Character Names

Today on Do Some Damage, Jay Stringer discusses how he's named characters in the past and the challenge he's facing doing the same in a different genre.

I commented:

I usually don't name my characters after anyone I know, for some of the reasons you mention. I don't want to associate characters with real people.

Other than that, I don't fret much over names. I use the name that first comes to me, and if I think I need to change it later, I do.

I believe characters make names exciting. Ian Fleming picked "James Bond" because he wanted a plain-sounding name, and yet today everyone associates Bond with high adventure. The same might be said of Han Solo.

Make the characters interesting and they will draw readers, no matter what their names are.