Names for the classic high school mean girl?

I'd probably go with something futuristic.

 

My class's mean girls were Chantel, which I probably spelled wrong and Kristy.

 

Serina or Salina. Idk why.

 

What about Star? What are your opinions of that name?

 

might be too easily misunderstood/give the wrong impression, but I do see where you are going with it. maybe Veronica, Cleo,(too obvious/dated?) Samantha, Courtney, Katrina,(considering recent events) Serenity, Jace, Beverley... or Monica

 

That's not a common pet's name in English, is it? 'Cause I could see parents name their precious little cherub baby Star, but if there're also dogs, horses and cows that are commonly called Star...

 

Going off experience -

Amy
Keeley
Tanya

 

I've never met a Tiffany or Ashley (in any spelling) who could be considered "nice." But the moneyed, popular, bitchy clique in my school was made up of a Sarah, Jamie, and Paige.

 

I knew a girl named Starr when I was in high school over 40 years ago, but as I recall, she was nice.

Actually, in my school (a very large one) most of the well-off, pretty, popular cheerleader types were nice. And I say that as one who was considered to be a little weird. The mean girls tended to come from the white trash stratum. It was a compensation move, I guess.

For the OP's mean girl, it can work well if you take an ordinary name and have her decide to spell or pronounce it differently once she gets into junior high or high school. It becomes a shibboleth to draw lines between her friends who are in the know and the rest of the losers who want to keep on calling her whatever she was from the first grade.

 

I'm still trying for something that strikes me like Greyson did. I may have to settle for something less.
Nebula
Nova
Solara
Zena
Aurora
Novietta
Zenova
Lavinia
Star
Xena
Zenith
Solanova
Fern
Lauren
Coraline
Porsha
Tristan
Regina
Tiffany
Sydney
Ashlee

Lauren sounds the snootiest to me at this point (my apologies to any forumites named Lauren, it's not personal).

 

Some of those names on your list, @GingerCoffee, sound like brands of home electronics. Zenith (a real brand of TV), Solanova (obviously a microwave oven), Zenova (a cheap laptop), Solara (another microwave, or possibly a video game), Nova (which was a real Chevy car whose name translated to "no go" and it lived up to it), Novietta (maybe a type of pasta).

Lauren is pretty snooty, but so is Tiffany. And I thought Tristan was a boy's name. Isn't it?

 

Someone suggested 'futuristic'.

Around here Tristan would likely be a girl. But you know how that goes, aren't Gingers mostly boys in the UK?

 

No, Ginger's can be any gender. Once they find a soul they can steal, and inhabit the body.

 

Nova is only allowed if the girls last name is Caine.

 

Warning: language

 

Wtf? I hope this isn't a serious question.

As for naming the mean girl, why don't you go for a double name that still has the M G initials? Just a thought.

 

Why WTF? It was a serious question, it's what I've been told.

 

I remember in elementary school there was a girl named "River." She decided that she didn't like that name, and her and her posse of friends forced everyone to call her "Ocean" instead because it was a "bigger, better" body of water. From what I've heard, her personality hasn't changed much since.

 

What makes you think names are tied to personalities? That sounds kind of superstitious to me.

Unless you're just going off names that just sound like something you associate with bitchy girls, in which case, virtually any name could be used since we've probably all encountered people of all combinations of name and personality.

 

It's not that exactly. It that names often have baggage. Whether it's a stereotype character or nostalgic setting or name one associates with a girl in a clique, the reader attaches the baggage to what they are reading. Sometimes it's just a minor thing to a few people, nothing a writer should be concerned about. But other times a name invokes a whole image to a lot of people. In that case a writer needs to consider that image and either use it or avoid it.

What does the name Grayson invoke when you imagine a character with that name?

In another thread we were discussing whether a cop named John McLane might be an issue given the whole Die Hard franchise.

It may just be there is no classic mean girl name and I'll have to settle for a sort-of one. But I'm still pondering. I've decided I need to name this character, it's time to stop calling her Emgee.

 

You mean she was all wet?

 

Grayson definitely sounds like a boy. But then, I associate it with a very nasty male character in a story I read once. Only place I've run across it.

 

Salina, Kansas? I stayed in a motel there once with roaches running across the bedspreads.

 

"Then somewhere near Salinas, Lord, I let her slip away"*
*Kris Kristofferson, Me and Bobby McGee

Sorry, reflex.

 

A rich boy doesn't come to mind?