Happy Tuesday, book lovers! This week’s topic from That Artsy Reader Girl is Best Character Names. Rather a subjective topic, and with the exception of the first three books on this list, I had no idea what names I would include! The biggest obstacle was separating the names from the characters they represented, because I naturally gravitated to the names of my favourite characters. But in the end, I think I’ve managed to come up with a reasonable list. Let me know what you think!
My Stubborn Heart by Becky Wade and Whatever Tomorrow Brings by Lori Wick came to mind straight away, because the main character in each is named Kate Donovan (technically Kaitlin Donovan, in the case of Whatever Tomorrow Brings, but it gets shortened to Kate). Little did I know, when I read Whatever Tomorrow Brings as a teenager that I would one day share her name—or close enough to it! Can’t get a better name than that!
Some names are favourites simply because of the way the character is introduced. For example, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. How can you go past, ‘There was once a boy named Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it’? And then there’s the wonderful secondary character in The Red Door Inn by Liz Johnson, who always introduces herself: ‘Aretha Franklin. No relation to the singer.’
One of my all-time favourite books by Ronie Kendig, Wolfsbane introduces the Metcalfe family—all six siblings named after elements of nature: Brook, Stone, Canyon, Willow, Range and Leif. BTW—this one’s just undergone revision and will be back on the shelves soon. Keep an eye out!
Some names I love simply because they just own their character. Or their character owns them. Or something… Anyway, how could Drew Farthering of the Drew Farthering Mysteries by Julianna Deering be known by any other name? Or what about Bear McKinley from Melissa Tagg’s Walker Family Series. Man I love that name! And one of my favourite ever nicknames: Pickle, the nickname Paul Rustin gives to Suzanna Wilton in Reclaimed by Jennifer Rodewald.
Rounding out my list today are two names that I love ‘just because’. The first is Wren Lockhart from Kristy Cambron’s The Illusionist’s Apprentice and the second is Elianna from Tessa Afshar’s Land of Silence. I don’t know what it is that makes me love them, but I do.
Ooh, I can’t believe I forgot about the Metcalfe siblings. You have chosen some really good names for your list. I’m happy to see someone else mention a Lori Wick character!
They’ve been front and centre in my mind since I just finished proofing the updated version of Wolfsbane that will be coming out soon! 😍
Garr. Wulfrith. Mike drop!
Yeah. I was seriously tempted to include him, but he manages to pop up in quite a few of my lists, so I didn’t want to be accused of favouritism! 😉
Oh, Drew is so pleased to hear you find his name suitable. He’s really quite chuffed about it. 🙂
There are a lot of things I love about Drew. 🙂❤️
Hee hee. 😀
Your last 2 names kind of shocked me, Katie! When my daughter was expecting her second girl, she was thinking of naming her Wren but decided to name her Ellianna instead! Ellianna definitely fits her better. 😀
Haha! Isn’t it weird when that happens?
Great names really do make the character.
On Tue, May 22, 2018 at 4:40 AM Fiction Aficionado wrote:
> Fiction Aficionado posted: ” Happy Tuesday, book lovers! This week’s topic > from That Artsy Reader Girl is Best Character Names. Rather a subjective > topic, and with the exception of the first three books on this list, I had > no idea what names I would include! The biggest obstacle wa” >