Female character names in fiction - unrealistic

[ImJustMadAboutSaffron]

I just finished a book that was quite enjoyable chick lit, I don't read lots of these but my friend passes a few on and I pick out what I think look the best among them and mix in with other reads.

My gripe is about character names. They are invariably cutesy pie names. For example the female characters (all early 30s) were called Roxy, Poppy, Clemmie, Ruby and Daisy. These, however, were the most popular names for baby girls at the time the characters would have been born:

SARAH
LAURA
GEMMA
EMMA
REBECCA
CLAIRE
VICTORIA
SAMANTHA
RACHEL
AMY

(to be fair there was a Rachel in the book, but she was a side character).

By contrast the older females (ranging from 48 to 60) were Sylvia, Joan and Gloria. These are my grandma's generation, not born between 1959 and 1971.

So, AIBU about this?

Holly, Ivy or Noelle

Miss Elle Toe

I'm mid-30s and know more than one person around my age with every 'cutesie' female name you've mentioned (and I am one of them, in fact), except Meadow and Twilight. I don't think they are at all unusual for people that age. Obviously not everybody is named from the top 10?!

The male names are all very American. But aren't names/characters designed to stick with you and help them not blend into the story/each other like they might if they had all the same names as every other book or movie or even friendship group you've ever known?

Similarly, books and movies don't tend to have more than one character with the same name despite this being v common in real life. But it makes sense in this context as after all the point of a name is to tell people apart from one another.

I don't think I want the main character of every book to be called Emma just because that was popular when she was born. I find it far more annoying how these characters tend to have totally unrealistic personality traits assigned to them, in general.

"Miss Elle Toe" haha I absolutely love this, so much so I might name a character it.

@HollaHolla got it in one. She's called Holly. Readers find it familiar, comforting and easy.

For some reason Americans think that Nigel is still a really popular name in the UK.

I know what you mean OP. Also add in stupid abbreviations for names - not that I can think of any off the top of my head!!

You have my permission! 😁😁

There was a character in a book once called Izzy, but that was further mangled to Iz-Wiz. It was crazy!

I was going to suggest Carol.

I don't agree. My dd is approaching 30 and those names listed were people I went to school with and I'm 55. Dd went to school with Daisy, Emily, Poppy, Libby, Holly etc.

The chicklit names. I only know one other my age, and didn't know any others for ages, but it's popular in girls who are now ages 10-20 I'd say.

The fact that it’s chick lit would probably explain that to some extent.

I primarily read crime fiction and also write it…the first thing I do when trying to think of a character name is consult the ‘most popular’ list from the period they were born to avoid jarring issues like these.

That said there are always some quirky names or incongruous ones. My own isn’t ragingly unusual but it’s not overly common either in my age group (late 40s). My mum picked it thinking it was modern and when the vicar came round about my christening he commented that it was ‘a lovely old-fashioned name’ so…🤷🏼‍♀️

Try reading thrillers rather than chic lit. All the heroines are called Kate or Alice

I agree, a stupid name can blow apart the suspension of disbelief for me. And it's one of the things I stutter over whenever I write my own.

I know two cats and person called Daisy - person-Daisy is late 20s. I also know a Poppy around the same age.

In children’s books they often have grandmothers who are ancient wizened tiny women called Elsie or Doris, who knit and sit in an armchair all day.

I mean, that’s what the grandmothers of my generation (40-somethings) are like if they’re still around. Primary school children have grandmas called Helen who drive Minis and wear Skechers and slim cut cropped jeans.

My gripe is about character names. They are invariably cutesy pie names. For example the female characters (all early 30s) were called Roxy, Poppy, Clemmie, Ruby and Daisy. These, however, were the most popular names for baby girls at the time the characters would have been born:

YABVU. There are people in real life with uncommon names, so why wouldn't people in fiction have uncommon names?! Besides... it's fiction. People in fiction are often uncommon in lots of ways, otherwise they'd be bloody boring to read about! I'm a teacher in a girls' school and teach loads of girls whose names were not typical for the year they are born. Also YABU not to expect chick lit to involve cutesy names. It's chick lit.

I read a book set in Regency England and the names really jarred. No Elizabeths or Charlottes, no Williams or Edwards. Can't remember the exact names but think of things like Ryan and Belinda. Not saying those names were never used historically (I don't know) but old records, parish registers etc suggest the Jane Austen type names were indeed typical.

Carol is already in there 🤣

Miss Elle is definitely making an appearance though, she sounds like a primary school teacher.

I know an Izzy who sometimes goes by Whizzy...

A lad at school had a nickname of a popular food brand because he liked their food....

Nicknames are often dumb

Ruth Rendell always gave her characters weird, made up names that I’d never heard of before.

Try the darkgreener website if you want to trace popularity of particular names at particular times. I could lose hours on that site:

names.darkgreener.com/

I also see a lot of teenage boys called Jack in fiction. Jack is usually the working class hero as it were.