Young Writers Society

I have two questions about naming things, but this one's more important- I'll ask the other one later.

I want to give a character a certain name, but I have a cousin with the exact same name. I picked the name before I realized the connection, but still want to use it.

So my question is- can you name a character after someone you know? Can you name a character after yourself? Is there anything you can't name a character?

I'll post my ideas later.

Never having been published, I'm not sure what the rules are.

Yes, you can.

There is no rule saying you cannot name a character after someone. It's not as if they have a copyright to that name. Any reason you wouldn't want to name a character a certain name would have to be personal, as there is nothing at all that restricts you in that sense.

It's not against the law, but I think they had something on if you're writing, say, a memoir and you use that specific person's name, first and surname, and you slander against them it's against the law, or something like that. It was in the recent issue of Writer's Digest, look on the website for it or something. But I know a person sharing the name of basically all the characters I have, though it doesn't necessarily represent that person.

I'm not sure about the naming a character after your cousin--it seems fine to me, but who knows what wacky laws they have now a days?

You can name a character after yourself, but I wouldn't if I were you. Some people might, just might, think that you are a Mary-Sue or something ridiculous like that.
Well, actually, maybe you could name a character after yourself. I still wouldn't, but some semi-important character probably wouldn't attract any negative comments.
However, if you name the main character/hero after yourself, well...Suffice to say that that would be a big Mary-Sue.

Seeing as it would be weird if you couldn't give a chracter a name someone else had, I'd say you probably can. But you may want to ok it with your cousin first, so they know you're not actually basing the chracter on them and stuff.

You can give a character the same name as someone you know without actually naming the character after that person. It just depends on your reasons for giving the character that name, and on how similar the character is to that person.

I actually have a character who happens to have the same name as a cousin of mine, but they're nothing alike, and, like you, I didn't even really think about the connection until after I had gotten attached to the name. If it's a common enough name, probably no one will even notice.

I wouldn't really advise naming a character after yourself, though. (A) I think that would be too weird, and (B) what Ayra said.

Like PH said you just have to worry about slander... Otherwise using someone's name that you know is just coincidental. In fact, I named some of the characters in a play of mine after my friends.

I would never name a character after myself though; I think it would be too odd.

Cpt. Smurf wrote:There is no rule saying you cannot name a character after someone. It's not as if they have a copyright to that name. Any reason you wouldn't want to name a character a certain name would have to be personal, as there is nothing at all that restricts you in that sense.

Aside from Chuck Norris, of course.