[Writing] On naming characers

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;


We writers face this conundrum with our books. Do we go simple and lose our characters' individuality in John and Mary? Do we go fancy and end up afloat in a sea of Lucians and Adriens?

When I write real world settings, I figure out what year my characters were born. Then I check the most popular baby names that year. And usually use something from the top 50. Hence guys in a contemporary will be Chris or Mike. Guys in a near future (2050 or so) might be Liam and Ethan. Guys in a dieselpunk would be George and Frank and Henry.  Women's names are more volatile, changing every year. Men's are fairly steady. Mudd likes to joke that in Renaissance England every Tom, Dick and Harry was named John.  Richard, Thomas, Henry and John accounted for over 50% of male names at that time.

If you're going for diversity, keep an eye on when the group started reclaiming traditional names. Many tried blending in for the first couple generations. In Kornbluth's "The Mind Worm,"a Hispanic girl tells her mother to not use her name, Dolores, but call her Dolly instead. Mama is incensed.
In the 1970s, Roots and the Black Panthers sparked the Back to Africa Movement.  My own great-grandfather was a Ernest, not a Liam or Sean or Brian.

When creating SF names, too many authors go for a lack of vowels and random punctuation. Think about your worlds. Think about their languages. Don't just make alphabet soup.

Don't go for the cutesy name. Nobody took Videodrome seriously because the bad guy was named Brian O'blivion. Sounds like a Bond villain. Ian Fleming is about the only person who can get away with names like Odd Job and Bambi&Thumper or  Any of the others.

OTOH, sometimes a shoutout to a classic is fun, like Dr. Saperstein in In the Mouth of Madness. Saperstein was Rosemary's satanic obstetrician in Rosemary's Baby, and here he's a sadistic psychologist who plays easy listening at his imprisoned charges.

And keep an eye on naming trends with sibling groups. Alphabetical can work, if you don't make it a plot point like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers but if you go with a group name theme, be careful. Julian May named the Remillard boys Matthieu, Marc, Luc and Jon. (the four evangelists)  I did this as well. Rafael, Donato, Michelino and Leo run the Men's Club in the Eight Thrones series.

In short, not everyone is going to be a Bob or a Mike. (however if they're 50ish in a contemporary, they are ALL Mike or Chris or Matt) You need some fun names here and there. But you're not Charles Dickens, so be sensible. Gabriel or Ishmael or Adlai work fine. You don't need to go with Sharpat or Shitrai or even Ebenezer.
(Fun fact, all six of those are Biblical names)