What's in a (Character) Name?

I was asked this question by Samantha Henthorn, and I realized I had no idea how many readers are interested in knowing the answer. If you are one of them, I invite you to check Sam's website. If you want to read something humorous and well written, check her books too. Enjoy!

​Hi! My name is Nico and I’m a writer. Throughout my life, I’ve been called also Nicole, Niki, Nicu, but somehow Nico has a warmer touch to it. So, Nico, it is. It is all about feelings, you know.
 
Let's see how I came up with some of the names from my novels .

​Magnetic Reverie & Reverie Girl:

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The idea for my first novel struck me one day. It didn’t have many characters but I had to decide on the names as otherwise, it would have made it difficult, right? I couldn’t just go »she« and »he« as at one point not only the readers would be confused, but I would be the more confused one, the author. I didn’t think much of the names when I started. I did pick up Ana as the name of my main character. My mom’s name is Ana and I find it a really beautiful name, full of purity. It felt so smooth writing Ana whenever the main character came into the scene. I don’t recall now what were the other characters’ names but I’m sure I’ve changed them all.
You know, when I first started writing I didn't even think it will be something that it will turn into a novel. I just penned down the beginning of something that later on will become my debut novel. When the story was evolving and the characters were being defined, as I didn’t want any of the people I had in my life to think there are any correlations between my work of fiction and my private life, I had to deal with the name thing. Ana, as much as I love this name, had to be replaced. I can’t write a bisexual/lesbian novel with some steamy scenes having one character named the same as my mom. Do you agree? Still, I had to replace it with something as smooth and soft so after some thinking it became Lana. Problem solved. The other characters were a tad easier, still not quite smooth. I didn’t just snap my fingers or took a three minutes break and came up with them. No. Having in mind that the story takes place between Slovenia, Croatia, and the USA, and all the twists and wonders that are not clear for the reader right at the beginning, I had to deal longer with the name for my second character. She was a woman from Slovenia, so her name had to sound Slovenian and American at the same time. And here comes Claire. Well, Claire is the American version while Klara is the Slovenian one. There is a perfectly fine explanation for that in the story and to me, she’s mainly Claire. The other characters got random names, still, I usually prefer short ones and I’m trying to avoid having very similar names so that the reader does not get confused. As I’ve said earlier, I’m trying to have all the names of my fiction works as different as possible from the people I know. Still, it can’t always be done easily as we do get to meet quite a lot of people in our lives. So here comes the claim: »This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.«

ADHD: Life is Beautiful 
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I cherish and hold dear to my heart all of my books, as they are my children, my creations. This one, being a true story, hits a higher place. The names though, except for mine, could not be used. As I mention in the introduction: »Some places, names, and identifying details have been changed in order to maintain the anonymity of other.«, I couldn’t expose my friends' names so I had to come up with substitutions.
While I wrote the book, I have used their real names and only replaced them before publishing. I played in my mind for a few days with several names as they had to sit right with me. My friends, a mother and her son, became Peter and Eliza.
The real Peter didn’t like the name I gave to his character and he asked me to mention in the book that the main character got the name against his will, hence without his approval.:) He made me laugh and his remark was totally in line with the content of the book. He wasn’t laughing, though.
 
In conclusion, there are many stories behind a character’s name and, we authors, don’t have often the chance to talk about it, so thank you, Sam, for the opportunity.
 
Useful links:
MAGNETIC REVERIE: Amazon
REVERIE GIRL: Amazon
ADHD: LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL Amazon
Amazon profile