How Naming a Character Is Like Naming a Child | Jane Friedman

Of course, it's fair to say the stakes are higher when naming a baby. You're choosing a moniker that will (in most cases) follow another person throughout their lifetime, forming others' impressions at school, in the job market, even online. The responsibility feels weighty, and it is.

But choosing a name for a protagonist is also an important task. Apart from any portrait that might be on the book cover, a name is likely your readers' first encounter with the fictional person who will, one hopes, captivate them for hundreds of pages. How does a writer land on the right one for their main character-and for all the other characters, too?