How I name my characters

When I'm writing and including a new character, I'll very often leave a blank, or put the person's title in parentheses as a placeholder. I work on the names later. Yes, they're that important. I like to sit down and take my time to come up with just the right name. Two of my favorite name sourcebooks are: The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook by Sherrilyn Kenyon, and The New Age Baby Name Book by Sue Browder.

I name some of my characters for the meaning of the name (but the sound of the name also has to fit the character's personality). For others I ignore the meaning completely because I love the sound of the name so much. For example, for my goblins I lean toward Egyptian, Indian, and Native American names. For Tam, I threw all that out the window. "Tamnais Nathrach" are both Scottish names, and I obviously chose them for the sound because in no way to I see Tam as a "twin snake", which is what those two names mean.

Other goblin names:
Chigaru Mal'Salin -- "Chigaru" is Egyptian for "hound". And for "Mal'Salin" , I reversed the Hindi name "Salmalin" which means "claw", and added the apostrophe for fun. I liked the reversed version because "Mal" is French for "bad" (I think). Yeah, four years of French, and I can't remember a danged thing. ; )
Sathrik Mal'Salin -- I think "Sathrik" was a combination of names that I toyed with to come up with something that seemed to fit him perfectly.
Sarad Nukpana -- "Sarad" is Hindi for "born in autumn", so I obviously chose his first name for the sound (I like the "S" sound; it's serpent-like). "Nukpana" on the other hand, not only sounded great, but it's Hopi Indian for "evil." How perfect is that?
A'Zahra Nuru -- I went with Swahili for her. "Zahra" means "flower" and "Nuru" means "light". I added the "A" and apostrophe for fun. The apostrophe in some names is becoming a "goblin thing" for me.
Magh'Sceadu -- I have no clue where I got "Magh", but "Sceadu" is Anglo-Saxon for "shade." The combination really fit the Khrynsani's soul-sucking, nightmare creatures. BTW -- Khrynsani . . . I must have made that up. I just take pieces and parts of words and names and play with them until I get what I want.
Ocnus Rancil -- I just love this name. "Ocnus" is Greek for "incompetent" -- what Greek parent would actually name their child that?? (I used Greek, which is usually what I use for mages, because in first drafts of MLTF, Ocnus started out as a human mage). "Rancil" is a play on "Rancid." I thought it fit. ; )
Talon Tandu (Talon is in Armed & Magical) -- "Talon" is French for "sharp" and "Tandu" is the Indian god of dancing. It fit my smart-ass, sultry caberet spellsinger perfectly.

For my mages, I tend to go with Greek or Latin names. The sound of those names work wonderfully for mages.
Nigel Nicabar -- "Nigel" is Latin for "black" or "dark", perfect for a necromancer. And the term "Nachtmagus" , I think I put together myself. "Nacht" being German for "night" and "magus" for "mage". Nachtmagus = nightmage. It worked for me.
Justinius Valerian -- both names are Latin. "Justinius" means "upright and just" and "Valerian" means "Valiant."

For my elves, I went with Hebrew, Celtic, or Gaelic -- for the most part.
Raine is Teutonic for "strong." And I have no idea where I got "Benares" from. It just seemed to fit. I found out later that it's a sacred city in India.
Phaelan is Celtic for "wolf." Great for a pirate.
Piaras is Gaelic or Greek for "rock." I loved the sound of it and through subsequent books, Piaras does grow up and mature to become his namesake. "Rivalin" is a tweak on a couple of names.
Mychael Eiliesor -- I went with a slightly different spelling of "Michael" for my elven paladin. I chose it because of the archangel qualities he has. "Eiliesor" is made up by me (I think).

Any other names I either made up, or I couldn't find their meanings. But that's a peek into how I come up with my character names.

Coming up tomorrow: Since I'm doing the final proofing on Armed & Magical this week (and probably into next week), I'm going tell you about the book editing process from my point of view. There are three stages: working with my editor Anne to edit content, working with the copy editor for grammar, style, and copy inconsistencies, and working with the proofreader to proof the final galleys to catch (hopefully) the last of the typos and make any final corrections. This will probably be a two or three-part blog.

Coming up on Friday: This is something that came to me yesterday while I was making a double batch of Cincinnati chili. When I'm on deadline, I always make a double batch of what I'm cooking so I can freeze part of it. That way, Derek and I can have a good (but quick) meal when I need to get up to my office to work. So over the next month or so every Friday, I'm going to post "Recipes for feeding your family while you're on deadline." I'll post my favorites. And even if you're not a writer on deadline, having something that you can cook and freeze some for later is great time-saver. This Friday, I'll give you my recipe for Cincinnati Chili -- or as Derek and I call it, Chocolate Chili. Yep, it's got chocolate in it, and it is decadent. ; )

Yeah, it's Monday, but try to have a great one anyway. ; )
Lisa