When I was younger (11) I was into RP-ing. In one RP, my character was named Julia. She was a traveling minstrel, and traveled around the land with little more than her lute. Another character was a hot demon knight named Adrian. () Julia happened to discover the demon world, and although Adrian hated her at first, like he hated all humans, but he just couldn't get rid of her, and they began to hate each other less fall in love, but their relationship never quite got going as the RP was shut down. But in my mind the name "Adrian" = "hot demon knight". So, later when I was writing a story, I was torn between two names "Adrian" and another one, probably "Jace" or something. So, Mom and I were having dinner and I ask her, "Which name do you think is better for my (female) MC's love interest?" She said "Go with the other one, because Adrian sounds like a name for a gay guy." Mom meant no offense by this, she's just honest and it was a Friday, so she was tired. But in my head, "Adrian"= "gay guy" now. Here's how my names for characters work, I use them in a cycle and the names are often repeated for different stories, depending on the characters personalities. (I.e. Jewel is either an adorable high school student or apocalypse survivor, depending on the story) So, whenever I wanted to have a gay character (sometimes I just wanted to have one), I would use the name Adrian. I have at least 3 different Adrian's in my current works alone. Eventually, all the Adrians began to develop similar personality traits. They look different though. I don't know why I do this, I just do. Sort of like how all sarcastic male characters are called Max. Yes, I know. I'm weird. But am I the only one who does this?
I have to say I have a strong reaction against people who claim that certain names are "gay" and others aren't. For one thing, parents name their babies long before any sexual orientation is evident (often, before the baby is even conceived); does your mom think naming a baby boy Adrian will make him gay? That said, what's wrong with a hot gay demon knight?
I totally understand minstrel, but I'm guilty of this when choosing names for my characters. It comes from knowing people with these names before, maybe more than one, it's a weird accidental association that's formed and it's difficult to overcome it when selecting names for imaginary characters. For me, the hottest name is James, because I knew loads of hot James', but also most Scottish male names, because I knew a few of those. And the Scottish accent, yum!
No, she doesn't. She just thinks it "sounds" that way, I guess. Not that she would say that to anyone but me, and also keep in mind she works at a very intense, hands on, long hours, job, then and now, and Fridays are when she's quite tired and she probably was on the verge of falling asleep when she said that to me. Yeah, but being as the guy turned out to be a sarcastic teenager, I named him "Max". My hottest name is "Ren", which is a name I just made up and am using for my book now.
Save for Bruce, which for reasons I cannot fathom is another name that is often slotted as gay, I think the majority of names that get that perception are ones that can be fore guys or gals. Oddly enough, I cannot recollect ever having met a gay guy with an androgynous name or a gay guy named Bruce, but I have known perfectly str8 gays named Lacy and also Stacey.
Any name fits anyone, as it's the word we ascribe to them. That's how words work: they come first, then over time and constant use the connotations become ingrained, almost instinctive. Name any character whatever you like, it'll work just as well as any other name would
I just make them and then reuse them. I hope the readers don't catch on! And just so y'all know, my mom is totally OK with gay people and is pro-gay marriage and such, she just has the thing about Adrian.
Wut? On the other hand, I have heard of some lesbians preferring to be called by a unisex or male name, so... Anyway, I know what you mean. There's actually an Adrian in my and T's WIP. A total asshole who gets shot. Straight too, not that it's all that relevant in that context. However, as name, I nothing Adrian. The character could be called Mike or Bill for all I care. I'm more nitpicky when it comes to the MCs and I tend to use names that "sound right." How do I know it, I'm not sure. I guess some names just have certain connotations, and certain names are particularly popular in literature. Like 'Stark'. So it means 'strong,' so understandably you'd want to use that name for your badass character (if you call your MC 'James Stark,' what else is he going to be but an ass-kicking action dude?). It's fun to play with these connotations too. Next time name your roughnecked male sergeant 'Stacey' or 'Aurélien' and that statuesque Victoria's Secret model 'Charlie'
Ren means yang water in Chinese metaphysics, it's an ocean, a turbulent river, things like that. It's definitely a sexy name, and it can be male or female. I also know a Polish girl called Wren, it's pronounced same as Ren.
Other than a few rare instances, most of my names come from songs, bands, or singers/actors/actresses. Alesia is named after the Gaul city of Alesia that was besieged by Caesar in 52 B.C. On their last record, Eluveitie wrote an amazing song about it and Alesia Connor was born. In my short Rain When I Die, the MC's sister Zoe was named after the Staind song Zoe Jane. My pen name initials and the first two initials of my MC's name "AJ" are my late daughter's initials, Allison Jean. The last name "Connor" came about after I watched the Terminator and since my first story was post apocalyptic...
Yeah, Ren is my main male love interest for my current project. God, I love him. I have to kill him off, sadly, but then he gets brought back because of how the plot worked out, so yay! And I also like the name Adrian in its own right, and am using that in the current story too. Out of all the Adrian's, he's my favorite.
I have not caught myself associating names with attributes but I have tried to remain aware of others preconceptions. For instance, I'm unlikely to ever decide to name a sexy, supermodel type character, Bertha. Typically, I determine my audience, and aim to make the characters name resonate with readers. For instance, writing a young adult novel whose MC is a fourteen year old boy, I would do a search for most popular boys names in the year 2000, skip over the pop culture references and pick from the top two or three.
You should read the Tiger's Quest series. The main male in that book is named Ren and he'll make you think that name is even hotter than you already do!
I've always been really picky about my character names! If I know someone with the name, half the time I refuse to use it. Like right now, the weasel-like character in my novel is named Greyson. I'll never be able to look at that name the same way again. lol People named Greyson are always going to be weasels to me. Some names "feel" better than others, too. I could spend just as much time picking a name for my MC as I could writing the actual novel. If the name isn't right to me, the story isn't right and I WILL stop writing until I come up with a new name. lol Like I'm doing right now.. It's quite awful, really.
