Let’s talk about researching names for characters in contemporary fiction. I’m never going to be brilliant at naming characters. I have no problem imagining the way that that a character moves, the way that they tilt their head when talking, and even their food and drink preferences, but if I’m not careful, they’d all end up called John or Jane Smith. Or I’d subconsciously name them after a player on a soccer team, or a character in a soap that I don’t watch but that I’ve heard about, and then I’d feel ridiculous. What is more, if I unintentionally pick a name of someone in the public eye and make them a devious and unpleasant villain, it could be seen as hurtful or even directed, and who wants to accidentally get involved with that?

I am a research junkie, and until they come up with a 12-step programme to get me away from it, I’ll always turn to research when I’m faced with a conundrum like names. And, for me, a carefully chosen name can have a significant impact on the initial description of a character. In fact, if it’s just a side character that will appear briefly, the name can do most of the work. After all, stereotypes are useful if you’re careful and deliberate with your writing. If you name a character Antonio Rossi, the reader immediately gets a certain amount of background, just as they would for a character called Hamish McDonald or Bjorn Gundersen. Any name has put a stamp on the character, and the reader will have certain expectations. You may as well make use of them.

If you’re writing a short story, doing research for names can be something of an overkill, but, as I mentioned, a name is part of defining a character. You perhaps just need the first name, so you don’t need to worry too much about getting confused with a character in a film or a person in the public eye. You don’t have to look up James to know that it’s a fairly popular and timeless name, and can be tailored to your character as James, Jimmy, Jim, Jimbo, Jamie, etc. The same goes for names like John, Mary, Jane, Elizabeth, or Peter. Those names settle nicely in most English speaking countries without much trouble. They are a little bland, though, so you may want to change it up.

Other names are very much of their time. In my part of the world, the names Sharon, Kevin, Tracy, or even Darren are mainly common in those born in the 1960s. If you want to show age, a name is one way of doing it if you choose carefully. You can have a quick internet search for something like ‘popular baby names of 1990’ and take your pick of something that sounds good and that would potentially fit the character.

Another way of finding a first name is to look at sources for the meaning of popular names. It can help support your vision of your character if you choose a name that fits in with their personality. For example, Richard means Brave Ruler, Arthur is linked to Bear, and Ciaran means Little Dark One. I haven’t checked those meanings, by the way. I found them on a site called Honey Name which I bookmarked and intend to use shamelessly.

I find surnames far harder to choose. First names are undefined and could be anyone, but full names are different. There are so many names out there on the internet that it’s unnervingly possible to pick a name of someone that’s at least well-known by some readers. I’m clueless when it comes to reality shows, and I don’t watch many soaps or films, so a name that sounds perfect could actually belong to someone real. If you think of a name and it sounds perfect, for heaven’s sake do an internet search on the full name plus possible nicknames. The point of research is to stop the author looking like an idiot.

It could be a name that is genuinely unknown to the author, but crazily famous elsewhere. For example, I’m British and I’ve not had much access to American football. I’ve heard of the Superbowl, and I’ve heard of quarterbacks, but I had to check the internet for who was the quarterback in the 2026 Superbowl winning team to know that it was Sam Darnold. It would be unnervingly easy for me to call a character Sam Arnold, or Sammy Darnold, or similar without realising, and for those who read my work and also watch the Superbowl, it could cause confusion. In fact, depending on how many readers I got and how awful the character was, I could get some uncomfortable comments on the internet.

Finding a surname is tricky. I know that when the first writers of the long-running British soap Coronation Street were starting to put the idea together, they went to a local cemetery and looked at names on gravestones. That could be a fun day out in the right circumstances, but if you’re deep into a writing marathon, then you’ll want to forge ahead. As my stories are primarily set in England, I’m happy to use English place names as a last name. I can look on an internet map for obscure districts and then add a first name. A quick internet check will tell me if the name belongs to someone famous, or at least potentially known, and I have a name. The hero in my book Out of the London Mist, John Farnley, got his last name from a district in my home city of Leeds.

You can pick up surnames from obscure sports teams, trade directories, newspaper stories – all sorts of places. The important thing is to not use the name as a whole.You don’t want to try and take the identity of a name in the paper. The idea of research is to make your life easier, not to get into trouble. Let’s look at a sports team as a source. Yorkshire County Cricket Club had a player called John Thewlis who scored the first century, or one hundred runs, in County Cricket for Yorkshire in 1869. Thewlis sounds like a good surname, and according to Honey Name, Brenna means Little Raven which I thought sounded intriguing, so I now have a potential character called Brenna Thewlis. It’s not a bad sounding name and I didn’t find anything for that when I did an internet search. There are a few traces of Brenda Thewlis and Brendan Thewlis but I should be safe with Brenna, and I think that she sounds cute.

If you are writing a novel, particularly if it’s part of a series, getting the right name is important enough to take a little time. I absolutely think that it’s worth spending time on research. If you’re in the middle of a sprint or marathon, or if you’re on a deadline, and you don’t have time, being able to pick names from lists is easier if you have a couple of sites bookmarked from your research into names. Research is supposed to make life easier for the author so don’t overthink things, get a name that supports your character, then send the hapless hero or heroine out into your amazing story, and have fund doing it!

You can find more articles about research and the author collected here.

This article was first published in 2023

The reason for doing research is so that you don’t look like an idiot.

The reason that you stop doing research is to avoid boring your reader and losing your sanity.

You should only research when it makes life easier for you.

In my opinion, when you are starting a piece of fiction, when should be a question that is asked early in the process. If you nail down that time then you make life a lot easier for yourself.

Let’s consider a sweet and gentle heroine, Gwendolyn, and a strong jawed hero, Kurt. They first meet during a magical moment at sunset. In the soft glow of the fading light, they smile and perhaps their hands touch as they part and go their separate ways towards… towards what?

I live in Leeds, UK. If they met today, 21^st June, at the end of my street (possibly the least romantic place in the world), sunset would be 9.40pm. She could be wearing a floating dress and cute sandals while he would be wearing jeans and a tight t-shirt that of course showed off his manly muscles. They would part and go towards their separate beds. However if they met, say, on March 21^st, then sunset would be 6.20pm and they would be going back to their evening pursuits, perhaps in snug sweaters and waterproof jackets. Gwendolyn will be embroidering a picture for a friend and Kurt will be rebuilding a motorbike. And if that first, tingling meeting was on 21^st December then sunset would be at 3.46pm and they would be rushing home for their evening meal. They are wearing warm boots and scarves. Gwendolyn’s meal probably involves a cupcake while Kurt is definitely having steak.

Most readers will probably not go around marking in pencil the different times of day and keeping track. On the other hand, those who notice that Gwendolyn and Kurt are suffering from irregular sunsets will find it incredibly annoying. Having a sunset at 5pm one day and 8pm the next isn’t great continuity and could jar if it’s noticed. It may not only stop them reading the book, it could stop them recommending the book and, worse, stop them buying more of your work.

It doesn’t matter if you are on the exact second. To a normal mortal like me, I couldn’t tell you the exact minute that the sun sets as I’m going about my daily life. I just know that the sun sets later on some days than on others and hang out my washing accordingly. When I’m writing, however, I know that I can use a rough rule of thumb to know whether the exciting chase through the woods is in dappled sunshine (which makes it harder to spot the dropped clue in the light and shade) or in darkness (which makes it easier for the dastardly ambusher to creep up on them).

Setting the time based on the present is one thing, but how about having Gwendoline and Kurt battling Victorian Vampires. They are creeping around 19^th century London, valiantly stalking the bloodsuckers. If the vampires struggle with daylight, knowing when the sun is likely to set is really important and, fortunately, sunrise and sunset times stay roughly the same for millennia. You can look up the times for this year and apply them whenever. In this scenario, the year is the important detail.

Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837. She died in 1901. That’s roughly 64 years, or the difference between 2023 and 1959. A lot of stuff happened in science, industry and politics and many people know enough about that time to quibble. If the characters are huddled together under a streetlight, is it powered by gas (from the 1820s) or electric (in general use from around 1878)? And as Lord Kurt has one manly arm around the fainting Miss Gwendolyne, does his other hand hold a Colt Walker (introduced 1847), a Colt Peacemaker (1873) or a Colt New Service (1898). While someone in 1898 could absolutely be using a well-maintained Colt Walker or even a blunderbuss, it’s slightly harder to have a Colt New Service in 1847, but that depends on the plot.

In general, on the whole and by and large, it doesn’t matter too much. If you are getting complaints, you can look the critic firmly in the eye and tell them, ‘It’s like that in my world.’ After all, vampires aren’t real, so what does it matter if a young Charles Dickens is using a commercial typewriter? If you want to give your story authentic bones (with room to fudge a year or two if the plot needs it – plot comes first) then if you pick a date at the start then you can always look up information as you feel you need it. Perhaps Bram Stoker writes Dracula after learning about vampires in a chance encounter with Gwendolyn and Kurt. Dracula was published in 1897, so let’s have the story set in 1875. That means that Kurt can have a shiny new Colt Peacemaker and Gwedonlyn will be wearing rigorous corsets and a bustle. And as you rattle through their amazing adventures, if you are in doubt, you can just have a quick look to see what was around in 1875, fiddle with stuff to make the plot work and carry on.

Fantasy writing is not too different when it comes to time. You may be creating a new world that is stuffed with elves and goblins and magic, but if you do a little bit of research at the start, you can make life a lot easier for yourself.

Kurt the Barbarian may be meeting the sweet Gwendolyn the Healer in the fabled city of Tarsh, but unless you feel like worrying about planetary physics, you can use the same rules for their daylight hours. Are they meeting as the sun sets and the gates of the city are closing? You can absolutely use the prosaic timings of Leeds. Perhaps it’s winter, and the sun dips below the Virnoth Mountains early and Kurt the Barbarian, resplendent in his furs, wraps a warm woollen cloak around Gwendolyn the Healer before leading her to a sustaining meal in a local inn. Or is it later in the year and the hot summer winds are swirling up from the plains of Redumar as the incense rises from the temples on the soft evening air.

By the way, did you know that sunrise and sunset are different depending on where in the world you are? Let’s take a sunset on 10^th November. In Leeds, where the modern day romance between Kurt and Gwendolyn is progressing nicely, the sun sets at 4.16pm. If you are being extremely detailed, the Victorian Vampire Hunters in London have sunset at 4.18pm on November 10^th  (and the chance of those two minutes being significant is extremely small). But perhaps Lord Kurt and Miss Gwendolyn have followed the vampires across Europe to the capital of Romania. Sunset at Bucharest on November 10^th is at 4.54pm. But wait, the fanged fiend has fled to an unexpected lair in Hong Kong. As they scull across the bustling harbour on that fateful 10^th November, the sun sets at 5.41pm. Alas, they miss their chance, and the bloodthirsty Count is now in Santiago, Chile. November 10^th is late spring or early summer in the Southern Hemisphere and as Lord Kurt escorts Miss Gwendolyn into the International Exposition in the Quinta Normal grounds, they fear that the sunset at 8.18pm will awaken their nemesis.

This may all seem like a lot of research, but it’s just a few clicks on the internet and then you have some bones to hang your story on. If you choose 10^th November in Leeds for the modern romance between Kurt and Gwendolyn then you can use the run up to Christmas with the city Christmas lights, the displays in Roundhay Park and all the Christmas shopping events as easy ways to frame their encounters as the story progresses. And if Lord Kurt and Miss Gwendolyn are searching Victorian London, it’s so much easier to know if a London Underground station would be open in a particular area if you can just check the history pages of a website for 1875 rather than worrying about making something up and then contradicting that two chapters later. And surely it’s easier to remember if Kurt the Barbarian and Gwendolyn the Healer are battling ice or heat waves if you have nailed down an equivalent real world date. After all, you don’t want the heat of the summer sun shining on the gilded domes of Tarsh if you’ve described the snow storm two paragraphs and three hours earlier.

My opinion is that a reader wants to know about the characters and the plot. The most important thing is absolutely the story. I believe that it’s easier for a reader to savour your wonderful writing if those minor, background details work together, support the story and help things flow. And if research gets in the way of the story – junk the research!

Happy Writing!