Names I would never use

[Christianfantasy]

Do any of my fellow writers have a list of names you simply wouldn’t put into a story? Most names will work at least for a minor character in a pinch, but I’ve sidelined a few that just wouldn’t work in any way. Polly and Harriett come to mind as no-go female names. They’d throw off the mood no matter what genre I was writing about. Herbert and Billy are on my won’t-work guy name list. Herbert sounds too much like an accountant to be anything else, but I think it would be overkill to use it in that way. ‘Billy’ doesn’t sound like a villain, but one of the meanest people I’ve ever known was named Billy so I couldn’t bring myself to use it as a good character. [Profuse apologies to anyone reading this who has one of those names. They’re great for real people, but they just wouldn’t sound right in my kind of fiction.] Wally is pretty close to be a never-use for me; it worked well in Crocodile Dundee, but I doubt it would sound as well in any of my stories.



Charlie, Delisha, Jane, Herbie, Duncan, Winnie, Floyd, Jerry, Donny, Liz-Beth, Dirk, Trudy, Saul, Gloria, Fred, Clarence, Benny, Marvin, Lester, Dano, Vina, Andy, Rodney, Barry, Bertha and Lois are some others that I just can’t see myself using as character names. [Though I’m reading a WIP in which the MC is named Benny, and it works great for him and the story is fantastic. It just wouldn’t work for me.]

Does anyone else have any unusable names when it comes to their writing?

 

[MrBF1V3]

I have a list of interesting names ... somewhere in all this stuff, and I also have a handy phone book. I know there are names I probably will never use, but I don't keep a list of them.
Off the top of my head: Ezmeralda, Elvis, Gaston, Mario, Perry, Adolph, Fannie, ...
The list goes on, but I can't help but think: Rules were made to be broken.

B5

 

[sunstruckdream]

I've never contemplated a list like that. I have a list of names I WANT to use in the future...

 

[NeoScribe]

Bob and Larry, everytime I think of those names a tomato and a cucumber pop into my head. Doesn't help that I have a friend whose name is Larry.

 

[NavyGuy7]

It really depends upon the personality of my characters.
James works for one character, whereas it does not work for a completely different character.
It's like... "Oh, i could definitely see myself calling him that without busting out laughing" type of thing.

 

[Christianfantasy]

I don't actually keep a list either. It just struck me the other day, as I was going through my favorite naming resource [The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook (the King Arthur subsection is especially good)] that there were some names I could never use. They wouldn't work for major characters, but they wouldn't work for minor characters. They couldn't be good guys but they couldn't be villains. They just couldn't be anybody, as far as my stories are concerned. That struck me as interesting, though possibly that is mainly because I'm a major name-aphile. Anyway, updating my imaginary list, I'll take two from MrBF - Adolph and Elvis - and add one of my own: Wilbur.

 

[NavyGuy7]

WILLLBURRRR.....
LOL, everytime I hear that name, I giggle a little. It reminds me of boot camp. Someone had that last name. One of teh Cheifs would always go "WILLLBURRR" like off that "Charlotte's Web" movie, i think it was.

 

[sunstruckdream]

I thought of one...

"Burt."

For some reason, I simply cannot take that name seriously. No offense to anyone who stumbles across it. It's a fine name. I just can't imagine ever creating a character and naming him Burt.

 

[NavyGuy7]

Ernie, either.
Those two names go hand in hand.
If I used on of those, pretty soon I'd accidentally write about sesame street.

 

[sunstruckdream]

Ernie, either.
Those two names go hand in hand.
If I used on of those, pretty soon I'd accidentally write about sesame street.

That actually occurred to me, but I didn't say it I think I used the name Ernie once for someone's shift manager at work. You saw him for the whole of three lines, so I didn't really care. But yeah, I associate it with Sesame Street.

 

[NavyGuy7]

LOL, yah.
I personally like Draco, short form Drake. But I rarely use it, and it IS a constellation, after all.

 

[BookReader]

I don't have a list of names.
Question: Is Arthur a name for a villain or a hero? I am writing something about a good guy turned bad. Is it suitable?

 

[sunstruckdream]

I don't have a list of names.
Question: Is Arthur a name for a villain or a hero? I am writing something about a good guy turned bad. Is it suitable?

You can name a character whatever you want. It should be appropriate to the culture and the time period. But that aside, do what you'd like. It's okay