Reblogged from The Story Reading Ape:

What’s in a name?

According to studies, quite a lot.

Have you ever been either attracted to or repelled by a book description because of the character’s name? I Have. Names that are too ‘trendy’ or especially ‘place’ names give me an impression of a young writer who is likely to show me a shallow character. Fair or not, that’s the effect it has on me.

Names can give an impression of era. Not just the obvious like choosing outdated Victorian names for a Victorian era novel, but the subtleties of baby naming trends. The first thing I do when choosing a name for a character is to work out how old they would be in the year the book will be released and look up top baby names for the year they would have to be born to be that age. For example, for 2019 releases, if I want a young adult character, I might look up popular baby names from the year 2000. My search engine of choice is usually ecosia.org, because they use profits to plant trees.

Continue reading at The Story Reading Ape