Concerned about timeline on the name choices

[phoenixglass.livejournal.com]

I've been working on a collaboration novel with a friend, and I get to name and design half of the characters that our story will need. The nature of it requires the characters to be from different time periods (within reason, no time travel involved) and so I had done my best to pick out some names that would be commonly used in the times they were born in.
So I'm kind of hoping that in addition to critiquing the choices, that I could have some help with making sure that they were names that wouldn't be out of place for the time they were born.

Angelica Beauregard. - born in 1983 - french on her father's side

Bernard Smith. - Born in 1922  - want to keep this one simple

Alice Carroll. - born on the last day of 1999, has a Taiwanese maternal grandmother, so maybe the name is not a good choice?

Esperanza. - born in 1994, she's homeless, so she has no last name that she remembers

Tabitha-Storm Wilder. - born in 1995. I want her to have kind of a ridiculous name that she hates, so hence the odd choice

Christopher Sageull. - born in 1979

Erik Yohanson. - born in 1973

Do the names sound plausible for the times chosen? Or plausible at all indeed?

Comments

[ahavah]

TBH, my biggest concern with the time period stuff is with Esperanza not having a last name if she was born in 1994. She'd have some kind of last name. These days, kids young enough to not remember their own names (I'm thinking 2 or younger, tbh. My kids knew their full names & phone #s by 3) don't survive alone on the street. She'd have a "foster" family (even if not official) name she'd picked up or been labeled a Smith or Doe or something.

If you're open to constructive criticism outside of the timeline thing, then I've got to throw out that Alice Carroll immediately brings to mind Alice In Wonderland & is a connection I just can't shake. Depending on how "main" character these folks are, I'd suggest changing her first name since writers are really urged not to have multiple main characters whose names begin with the same letter so as not to confuse them (Alice & Angelica).

My mind also wants to keep reading "Sageull" as Seagull, but that could just be me. It just seems spelled a bit awkward, so I'm not quite sure how it would be pronounced and my mind goes to 'Seagull'.

Hope that helps some. Good luck!

[phoenixglass.livejournal.com]

TBH, my biggest concern with the time period stuff is with Esperanza not having a last name if she was born in 1994. She'd have some kind of last name. These days, kids young enough to not remember their own names (I'm thinking 2 or younger, tbh. My kids knew their full names & phone #s by 3) don't survive alone on the street. She'd have a "foster" family (even if not official) name she'd picked up or been labeled a Smith or Doe or something.
I didn't even consider that. I'll pick out a last name for her then.

If you're open to constructive criticism outside of the timeline thing, then I've got to throw out that Alice Carroll immediately brings to mind Alice In Wonderland & is a connection I just can't shake. Depending on how "main" character these folks are, I'd suggest changing her first name since writers are really urged not to have multiple main characters whose names begin with the same letter so as not to confuse them (Alice & Angelica).
A very good point. I'm fond of the name, and I'd like to keep it, but in terms of storyline important, Angelica is much more important and I'm definitely very open to changing Alive's name.

My mind also wants to keep reading "Sageull" as Seagull, but that could just be me. It just seems spelled a bit awkward, so I'm not quite sure how it would be pronounced and my mind goes to 'Seagull'.
That's exactly how it's prounounced actually. ^_^

[ahavah]

Oh really? I had thought it was probably pronounced Say-gool or Sage-ool. I vote go for straight-up Seagull then, because that doesn't really come across in the spelling (purposefully, anyway).

Are you prepping for NaNo or just a WIP? I ask because I've been working on NaNo prep this week. :)

[phoenixglass.livejournal.com]

I'll switch if my coauthor (she's been asleep all day and hasn't seen the name choices I made yet) prefers to have him just be Seagull.

Just a WIP, my friend and I had been talking a lot about doing a joint project over the last few months, and we're only getting the last details finalized now. We talk kind of slowly about it. ^^; I already have a Nano project picked, but I let the characters pick their own names when I start with a Nano project. It's led to me using the name Fiyero for a girl in a couple years past before.

[ahavah]

Sounds awesome. So you'll be working on two at once? That's awesome. Good luck on both projects!

[phoenixglass.livejournal.com]

Hehe, yeah, but I can manage it. The Nano project just comes first. And thank you! You have good luck too!

[brittmarie.livejournal.com]

I read it Seagull, and I also made the Alice In Wonderland connection.

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

The only ones I don't see working all that well is Alice (I feel like during that decade, it was an "old person name" and didn't start becoming popular again until recently), and Erik. Could be wrong about this, but I feel like Eric with a C is more appropriate for the decade.

[ahavah]

Thanks so much!

[phoenixglass.livejournal.com]

The only ones I don't see working all that well is Alice (I feel like during that decade, it was an "old person name" and didn't start becoming popular again until recently), and Erik. Could be wrong about this, but I feel like Eric with a C is more appropriate for the decade.


Switched the Erik for an Eric now, since your point makes a lot of sense, and I'm trying to come up with a new name for Alice now. Thank you. ^_^

[solitudete.livejournal.com]

The only commentary I can offer is that if you want Angelica to be French like her father, you would be better off naming her Angelique. "Beauregard" seems a little stereotypical to me as a French last name but that is maybe just because I have never come across anyone with that name in France. Her name seems fine overall but those are some nitpicky things, if that helps you at all.

[phoenixglass.livejournal.com]

The only commentary I can offer is that if you want Angelica to be French like her father, you would be better off naming her Angelique. "Beauregard" seems a little stereotypical to me as a French last name but that is maybe just because I have never come across anyone with that name in France. Her name seems fine overall but those are some nitpicky things, if that helps you at all.

Changed! And thank you for your input, I didn't know that Angelique would be a better name for her being french. I did consider a couple other last names that I knew to be french, but in the end, the story fits better with the stereotypical name and her role in it, sadly.

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

Glad to help! :)

[earn-my-wings.livejournal.com]

Btw, not sure what you want for the replacement for Alice and I don't know anything about Taiwanese names, but maybe Alyssa or Alicia if you like A names?

[phoenixglass.livejournal.com]

I do like A names, but it was brought to my attention that having two characters with A names in the main/near main roles would be confusing, so she's tentatively Jasmine right now, and has an American mother who grew up with Disney films and liked that princess the most. (Kind of a cop-out, but it does give me some insight into the kind of person who raised her)