I’ve been having fun using the Behind the Name site to generate names for characters recently. When I wrote my first chapter for my Bratislava novel, I needed a Slovak girl’s name, a Korean boy’s name and an English girl’s name, and after plugging that information into the website and clicking a few times to reject the first suggestions, I found names that suited, without having to use names of people I know – I find it hard to separate a character from a real person if I’ve used the name of someone I know!

But while I was generating names, I was very careful to try for names that are normal. I have a real problem with abnormal names and in 99% of cases I don’t think they have a place in fictions. They also don’t have a place in real life, even though I read today that some parent named their child Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii. Eek. This was in New Zealand – which says to me that the same thing could happen in Australia – but the poor child (who’s 9 now) went to court to be allowed to change her name, and won. According to the report:

Judge Murfitt added that he was dismayed at New Zealand’s trend of parents giving their children wacky names.

Kids have been called Number 16 Bus Shelter, Midnight Chardonnay and Violence. But officials did block Sex Fruit, Yeah Detroit, Stallion and Cinderella Beauty Blossom.

One couple had a bid to call their twin children Fish and Chips blocked but the names Benson and Hedges for twins were allowed.

I’m dangerously close to beginning my rant on how some parents should be shot for the names they give their children, but I’m going to make a big effort not to and instead return my thoughts to choosing names in fiction. My big take-away point here: I’ll strive to choose names that are memorable, but not too unusual, unless the character is particularly unusual. My feelings about what kind of person has a particular name will differ from my readers. More important, I discovered while choosing names for characters in my Japanese novel, is giving the characters names that are easily differentiated – nothing worse than reading a book where you get confused about who’s who.