When I try to write a story, I find it very important to have names for my characters that I feel fit the type of character they are. If I don't like my heros name, I just can't seem to let him play the hero, it seems, that for me, a strong character name is the frame to which I tack a personality.
An appropriate type of name also seems to matter. An amusing character can have an ordinary name, a funny character I prefer to have an almost cartoonish name, a fantasy character almost always seems to want a name beginning with A (I don't know why!) and so on.
In life, I also find this is true, there are certain names which I prejudge as belonging to people who have come from a certain type of background, educational opportunity etc.. (eg if you were born in the late 80s in the UK and your mother named you Kylie I know what she was watching on tv :-) ) and find that I have personality traits assigned to me in turn by others on the basis of my name.
When it comes to screen names, this gets more complicated, because this is a name we put upon ourselves (allowing for the fact that we may have to pick a second choice if SexGod1 or whatever our first choice was has been taken!) For whatever reason we chose the particular name we have, it too can create a different, warped picture of the people we are in the minds of the readers of posts we make.
My most used screen name previously (not here) was based on a book title by one of my favourite authors, I had to change it because people assumed I was Asian and frequently attacked me for being so. My current screen name, which I like, is a Hebrew name, corrupted by me (an extra n) to give it, in my mind, an echo of Ireland (the Shannon) it is the root of my real name, I think it a pretty name. I wonder what you see when you read it? Some people just assume I am Jewish. Because of my own personal experiences, I am never prepared to judge on screen on the basis of a name, but they do seem to be the badge for our online personalities to be hung on.
Perhaps it is these real world situations that make my characters names so crucial to me.
What is the starting point for you when creating characters?
How do you name your characters? Is it important to you?
Shanna :-)