wouldn’t want your hero’s name to mean "Flowerpot" or something, right?
(Or maybe you would… It could be a giggle if he gets pulled up on it all the time.)
Anyway.
As I said, K sounds and the like sound "Strong"..
However, if you don’t want a hard sound at the beginning, try to pick a name with one in the middle.
And, for God’s sake, don’t name them all Jake, or Jack.
Please. I’m begging you.

Peruse baby name sites (there are plenty out there) and say the names out loud.
See which one sounds strong, and which comes off as soft, or even weak.
On those sites, you will also find the meanings. Check them out too.

Make the name pronounceable.
(I should talk. One of my heroes is called Raxsaixahael. His friends call him Bob – because they can’t pronounce it. He also answers to Rax, however. And I picked this for a reason. )

Last but not least — there is fashion to consider.
Some names are eternally popular. Some… well.
Before you name your hero Willard, consider when the story is set. Or have a good reason for choosing an old fashioned name. (Maybe he was named after his Grandfather?)
But if you have no reason for calling your hero Ulysses, or Erasmus, then think about it a little. (I personally like old fashioned names, so don’t let me deter you too much.)

There are a lot of things you can do to enhance your hero, but probably the most important is his name. We make a lot of mental assumptions when we hear a name.
If we are introduced to a Beau, we’d naturally assume he’s handsome, for instance. (After all, that’s what the name means.) His name may be Beauregard, and he could answer to any number of nicknames (Beau, Bo, Reg etc)  but the name has to make an impression on us — and it better be a strong one, if he’s the alpha male hero.
I (personally) wouldn’t get a strong impression from a hero named Kenny, even though it’s a K name. The cutsiefying of the -ny takes away the strong sound. I’d have a better impression of Ken, or Kenneth.

Names are difficult, to be sure.
But they are what define your characters.
So choose well.

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There is a great post on hero names on Samhain’s blog at the moment.

Beyond Jack and Jake – What to name your hero.

It got me to thinking.
I will dig out the dynamics of a name again and blog about it.
I might be a few days, but…

In the meantime — check out the link above.

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