Running With Quills: All in a name

Welcome to Running With Quills, your online newsletter designed to keep you up to date with what your favorite authors (that would be us) are doing throughout the year. Here you will find the release dates of our new books and get information about our backlists. We'll preview our cover art here long before the books hit the stores and we'll keep you informed about works-in-progress and special projects. You'll also receive advance notice of signings and appearances. From time to time we'll give you a peek at our worlds, tell you what we're reading, and introduce you to some new authors.

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

All in a name

Good morning, everyone! I'm typing this very early on my still-dark hilltop in Vermont. We get lovely sunrises here, but not yet...soon, I hope. I'm a morning person. It's easier for me to get up at 5 a.m. than to go to bed at 5 a.m. I'm in the midst of a writing marathon while Joe's off helping our daughter and son-in-law move furniture. Not coincidentally, he gets to hang out with their five-month-old son, Leo, the new love of our lives. I can't look at that little face and not smile. Baby Leo is named for my father, the only one of his great-grandparents who is no longer with us (except in spirit).

As a writer, I love naming characters. The process itself often helps them come to life for me. I'll jot down a name and go...no, that's just not him. Sometimes a popular name works. Sometimes an unusual name is the one that's just perfect. For instance, Scoop Wisdom is a Boston detective who appears as a minor character in THE WIDOW, THE ANGEL and THE MIST. In THE MIST, we learn that his real name is Cyrus. Cyrus "Scoop" Wisdom. He's built like a bull, and he adopted two stray cats and has a vegetable garden. In THE MIST, he saves the life of another detective's daughter. I like Scoop. Turns out he's the hero of THE WHISPER, the next book in the series.

There are many sites on the Internet that can help with brainstorming names. Baby name sites are great, and I've played around with sites of surnames listed by country of origin. Just seeing names gets my creative juices flowing. I stumbled on the Social Security Administration's site for popular baby names. What fun! You can look up popular names all the way back to 1880. The most popular boy and girl name for 1880? John and Mary. In 1935, the year my mother was born, Mary again is the most popular name, but names like Minnie, Ida and Cora that were in the Top 20 in 1880 are gone. Instead we see names like Shirley, Doris and Joyce. Mildred and Florine, my mother's names, aren't on the list. My names aren't on the list the year I was born, either.

You can do a search for the popularity of a particular name. I checked Hannah, the name of my heroine in COLD RIVER (due out November 24!). It was #17 in 2008 and has been in the Top 20 since 2000. Cyrus isn't as popular. You can look up changes in popularity: e.g., Jude was #297 in 2008 and #224 in 2007. There links for most popular names by state and by city. In 2008, Noah and Emma were the most popular boy and girl names in Vermont. In Washington, it was Ethan and Olivia.

As you can see, I really do love names, whether or not they're popular. Leo's gone from #390 to #227 in popularity since 2000, but it doesn't matter. Some of the most popular over the years aren't a surprise. Others are. For instance, want to guess what the most popular girl's name was every year from 1970 to 1984? And if you'd like to share any favorite names in your family, please do. By the way, I'm named for my Dutch cousin (Carla, #584 in 2008) and for my Dutch grandmother (Amalia/Amelia; Amalia isn't in the top 1000 but Amelia was #68 in 2008).

The sun's up!

Have a great day, everyone,

Carla

20 Comments:

Lori Foster said...: Fun blog, Carla!
I've never understood why parents name their kids one thing, then call them something else. For instance, my name is actually Loretta. Yeah. Very country.
But from day 1, I was called Lori. So why wasn't I just named Lori??? LOL
When I had my kids, I named them what I'd call them - Aaron, Jake and Mason. Everyone in the family harangued me for not naming Jake something like Jacob. But I knew he'd be Jake. Period. Sometimes (when he'd get in trouble) it was Jake Zachary. LOL.

When I'm writing, I pretty much just try to find a name I haven't already used. With over 80 books, I DO forget sometimes.

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!

Lori; 6:11 AM
Carla Neggers said...: LOL, Lori. My father's legal name is Leonardus, but the baby is just Leo. ;-); 7:09 AM
susan andersen said...: Carla, great blog. My brother agrees with Lori. He named his daughter Jennifer and of course everyone calls her Jenny, except him. My son is Christopher and I'm about the only one to call him that. He prefers Chris.

I'm guessing Sara/Sarah was the most popular girls name between '70 and '84.; 8:23 AM
susan andersen said...: Meant to mention: I know a little girl named Cora. She's five and had cancer a year or so ago, but is doing well now. My s-i-l does daycare and she was one of her kids. I walk with my brother 2 or 3 times a week, so I'd see Cora whenever I was over there.; 8:28 AM
Carla said...: I love the name Cora -- it's my mother-in-law's first name, but she goes by Estelle. I'm glad little Cora's doing well!

And I forgot to give the answer! According to the site, Jennifer was the #1 girl's name from 1970 to 1984. I figured it'd be late '70s to mid-'80s. It's a lovely name.; 9:44 AM
Rebecca said...: Carla - I hope you might consider a personal retreat in Scotland one of these days. I named my dtr Christianna after my mother-in-law's great-grandmother. Her friends call her Christy, but she is Christianna to me. I can see you incorporating something about Scottish plaids linked to different families in your writing (if it is true). I found your books accidentally. Now that I have been on this site, I have already read a short story by Jayne Ann Krentz and I am thrilled to find out what Lori Foster is doing to help people in southern Ohio. I absolutely love the Ohio River. My grandfather had roots there. I live further up north in the state. I am definitely going to donate.; 11:26 AM
kris b said...: carla great blog!
Ido like names though when naming my kids thankfully I didnt have boys cause the hubby and I did not agree! ;) and my girl names one is popular and one not so common, as my oldest is alaina and my youngest megan I love them both! which is why I picked them though I really wanted judith the husband put his foot down sigh...

my daughter is expecting her first and his name will be nolan, I really like it and i hope he fits it well! I think people like animals fit their names! my animals all have given names but we call them something else? it just happens with their personality as I think happens with people and their names as well!

love the blog and I like the older names as well!

Kris b; 11:33 AM
Patricia Rice said...: As one of a blue million Patricias born in the post war era, I made certain my kids didn't have the name of the decade syndrome, but I wanted them to be able to choose what they'd like to be called. So my daughter Corinna could have taken several forms of that name but stuck with Corey, the most popular form. And though her daughter's name is Calista, which doesn't rate anywhere on the SSA site, she's called Cali, which has apparently also become popular.
I think names are part of a writer's obsession.; 11:40 AM
Carla Neggers said...: Rebecca, I'd love to do a Scottish retreat!

Alaina, Megan, Nolan -- what wonderful names. I like Judith, too, though, I have to say.

Corinna/Corey and Calista/Cali. Love 'em.

Naming pets is another blog altogether. Our rabbit is Greta. She's been known to bite. ;-); 11:59 AM
Anonymous said...: My given names, both (I guess) are derived from kings of England and France. I can't trace them back that far. Anyway, I was named after my dad, we both have the same first name. We continued, at least the initials with DS #2.

My DW was named after one of the characters from the book "Ivanhoe" by Scott.

I'm looking forward to reading "The Whisper".

Louis; 12:36 PM
Lady_Graeye said...: Fun Blog! I choose modern names [Alexis,MacKenzie, Madison, Kane and Tristan (for a girl)] for my children after having a family of tradional names. But when my daughter named her daughter "TuesDae Rain" I kind of had mixed feeling. I understood the need for uniqueness but this totally threw me off. It wasn't until I looked in my book of baby names it became clear to me. I myself had written down in the back of that book a few offbeat, strange names including "Rain" for a middle name. When I look back at it, it's true, the nut really doesn't fall too far from the tree. A name isn't a name until it's put with a child's face and personality! So I guess when you name a character maybe you should create the personality first.; 1:12 PM
Katherine said...: I was christened Kathy but have always been called Katherine so go figure because usually it’s the other way around. I’m named after my maternal grandmother (Katherine or Kappy) who was named after her mother on back as far as we’ve been able to research.

I’ve a pretty good sized group of older gentlemen volunteers who help me out at the museum, none of whom can seem to remember that it is Katherine and not some variation. On Mondays I’m Kathleen, Tuesdays I’m Kay, Wednesdays I’m Kate, Thursdays I’m Kathy and Fridays I’m Katie. …After 14 years I’ve given up. It does provide a giggle for my co-workers since we set up a poule when we get a new volunteer as to how long and what variation of the name the newbie will settle on.

For several years three people of our six person department were Katherine/Kathrine and we were collectively known as the “K’s” and individually as K1 K2 & K3. We were also known as the Oracles but that’s another story.

K1; 2:15 PM
Catherine said...: Hi Carla
From the day I found out I was pregnant, I started talking names with my husband--poor guy, he hated that part of pregnancies. We settled on first names for our girls just before they were born. The only thing I wouldn't give on, was the middle name. That was reserved for our first daughter. I wanted her to have Daddy's middle name. So, Maegan Douglass came along and her sister then was given my middle name.

CatherineC; 4:40 PM
Anonymous said...: Susan -- Sarah was about the fifth popular girls name in the mid 1980s. You can see a graph showing when the name was popular on NameVoyager and maps of where the name was popular on NameMapper -- both are at babynamewizard.com. This site is great, but don't look at it if you're trying to get work done.

We wanted to name our daughter Katharine/Catherine/Cathryn and ended up using it as a middle name but choosing a common spelling that wasn't the same as either grandmother's name, since they each spelled it differently. We used it as a middle name because the grandmothers were both miffed at the "wrong" spelling.; 8:24 PM
Carla Neggers said...: My daughter is Katherine -- we've always called her Kate (never Katie). It's a family name on my husband's side.

Great stories! And I see I have a new website to check out. :-); 4:44 AM
Jayne Ann Krentz said...: Well, as we all know, I am name-challenged when it comes to picking character names so I'm always interested in the subject. But I think the best site I've found yet is an Outlaw Biker Name Generator. Love it! Not sure if this link will work but anyone who is curious can just google it:
http://www.ratbike.org/motorcycho/outlawname.php; 10:36 AM
Stella Cameron said...: Very provocative, Carla. Names come with definite character traits for me. I know immediately if the name I decided on is wrong and out it goes. Having used such memorable efforts as Nasty and Spike (both heroic) it might be difficult for some to figure out what makes me tick:)

Cheers,

Stella
Leo is a name in my family.; 11:14 AM
Kate Douglas said...: Fun blog, Carla! When I need a name I go to http://babynamegenie.com/baby-name-generator/ because the little genie that comes up with names is so damned snarky that I love him!

I was christened Katherine but called Kathy, which I utterly despised all the time I was growing up, mainly because literally ALL my friends were named Kathy (must have been very popular in 1950) but of the seven of us, I was the only one with brown hair and no chest--the other six were cute, blond and had boobs. I changed my nickname to Kate as SOON as I got away from home! (and no, unfortunately the new name did NOT help the chest...) Our daughter, born in 1973, is Sarah, and at the time we were just thinking of family names. I had no idea how popular it would prove to be.

In so many cultures, names have power, and for a writer, they really can determine the characters in a story.

Kate, who is currently working with Dawson Buck and wondering just how he'll pan out...; 2:03 PM
Anonymous said...: I love names. They tell us things about where you come from, like what country/culture, or how formal your family is. My paternal grandmother was names Fanny Lou Sheffield. That always amazes me in how quintessentially Southern it is.
My oldest grandgirl was given a name that means strange and wonderful-Miranda-with her mother's childhood nickname-Bean- for her middle name. It seems her dad just loves the nickname. When the second grandgirl came along, my daughter wanted her to be called Riley and we all joked she should be named Riley June so it would sound good with a Southern accent. The name was formalized on the birth certificate.
Names are also powerful. My husband answers to Grandpa, but, if one of the girls uses PopPop, he turns to mush. PopPop has chocolate in his pocket and takes them on adventures like the big big boat, aka the ferry to Kingston, WA.
I love the old fashioned names and the magical ones, but the ones I love most are the nicknames we call the ones we love. My husband's nickname for me is "Sweetbaby". I've been called that for over 40 years and it doesn't get old.

Thanks, Carla

Lynne Thomas; 5:27 PM
Mary said...: My name is Mary Melissa. My Grandma's name was Mary elizabeth. I name my daughter Elizabeth Ann. My mom and my husbands mothers middle name's are both Ann.

Of course now everyone calls my daughter Lizzie. Not me though. lol; 8:23 PM

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Wednesday, November 04, 2009

All in a name

20 Comments: