Naming fictional characters

The main character in Good Fridays is named Emily and she was born on Good Friday in 1923. Emily is one of those old-fashioned, feminine names that's been enjoying a new popularity in recent years. Emily's last name is Carmichael, the name of a road near a place where I used to work. I liked that the names Emily and Carmichael each had three syllables. It made the character sound strong, serious and complex. Emily's sweet and lovely cousin was her best friend and so her name was Rosemary. The first school I went to (as did Emily) was St. Mary's. There was a Sister Ursula and a Father McDonald in my life and in Emily's, too. To get ideas about names for the characters of the mother and daughter in Good Fridays, I determined how old they were going to be in the story and searched online for lists of the most popular baby girl names in the years they were born. I came up with several names that seem suitable and let them play around in my head until a name for each one surfaced. I knew Vicki's name should end with an "I" because of her self-centered and narcissistic nature. The name Sara was simple and straight-forward, just like the thirty-year old woman whose name it became in the book. Emily's first husband was named Oliver Wells and there's a good reason for his first name being what it is, but the explanation will give away too much of the story. Husband #2 was named Jack Curtis, a clean, fast name suitable for a star New York Yankees pitcher. Some of the last names I used in Good Fridays are from my own family. My grandfathers' first names were Stephen and Edward. Stephenson became Vicki's maiden name. Her married name is Edwards, as is Sara's. The Baltimore department store where Emily worked for so many years is actually a name from my mother's side of the family. So, choosing named for characters in a novel is extremely personal for me. Obituaries and church bulletins are also good sources for names. Sometimes it's better to use what's real than to make it up. For a writer, the world is full of ideas just there for the taking. I like to do some research on names for inspiration to find the perfect name to fit the character, and also have a little fun along the way. It all comes down to creativity, which is what writing fiction is all about -- just pulling things out of thin air for readers to enjoy. I want to thank my friend, Deb, for saying how much she liked the name Emily Carmichael, because that's what gave me the idea to share this part of the writing process with you in this post. More later...