What’s in a name? As it turns out, plenty!
When I started writing “I Knew Men” one of the first hurdles to jump was naming characters. With the exception of one, all came from my imagination, fed by personal experience and perceptions.
I wanted my main character’s name to sound friendly. For the original draft she was Annie. Marg Gilks, the editor who reviewed my first, very lengthy manuscript, suggested I use the more mature sounding “Anna.” Given that a man nearly 10 years older falls in love with her, Marg’s reasoning made sense. The switch was made.
Naming Athena, Anna’s Greek mom, seemed an obvious choice. I chose Pappas for Athena’s maiden name, inspired by a middle-school friend of our daughter, Amanda. The famous Newman brothers, Chuck and Dave, came to me while listening to a Beatles song. Their older brother, the leader of The New Men, needed a strong name. I thought about historical men who shaped the U.S. There it came: Ben. Youngest brother Chris was born on December 25 — easy.
I can’t explain how I came up with the names for Anna’s two older brothers, Fred and Brian, but I think their names suit them. Their last name, Frazier, is an homage to my first boyfriend in high school, when the dream dramas that inspired “I Knew Men” took place. Fat Doggy band mates, James and Jimmy, had a fun back story that ended up in the deletion folder.
The character who is on a conquest, Jennifer, needed a beautiful feminine name. In naming her I never thought of my good friend, Jen, who would never behave like my story’s Jennifer. It became our private joke after she read an early draft.
REAL REMAY
The one name that came from a real person is an unusual name, used by a special request.
My daughter Isabelle turned 13 when I first started writing “I Knew Men.” I took her and a few friends to a local restaurant to celebrate her birthday. Sitting in a corner with my laptop, I wrote while the girls enjoyed their pizza fun. One of Isabelle’s friends, Remay, came over at one point to see what I was doing. She seemed intrigued that I was writing a story and asked me questions about it, including, “Can I be in it?”
“Sure,” I said, wondering how this was going to work. I had just gotten to the part where Fred fell in love with a bartender at a trendy bar in Los Angeles. She was a friendly, chatty strawberry blonde from Maine without a name — yet. Here came Remay!
At the time, I remember asking Remay about her name. If I remember correctly, her grandmother’s name was May, and so Re-may was created as a tribute. Remay floated in and out of my life, and is now grown and married. I wonder if she remembers any of this.
Regardless, her name is forever written into the story of “I Knew Men.”