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:

Pierre Roustan said...

Well, that nails me down right there...

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

Sandra Ulbrich Almazan said...

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.

Kathryn Hupp-Harris said...

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.

Danyelle L. said...

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*

Aubrie said...

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.

J.R. Johansson said...

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

Rachael said...

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.

Jenn Adams said...

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?

Michelle McLean said...

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

lisa and laura said...

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?

Anonymous said...

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!!!

Eric said...

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

Unknown said...

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.

Carolyn Kaufman | @CMKaufman said...

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!)

Elana Johnson said...

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!

Anonymous said...

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!

Unknown said...

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.

Michelle D. Argyle said...

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

Michelle D. Argyle said...

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

Michelle McLean said...

oops, my Agens should be Agnes :)

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