as created by Alex Cavanaugh.
My theme - character names. I've got the Complete List of Baby Names (editor Lesley Bolton) in reach and we shall explore the alphabet. As a rule, I've been horrible at picking names for characters. My guys always seem to be called Nick. My female names are bland. I'm hoping this month of discovery will kick start some character development and give some oomph to my tales.
p 119 - out of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s there were no popular names beginning with A.
In 2010 - we have Alexander, Aiden, and Anthony for boys, and Ava, Abigail, and Alexis for girls.
And now my find for the letter A:
Girls: Abela (French) meaning A breath or sigh, source of life. I picture this girl with long dark hair, in a romance novel.
Boy: Alon (Hebrew) of the oak. He's our obvious hero or maybe not. Perhaps he could be the shy, studious type who must grow into his name.
Do you have any favorite A names?
I quite like Annalisa ;-) I'm also always drawn to Adam for a man - but I've written an Adam now, so I have to divert myself.
ReplyDeleteAbela has a beautiful meaning.
Interesting theme... Character names. I have heard that writers that write in the history genre actually go back to the time period and look at census records for names. I thought that was fascinating. Me I like regular sounding names when I read a book, if they are weird spellings or some name I've never heard of, I feel like it's just distracting instead of adding depth to the book.
ReplyDeleteVisiting from http://morgandragonwillow.com/2014/04/a-is-for-angry-activist-owning-her-feelings.html
This is a fun subject for the A to Z challenge! I like it! My favorite A names are Abigail, Allison, Adrian and Alex. :D
ReplyDeleteJuliet to Romeo:
ReplyDeleteWhat’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title.
Is it not the substance of the character that matters?
From an a2z challenger
Cool idea! I like both of your "A" name finds and their meanings. I am thinking of changing my female lead character in my Restful book - which is getting closer to being a complete first draft - that is, it's got a lot of words that can be changed and cut! Ha!
ReplyDeleteWill keep checking in with you! Looking good! :)