Regency Names

I've gone a bit mad.  I've been thinking and daydreaming about NaNoWriMo for months and really pulling a story together for about a month now.  Now 11 days away I'm trying to tidy up my loose ends, ignore gaping holes and give myself time to breath and remember that it is supposed to be fun even if it is a challenge.

I've really done far better in the name department this year.  Last year all my characters had ill-fitting names, if they were lucky to get one.  Even main characters were called NAME!  On my characters post from last year there are a few links to names.  I love the Regency Name Generator and the site has a few other generators that would can while away hours on.  But wait! If that doesn't sidetrack you here are a few more ways to help you name your dragons heroes and maids.

Read through The Peerage of England, Scotland and Ireland by Debrett.  I read about it on a few different boards and looked through it filling a page or two of possible names.  Since these were real people in the same time period I deconstructed my names by doing mashups and in many cases using surnames for first names, which after seeing Henry, George, John and James realize that most regencies I've read use surnames.  After skimming the book for five 20 or so minutes I got back on track and scoured the Internet. 

Here are a few posts that you might want to check out too.
Historical Hussies:  Regency Names
Diane Gaston: What Is In a Name?*
Word Wenches has quite a few posts.
What's In a Name?  August 2010     April 2010     January 2007    
What's Not In a Name?  Post by Edith Layton back in 2008.

Don't forget one important thing
Keep track of names used.

Now I really need to get back to productive things, I'm building my hero's study in Sims3!

*After rereading this post I am going to get rid of one of my characters extra names.  My heroes father and an in-law will have less names which means now I can make more characters!

Characters

When I first read Phyllis Whitney’s “Guide to Fiction Writing “ I really honed in on her tips for outlining and setting up a folder.  Both tips helped me immensely and I really like the idea spending extra time on character development.

Later, I got a better grasp on my characters when I took an online writing class from Writer’s Village.  I’m still a beginner and will be adding other online resources here for character development.  If you any favorite sites or books that you’ve found useful then don’t hesitate to share them here.

Hover over links to see where they’re from!

Articles~ Free Character Workshop Character Test The Character Workshop Characters Page Character Development

Printouts~  Free Chart Main Character Outline Minor Character Sketch Graphs from Paid Site Pdf from NaNoFiMO

I found this page on Charlotte Dillon’s site chock-full of Character building resources.  Keep in mind that it doesn’t look like it’s been updated since 2000 so many of the links are broken.  What is there is worth the look.

Naming Your Characters
Ever get stumped on naming your main character or all those secondary ones?  I do.  I used to use a fictional character name book for idea.  Baby name books are good too.  Here are a few sites where you can get some great ideas. 

Baby Names

Behind the Name:  Gave myself giggles on this name generator; which has options for rappers, hillbillies, and transformers too. 

“Bubba-bob Chickenplanter” was the hillbilly name I got.  Needs a bit of work don’t you think!

The Name Generator:  A generator using US. Census.  I’m trying out the Google gadget right now but you can also use it on Facebook, your iPhone and more.

Regency Name Generator:  Really excited about this one.

Seventh Sanctum:  I have yet to try these name generators.  The fact that there are name makers for Taverns and Pirate Ships as well is interesting.

There are so many sites online that it’s easy to lose track of time.  In fact, I have to cut myself off now and go back to baby name books, otherwise I’ll be adding pirates to my story where they just wouldn’t fit!