Historical Research and Character Names by Scarlett Valentine
First let me say, thanks for letting me visit today. I’ve been looking forward to this for weeks. And thanks for asking me to talk about two of the things I really enjoy about the writing process — naming characters and historical research.
I’ve always had a ‘thing’ for names. The more unusual they are, the more I like them. One of the most important parts of plotting stories, at least for me, is having just the right character names. Historicals demand dated names and the best place to find them is to look at historical documents and texts. Sometimes, names also come from a person’s description. One such story is about an Irish boy called Luan who entered into monastic life. When he went to have his tonsure shaved, the cleric who did the barbering said, “Fair (fionn) is the hair (barra, meaning crop) of Luan.” Another cleric replied, “Let this be his name.” Over the centuries, Fionn Barra became Finbarr.
