By Elaine Viets
My St. Louis high school class had at least three girls named Kathy, two Peggys, a Debbie, and a Connie. Among the boys were a pair of Tims, two or three Bobs, a Curt (or Kurt if he was from the German side of town) and at least one Dick. I don’t have to tell you why that last nickname declined in popularity, but Dick Nixon didn’t help.
These names marked my class indelibly as baby boomers. Now those names are rapidly losing popularity with new parents.
Gen Xers, the babies born between 1960 and 1980, have a boatload of Amys, Jennifers, Elizas, Angelas and Marks.
Gen Z parents prefer names on the mystical side, including Luna, Nova, Orion and Kai.
When you’re naming your characters, choosing an appropriate name will help age them properly. There are a zillion baby-naming websites (that’s an exact scientific figure). My favorite is nameberry.com, because it has so many helpful lists, including Victorian baby names, trending baby names, and badass girl names, like Scarlett, Lilith, and Jupiter.
In novels with well-named characters, grandparents and great-grandparents will most likely have boomer names. Their children, the ones now driving the old folks to their doctor appointments, will probably have Gen-X names. And those parents may be wondering what the heck Kai means, and if it’s a boy’s name or a girl’s. (According to nameberry.com it’s gender-neutral, though most Kais are boys. Kai is a Hawaiian name usually associated with the sea.)
If you give your character an unfamiliar name, be sure to check its meaning. I like Mazikeen, but Neil Gaiman invented this name for a character in his comic book series, “The Sandman.” The name may have come from the Hebrew word “mazzikin,” which are supposedly small harmful spirits. In the TV series “Lucifer,” Mazikeen is a companion demon for Lucifer Morningstar. Mazikeen would be a good name for a minor villain, but probably not an ideal baby name.
Here are three names I’ll never use for major characters I like:
Ernie. One of the most popular boys’ names in 1948. Ernie Pyle was a heroic World War II correspondent killed in Japan. Unfortunately, a less-than-heroic Ernie lived next door to me when I was a kid, and I can’t erase his image. This Ernie was a flabby, pot-bellied old geezer with cigar ashes trailing down his wifebeater shirt. He was usually sozzled by dinnertime.
Sara and Emma. Sara is a much-loved Gen X name, and Emma is one of the most popular girls’ names in the US. But nothing can erase the images of the first Sara and Emma I knew: my terrifying great-aunts. By the time I came along, Sara and Emma were in their eighties, had thin white hair and sturdy black Enna Jettick shoes. They wore black dresses, steel-rimmed glasses and talked about their surgeries. They also had white chin whiskers, which I didn’t know ladies could get. Sara and Emma scared the daylights out of me. No matter how many talented, glamorous women are named Sara or Emma, they can’t overcome the image of those old women. Or their whiskers.
As for my name, Elaine, it’s French and Scottish, and means “bright, shining light,” though those two adjectives don’t apply to me before I have my tea. Elaine was in the Top 100 names in the early 1920s, and peaked at Number 42. Now, it may be making a comeback. Nameberry suggests that “parents looking for a more unusual name, try Yvaine.”
Don’t do it, Mom and Dad. You’ll condemn your girl to a lifetime of saying, “No, it’s Yvaine. That’s spelled Y, like in yacht. V, like in victor, not B as in boy. Then A. I. N as in normal . . .”
How do you name your characters?
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“Ernie Pyle was a heroic World War II correspondent killed in Japan.”
Yes, Ernie was a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist who covered WWII in North Africa, Italy, and Normandy, then in the Okinawa campaign. He died on Ie Shima in April of ’45, struck just below his helmet by a machine gun bullet.
My mother, like many in the US, loved Ernie a lot. She read his column faithfully and we had a copy of his book, “Brave Men.” She was shocked and saddened when he died. On our last trip to Hawaii, she and I and a Nisei couple from Honolulu visited Punchbowl Cemetery and placed flowers on Ernie’s grave.
I usually do the math backwards to find my character’s birth year, then do a search on ‘most popular baby names of XXXX.’ Then I try to picture my character with a certain name and ask him or her if it fits. I did have a secondary character in one of my books named Kai, short for Malakai.
Fun topic, Elaine! I can see your aunts (and those clompy Enna Jettick shoes).
Celebrities influence many parents. Lots of middle school kids named Jada, Kobe, and Taylor running around.
In my boomer kindergarten class there were five Debbies, maybe inspired by Debbie Reynolds who was then America’s sweetheart? During the Depression, Shirley Temple made that moniker popular.
Right now, “Karen” is having a moment with negative connotations. I feel sorry for several good friends who definitely don’t fit the stereotype. One hates to give her name at coffee shops. Barista says, “Double skinny mocha for Karen” and everyone turns around to smirk.
Historic names are fun to check out. Know anyone named “Maud” or “Blaise” these days?