I Need Help Naming Secondary Characters
Because the names I’m coming up with are names I’ve already used (or names of real people coming forth from my subconscious), I’m turning to you, my readers, to help me name a couple of secondary characters in the second Great Exhibition book, An Honest Heart.
The two I need help with are the closest (and maybe only) friends of my male antagonist, the honorable Mr. Oliver Carmichael, son and heir of Baron Carmichael of Chawley Abbey.
Here’s Oliver:
Oliver Carmichael has always drawn the eye of all the girls with no exertion on his part—all the girls, that is, except seamstress Caddy Bainbridge. So, even though he has plans to marry Edith Buchanan, he places a bet with his friends that he can make Caddy fall in love with him before the opening day of the Great Exhibition.
Now, here’s an excerpt from the scene I wrote the other day in which he makes that bet:
- Name1 waved him over to the table. “Join us. Name2 has no heart for cards today, which means I have not been able to take the entirety of his allowance yet. Perhaps I can take half of yours as well, and that will make up for it.”
Oliver turned one of the two empty chairs at the small round table to the side and sat. He slid down into a posture of repose and stretched his legs in front of him, crossing them at the ankle. “I have no heart for cards myself.”
“I know why Name2 is dejected. His father informed him today he has come to terms with the daughter of Dr. _____ of Christ College and they will marry in London in May. If you have nothing to compare to that tragedy, then ante up.” Name1 began shuffling the cards.
Oliver launched into his tale of woe about how Caddy Bainbridge snubbed him and practically ordered him from her shop.
“She should have realized the honor of my presence there. M’lady wanted to send a servant with the message, but as I was already coming into Oxford, I volunteered to carry it for her. How could that . . . that . . . peasant treat me thusly?”
Name1 and Name2 had the audacity to laugh. “Alas, poor Carmichael. Snubbed by the seamstress.”
“Is she pretty?” Name2 asked.
“Prettier than Dr. _____’s daughter.”
“You are close to closing the deal with Miss Buchanan, are you not?” Name1 started dealing cards.
Oliver nodded.
“Then why worry about some no-name tradeswoman from North Parade and whether or not she falls at your feet? You have your choice of women now—though Miss Buchanan’s fifty thousand pounds would be tempting even if she were not a beautiful specimen of womanhood.”
“I could make Cadence Bainbridge fall at my feet, as you put it.” Oliver pressed his palms to the arms of the chair and pushed himself upright.
Name2 nodded slowly. “You could try. Make her realize what an insult she paid you—by wooing her, then walking away.”
Name1 seemed to forget the cards. He leaned forward. “And I say you cannot. Women like her are not easily charmed. Filled with ice and iron, they are, those confirmed spinsters.”
Oliver weighed the ideas of his two friends. “I’ll place money on it. Fifty pounds says I can make Cadence Bainbridge fall in love with me before . . .” When? How quickly could he work his magic on her? “By the day the Great Exhibition opens—May 1.”
“Make it one hundred, and you have yourself a wager.” Name1 extended his right hand across the table.
Oliver considered a moment, then took his friend’s hand. “One hundred pounds says I can make Miss Cadence Bainbridge fall desperately and completely in love with me.”
As you can see, it’s still pretty rough. But that’s because I plan to fix a bunch of stuff in edits. Obviously, I didn’t want to stop when writing and come up with names for the two friends. But now I’ve cast them, so I need names.
Here’s Name1 (template: Torrance Coombs)
And here’s Name2 (template: Max Brown)
I need old-fashioned, high-brow names for these two which will mark them as wealthy aristocrats in 1850s England.
Books are up for grabs here—whoever has the “winning” name for each character will receive a signed copy of An Honest Heart when it releases next year.
Comments are closed.
KayeDacus.com 
I think you need a Willoughby in there, friends could call him Will 🙂 Maybe Name 1? Then Name 2…..Trenton? Quentin? Bartholomew? I’m partial to Quentin, it’s a great name you don’t hear much anymore 🙂 I’m so excited to read this!!
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I like Willoughby! And bartholomew. You came up with good names! 🙂
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Thanks! 🙂
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I like these names:
Cristof
Sebastian
Maxwell
Charles
William
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Ooh, I like all of these but especially Cristof! Sounds like a great name to have as a secondary who gets his own book in the future…
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Keeping close to their own names:
Name 1 – Terrence Blakeney
Name 2 – Maximilian (or Maxwell) Gray
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I can’t remember all of your other characters off the top of my head. Scared I’ll duplicate. I’m currently using a Jonah, so that’s stuck in my head. Have you thought about biblical names? Isaac? #2 looks like an Isaac to me.
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Kaye I have had 5 brothers + here’s a string of names for you: Adrian Craig, Mark Alfred, Brett John, John Alfred, Jonnathan Blayne, Gareth Joel, Luke Gabriel, Nigel Andrew, Frank, Ricky, Robin Pat, Liam, Brendon.
For Girls: Eunice Pearl, Marah Leigh, Penny Anne- Marie, Margo, Margaret, Scarlet Skye, Rose, Linda,Jackie, Cindy, Veronica, Karin, Natasha, Jamie-Leigh
Well, all of the above are family + close friends I hope I at least sparked an idea for you!
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The first names that came to mind were Sebastien and Sylvester.
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I said Sebastian 🙂
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I know Sebastian with an “an” is the more common spelling, but when I read this post in my Google Reader the “en” spelling seemed slightly more lothario-like and devil-may-care…so I stuck in my alternate spelling too. 🙂
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How about Albert Hensley, and Cornelius Langworthy,
my first thought was Horatio and Percival but both are after 2 of my favourite shows of the time (Hornblower and The scarlet Pimpernel)
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Braden Attwood
Darby Carlisle
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So a very quick internet search revealed the following as popular names of boys born in London in 1825: James, Henry, Thomas, Charles, Edward, George. Although I also like a couple of others mentioned above: Gabriel, Nigel, and Liam.
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And herein lies my problem . . . I’ve already used all of those popular names in my other books!
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That’s kind of what I thought. How bout Lance, Marcus, Lawrence, Gawain, Aurthur, Phillip.
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William Chatsworth; Henry Devonshire; George Spencer; James Burton
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Reginald comes to mind for one.
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Here are a few names I thought of. They are Wesley, Trent, Nathan and Clayton.
Looking foward to reading this book!
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I like these (first & last names)
Brennan Calvert
Byron Cromwell
Clayton Harcourt
Kenneth Hargreave
Emmett Winchester
Esmond Tennyson
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I like these names:
Henry Robert
Spencer Charles
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John Robert
I just saw your note that you have already used Henry.
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Frederick Carmichael
Alexander Bowers-Wright
The English used to have quite strict rules about how and when a surname could be hyphenated, so I think using one adds the suggestion of upper class.
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Walter Addington
Uriah Cantrell
George Bashford
Rodney Stafford
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While researching Victorian England in censuses and such, I came across two names I personally can’t possibly use in my own tale of woe: Viscount Montague Crackenthorpe (inexplicably known to friends as “Gobby”) and Lord Roderick Lonsdale.
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Ooh! I can practically hear the toffee dripping from those names! 🙂
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Jackson Elliot for Name 1, and Edward Doncroft for Name 2. 🙂 All the best, and may the best name win!
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Weston, Clarence, Jefferson, Sanderson, Grahm, Grayson
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Lionel, Phillip (Call him Lipp), Gregory, Graham, Cornwell (Call him Corney), Walter, Wilson, Carlton, Thornton, Howell, Powell, Jackson
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#1 Charles percival hampton
#2 Robert isariah wallingford
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OK, the first guy just popped the name “Johnathan Cort”. I’ve got nothing for the other guy. 🙂
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Here are my suggestions:
~ Richard Blackburn or Richard Langley
~ Edmund Prestwich or Edmund Radclyffe
or switch names around. 🙂
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Lewis Sandridge-Spencer, Esq.
Lord Hugh Algernon (second son of a duke)
Arthur Russell, Esq.
Lord Francis Cavendish
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#1 Jasper Augustine Pinkney
#2 Hamilton Guy Caswell
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Basil Clithering
Lord Ralph Fortescue
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Going by looks, #1 is Philip and #2 Stephen.
Dunno if these work for last names, but Acklman and Burns (A and B 😉 Though I like Langley, that someone offered already, because that’s a family name.
Of course, the name Burns after any New Testament martyr (as pretty much all the named disciples were, well, I guess you could use that somehow)…
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Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I’ll announce the “winning” names on Friday!
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