A.L. Heard

AKA How I Name Stuff in My Writing

Part One: Dem Hockey Bois

Naming things is the worst lol—I’ve always struggled with naming books and stories. Hockey Bois was actually the working title while I was writing it, and by the time I’d finished it, I hadn’t come up with anything better and by then it just kinda fit, y’know? (The Trade Deadline and Vampires Don’t Play Hockey were admittedly a lot easier to name.)

Characters can also be tricky. I can plot out some stories without knowing some characters’ names at all. Especially side characters who might make it all the way to a first draft with just ((defenseman)) and ((goalie)) as their names, I don’t necessarily need a name for them to write them into the book. For major characters, though, I can only outline using a placeholder—when I start writing, they need a first name, last name, their hockey nickname, AND their jersey number ready to go. Names definitely become part of a character’s personality and can reflect how others view them (especially with hockey nicknames and when they’re used). Just look at Ryan—he’s RJ to most people even though he prefers to go by Ryan, and that distinction’s important (and not one I knew he cared about until I started writing him).

So how do I come up with the names?

For some characters, it’s easy. In Hockey Bois, I knew Nick’s name and Brady’s last name pretty early, and it was fitting in some of the other pieces. Lars’ name is Lars specifically so he could have the nickname Lasse, and Ryan I always knew would be a “Junior” so he was stuck with that J. For hockey-themed books, there might be some hockey-inspiration behind the names (Nicklas Backstrom, Nick Jensen, Timothy “TJ” Junior Oshie, Lars Eller*), but most characters get the random name generator treatment.

Seriously! Random Word Generator is one of my go-to name generators, especially as I start to come up with team rosters. I can play around with the nationality option to get my Swedes and Russians in the mix, and I usually have a big ol’ list of names I think sound good that I slowly mush together as I write. Eventually you go through enough that one snags. Brady’s first name came from that generator—as soon as I saw it, I knew it was his name.

* Even when characters have some sort of basis on an NHL player, whether it’s their name or something about their career, that’s usually the only connection. Nick gets to be named after Backstrom, but I’m in no way trying to make him act like Backstrom; Riley is a league pest with some Marchand and Tkachuk-like qualities, but I’m not writing Marchand or Tkachuk. Those are just easter eggs that hockey fans might recognize and enjoy.

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Part Two: Historical Fantasy

I’m sure most of my readers are my hockey romance readers, but I do write other things (sometimes lol)! I have a similar process of name lists and random name generators when I write other genres, but I wanted to talk specifically about some of the historical fantasy series I’m working on.

With these historical fiction and historical fantasy stories, the names are an important part of setting the scene and building the right atmosphere. The series I’m currently working on is vaguely based on vikings, so I’ve spent a lot of time looking up Nordic names and their meanings, and using Norse vocabulary to build the names of locations. It also helps show when someone isn’t quite like the rest. Tessa’s the main character and there’s another character named Drusilla, and their distinctly non-Nordic names signal their otherness.

I’ve done something similar with another trilogy that’s inspired by ancient Greek city states. The character names are all Greek names and the islands/kingdoms aren’t necessarily Greek names or places, but have the same linguistic flavor that harkens back to that inspiration. It’s definitely a process and very intentional to try to find names that suit the characters, the locations, but also the time period so that the reader is grounded from page 1 in the feel of the world.

Specifically for my nordic-fantasy series, I used an Old Norse Name Generator and a Fantasy Name Generator.

Do you keep lists of names for your characters? Have you ever used any random name or location generators? Tell me your favorite way to name things!