And What's In A Name?

 

Artwork By Christopher Chamberlain. All Rights Reserved (C)

Do you like your name? Do you think liking your name is important?

Feeling pride and like for your name must help in creating self-esteem early on (I'm sure there is probably loads of research and stats on this), a good cornerstone to having a sense of individuality and familial pride.

Have you ever met someone and you swear, they have the wrong name? No matter how many times someone tells you their name is "Erin" you can't help but call them "Nicole" at least in your head.

Are we born with names? Perhaps a better way of phrasing that is, do we enter this physical world with a name?
And are incredibly lucky when someone (parents) get it right.

I think character names are important. I have a lot of fun choosing names for my characters and I give it a lot of thought.

You would want a name suited to the personality (though that's quite subjective) and something that is memorable. Or does the writing make the character's name memorable?

 
Is Holden Caulfield really memorable? Or is the book so well written that we forever associate the name with the story?

You want character names that are interesting, but pronounceable.
The main character of Stargazing is Sidra Penumbra.
“Sidra” meaning, star like or star born or from the stars and “Penumbra”  meaning "part of a shadow where the light source is only partially blocked."

 
A lot of thought went into the name of this character and in the end, I hope that it is a strong name that will be memorable and match the personality of the character.
In fiction and in life, names are important, a way to identify ourselves and our characters from the rest.