“What’s in A Name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Well, maybe to a gardener but not to a parent or an author!
I received my name when my parents realized on the way to the hospital that their first-born just might not be a son. (Gasp!) My name was the only girl’s name they could think of, in the time available.
They decided to be better prepared for their second born and arrived ready to name an unexpected girl child after both grandmothers, Alice and Elizabeth. Unfortunately, they hadn’t realized this gave their second daughter the same name as two grandmothers, three aunts, and, well, let’s just not go into how many great-grandmothers and cousins, shall we? So my sister is known by Lisa, the only nickname for her two given names which wasn’t already in use somewhere in the family.
Kisses Like A Devil, the latest Devil book, introduces a new generation of Donovans. Brian, William and Viola’s second son, meets his true love in Meredith Duncan in 1900 Europe at an arms dealer’s private party, which Teddy Roosevelt sent Brian to. Much murder and mayhem ensue when the Russians realize that Meredith is the key to the secret weapon’s plans and their hopes to reconquer Alaska and the Yukon goldfields…
Brian is very much a family man and I had to understand his brothers – or at least name them – to write his story. I always knew William and Viola had four sons and that at least one would have an Irish name. Brian is named for Brian Boru. (William and Viola talked about this in The Northern Devil. That scene is one of those which the characters controlled at least as much as the author!)
But what should their eldest son be named? Surely William would want to honor his best friend in this way. But I exerted my authorly prerogative and vetoed any such tendency. I would not write another book with a hero named Morgan; The Southern Devil was quite enough. That left me with Viola’s laughter ringing in my ears and the question of what to call him?
How about something Irish, for William’s heritage? Patrick, Michael, or another one of the more common names from the period? Hmm… William’s eldest son stirred in my subconscious and requested a more Celtic name. Neil? Neil was acceptable.
Okay, two down and two to go.
William and Viola’s youngest two sons are twins. Viola’s family names their children for characters from Shakespeare’s plays.
Romeo? Hamlet? Macbeth? Lear? Falstaff? Titus Andronicus? Yuck. Have I already used all the good hero names for a Brava? Or am I in a rut? (I don’t like either of these questions…)
I start writing the book and swapping names in and out for the twins. Mercifully, I write with the entire manuscript in a single file but, even so, I’m getting ridiculously good at global search and replace.
Perhaps the twins want to be named for Elizabethan poets, not Shakesperean characters? William might enjoy a small private joke of being the in-law who’s related to Shakespeare but not quite there.
Who were some good Elizabethan poets? Would the twins be better off using their first or last names?
What about Edmund Spenser (author of The Faerie Queene and creator of the Spenserian sonnet) and Christopher Marlowe (poet, spy and tavern brawler)? They sounded like a good pair to me – except neither twin wanted to be known by those first names. They insisted on being known by the poets’ last names. Ohhkayyy. Wonder how much they’re going to grow up like their namesakes, when/if they get their own books?
What excitement have you had selecting children’s names? Any surprises between the child’s name and their persona/character?
I’ll give away a copy of Kisses Like A Devil to one randomly chosen commentator. I’ll post the winner before Monday morning.
Diane
www.dianewhiteside.com
