Thursday, April 2, 2009

What's With the Letter A?

So, onward and upward to female main character names. I read somewhere, and I can't remember where, that agents were sick of seeing female protags with a name that started with A. Yeah, in the one book I had written at the time, my MC was named Annie.

Le sigh.

I actually don't mind this. But since my post on male names with the letter K, I've been paying more attention to names in everything I read. Queries, synop's, books, manuscripts, whatev. I read a lot of stuff. And you know what? I've noticed a lot of Seth's. As the bad boy. One of my friends (Christine Fonseca) has a Seth in her WiP. I think she told me his name means something about darkness or choas or something. I'm sure she'll set me straight, and I'm too lazy to research it myself. I shudder just typing that R-word. *shudder*

But I haven't noticed that many A-names for girls. Maybe I'm just reading the wrong books, I don't know. One of my pals, Jessica Verday, author of The Hollow (which I get to read soon! Woot!) has named her MC Abbey. So there's an A. Oh, and Jenn, a real-life gal in my crit group just wrote a synop about a girl named Ava. There's two.

For me? I seem to choose pretty popular names. I wrote a book last winter with a Claire. That seemed to be a pretty popular name at the time. Lots of authors had Claire's. Sidenote: I need an eclair to get me through this week.

And of course, I have Vi, my Rule-breaking Good girl in Control Issues. And Gabby, my heroine-who-sometimes-pretends-to-be-the-hero.

Who have you got? There's major chartage in my future.

20 comments:

  1. Well, that nails me down right there...

    My MC for THE CAIN LETTERS is Alexandra. :-P

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  2. My Season Lords series was about a group of four magic-users named Gwendolyn, Jenna, Ysabel, and Kay. It was set in a quasi-Victorian England-like country.

    In my current WIP, the main female characters are Yvonne and Cassandra. My hero's mother was named Joanna; she was the heroine of her own novella.

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  3. Claire? Claire is a fat girl's name.

    Geez, sorry. I was having a flashback to The Breakfast Club there for a second. BTW, Johnny Bender's line about Claire being a fat girl's name isn't true. Claire is my niece's name, and she's so thin she could hula hoop in a Cheerio.

    I have Heather, Jordana (and I picked that name before it was cool), Roxann, Jen, Patty, Gloria, Sandy and Jackie. The only "A" name in the bunch is Alison, and she's a minor character who's dead before the story begins.

    This is such a fun topic.

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  4. My MC in Goose Feathers is named Alora. I like my characters' names to mean things, so there was a purpose. I believe I came up with Alora since Aldora (means bird or something like that) isn't as pretty to my ear. But, so far, I think she's my only MC that starts with an 'A'.

    Oh, wait. I forgot about Anara, Andre, and Adella.
    *oops*

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  5. Hey, you caught me red handed again!

    My debut fantasy book's main character is Azalin....

    You got me on both the K's and A's.

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  6. My MC is Alexis... although she goes by Lexi pretty much the entire book... still, I find this very interesting. hmmm... :)

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  7. A...A...I've got Annika, Alice, and Adrian. Plus two boys with names that start with A. But they are mostly minor characters...My issue is with names that end with A. I have tons of those.

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  8. And don't forget Annaleigh. :D

    So, it's Kristen, Nicole, Jordyn, Annaleigh, Ava, and Nelvine. 2 N's, 2 J's, a K, and a J. :)

    Word Verification: inneur. It sounds french. It also begs the question: In your what?

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  9. Hmm, my female characters are Minuette, Charlotte, Linnet, Agens, Katherine, Kesi (there's a couple Ks), Shemei, Hathor, Tanya, Netty....kind of all over again.

    I do have a Seth as my bad guy (he's not a major character, but he's there as the father of a major character). And I chose him because in Egyptian mythology, he is the god of Chaos (with other spellings of his name as well, one of the most popular being Set). But I won't worry about it too much as he isn't a major player ;-)

    Okay, my verification is "terdlik." I have a 5 year old who would get a kick out of that word...I'm kinda giggling too :D

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  10. Ok, we've got Kate and Elle...no "A" names. Our names never seem to match any of these trends. Not sure if that's good or bad?

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  11. Hmm...I have a Julie and a Seria in a new piece I am working on. I do have an Ashlynn in a short story I am working on - so there is an A!!!

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  12. I have a WIP featuring Rosalie and Frank, with a bad guy by the name of Philip.

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  13. I guess I'm going to mess with the curve. I've got a Bryan and Kishli, so no A and my girl starts with a K.

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  14. I'm not guilty of Ks, but I am of As, to the point that I have to remind myself to leave them alone.

    I have an Audrey and an Aileana. (And an Aric, but I guess he doesn't count.) But I also have Raven, Toren, Hayden, Talia, Wendy, Nevada, and Devyn. (I also have a thing for place names. Hayden was almost Atlanta -- double whammy! -- an A and as distinctive as Nevada. Whew, glad I didn't do it!)

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  15. Kat! I can't stop laughing! Claire is not fat in my book. :) :) :)

    Aubrie, you are great. You can use any K-name and any A-name you want.

    Jenn! I forgot about Annaleigh. Maybe because you haven't let us read that for a while. *evil look here*

    Lisa and Laura. I love the name Elle. Good choice!

    Archy - um, yeah, you've got a lot of A names. I actually really like Atlanta. I always try to make it into a palindrome.

    I think you should name your girl Philip, Eric. Now that would be kewl. Mix it up a little, yanno?

    LOL. Thanks for sharing! Can't wait for the chartage!

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  16. My girl is Leana! I like names with "A" sounds at the end lol! However I also have Alex! haha! This is def. a conspiracy with A's!

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  17. I use a lot of "A" names for female chars. I actually use a lot of vowels period for females and Ks... I just like them! Heck, if I can ever have a baby girl, I have two vowel names at the top of my list.

    My MCs from my WiPs are Kalikai, Nakine, Adelycea, Sharya, Alya, Anessa, Kyrana, Syrent. Hmm... I really should branch out. lol!

    From a musical I wrote: Blythe, Rosanna and Moira.

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  18. Only two A names I've done have been very minor characters. Anna and Alex. Both from different books.

    I do have a Clara in Monarch, though. :D

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  19. And do you think it really matters what the names start with? Do agents really care that much? Just wondering. :)

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