There's a character in my work-in progress whose name keeps morphing, even as I am now one-quarter of the way through the novel.
He's a doctor. Initially, his name was Dr. Robert Loftin. Problem: I took his name from a Dr. Richard Loftin I knew back in my high school years, and I can't get past that distracting link. (This will amuse my friends from high school who read this blog.)
In the search for a non-used name, I tried out "Snowden," which is the name of a wealthy Pittsburgh family of that time. The problem is that I don't like using the names of real families unless I have researched them into the ground. (Ironically, "Dr. Snowden" is the name of ANOTHER guy I knew in high school, but for some reason it doesn't bother me as much.)
Finally, I settled on "Dr. Ludlow," which made me pretty happy. (I like British/Scottish origin "L" names for this particular character.) But then I watched the film version of Washington Square and remembered that the doctor in that Henry James novel is named Ludlow! AAAARGH!
Any suggestions? (This is a good guy, just so you know. I'm not going to use a name like "Lynch" or "Leporelli.")
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Hmm...how about Langley, Landers, Lawson, Lucas, or Wannamaker? (I had to throw in that last one for fun.)
How about Caldwell?
It doesn't begin with an L but it has two L sounds. It may be a little to Restorationishly punny for a character who is a physician but I like it!
Dr. Scanlon. I like the sound of that. It straddles a fine line between uppity and common.
I've had this problem with a couple of my characters changing names on me, too. In fact, the only two who have remained the same throughout the entire process were the two main characters.
Good luck!
I went to "common surnames" on google. Now, I don't know the background/origins of the names, but I found a few I liked:
Ledingham
Leduke
Leeds
Lambros
Don't you just hate it when characters change their names in the middle of a novel? LOL
Rosslyn, Oh, I'm so glad to hear someone else does this! The *search and replace* feature is so convenient.
To find a surname, how about you go through the phonebook? Another idea is to find name search places on google. There are places that list hundreds of surnames with derivations.
Just, don't forget to let us know what you decide! Good luck to your Dr. X
Thanks for the suggestions! I'm considering several of them.
OK - my family doctor growing up was Lundquist - Dr. Gale Lundquist. Great man, died way to prematurely of kidney disease. Went through medical school via the airforce. Active in the Presbyterian church.
(and now I will get back to work)
How about Booker T. Booze Jr? Or Pompey Baldwin?--K
Oo. Ryan, I like "Lundquist" a LOT. My only reservation is that it's of Swedish extraction, which might mean he would have to be Lutheran. But maybe I can deal with that. (Pittsburgh had a ton of Scotch-Irish immigrants and consequently a lot of Presbyterians.)
K - Ha ha. Do you remember why we first ran across Booker T. Booze and Pompey Baldwin, umpteen years ago? It's because I was scanning through EVERY number in our small town phone book to try to figure out who was calling me anonymously. Can we say obsessive-compulsive? (And I found it, too - under "H," thank goodness, rather than "W" or "Y." Those were the good ole' pre-internet days.
I like Leeds that someone suggested, also Lawson...kind of simple...I am not one for needing super complex names in a character as a reader....
Someone mentioned "Scanlon"...there is a detective on the tv show "medium" named Scanlon...
My mom's sted-dad is a Mills...Joseph Mills from Canada...I always liked that name...reminds me of the actress Haley Mills....
There's a lot of British "Calloways" that came to this country in the 1700's and 1800's....my own ancestors and several other families, I think it was rather common....some were connected to Daniel Boone...but I can't be sure they were MY Calloways!
Then there's always my mom's very irish moniker...McIlwain....
Want to really throw them for a loop? Try Mittlestat....my very german maiden name!! LOL....People would be tripping over that name in their heads....
I hate tripping over words in my head....
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