The naming of heroes and heroines and villains! Oh my!

Sad but true: if the name of a hero or heroine is weird to me, I might not read the book. By weird I mean not masculine enough (boys named Ashley!) or too ridiculously masculine (Buck, Thor, Wulfgar, etc). Names that seem too contemporary can be distracting in a historical novel (Mike, Justin, Britney). I read one Tyrone that constantly reminded me of the six-fingered man from The Princess Bride, who is also a Tyrone. Very distracting.

If the hero happens to have the name of a close male family member or someone I know really well, I may not be able to read it; the writing would have to be really, really good to get me to break my usual association with the name and stay focused on the story.

Crazy? I don't think so—names matter. Names have associations and we authors christen our characters accordingly. That's why you don't often find dukes named, say, Reggie Beaverbrook or heroines named Agnes Gort. It's hard to define when a name goes from a regular ol' one to one that's worthy of a starring character, but I guess we all know when we see it.

(And it's probably Raven-something: How many Lords of Raven-something have we all read!?).

Also sad but true: I have offered to name villains after boys that have done wrong to my girlfriends. I might have done it, too! (Guess who?!) It's a tremendously satisfying form of revenge: permanent, public, and no one gets hurt. I doubt most even know (certainly not the boys, who wouldn't be caught dead picking up a romance novel—Ha!). The flip side is that naming a hero or heroine after someone could be an extremely wonderful public and permanent display of affection.

I mention this because I am auctioning off the chance to name one of my characters—specifically the villain of my next Writing Girl book—for charity. This way, someone gets all the fun of naming without having to write the book and support a good cause at the same time! Check it out and place your bid here.

The non-profit in question is New York Restoration Project and they're all about a cleaner, greener New York. NYRP transforms old city lots into beautiful parks, especially in lower-income neighborhoods. Their Earth Day auction kicks off today and runs through April.

Any favorite hero or heroine names? Any particularly awful ones?