Name Shopping

   I could  name-shop for hours!

(sorry the format is weird again but I wanted you to be able to read the names)

I look at basically four things when I collect names for characters: the time period, the common/rareness, the sound, and the meaning. If I'm writing historical fiction, I look at time period first and common/rareness second. For example, I'd look up what baby names were popular during the 1920's for a character who's twenty years old in 1940. For modern day (time period) I don't care too much about how common it is or what it means as long as the sound of it fits my  character. Fantasy (which I'm working on now) is the most fun, because my main focus gets to be on the sound.

   Sound. I guess it all depends on the person, what sounds right and what doesn't, but I wouldn't name a mermaid Ashley or a faun Riley, but somehow Coral and Tobias sound right.

   Meanings. I haven't introduced Wynna to you yet, but in her world of dragon-riding and dragon school, everybody's last names have to do with colors, metals, or stones (e.g. Braunhatte, Emeraldhatte). My centaurs' names sometimes have to do with nature or plants (e.g. Daisy or Forrest). But I found lots more unusual names that I want to use because of their meanings. Did you know that Fabian means "bean grower"? Or that Fynn means "river" and Fyodor means "God's gift"? Those sorts of names fill my list, but I don't know how important meaning actually is in the long run. I've never paused my reading to look up a character's name on google.


  I don't like flipping through the phone book, so I go to baby name websites and http://answers.yahoo.com/ for my shopping.


   How do you name your characters? Who are your favorite characters because of their names?