Musing About Names

There are a lot of names in this book. Some of them are chosen just because I like the sound of them, a couple are inside jokes, and a few are taken from people I know. That doesn't mean the character is the person he or she is named after. Mostly it is because of some aspect of his or her personality that I really like and wanted to use. So if you know me and see your name, it is either a compliment or has nothing to do with you.

Jim Parish is a name I've used for years in short stories and aborted novel starts. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the character that became Allen was originally named Jim Parish. This Jim actually does borrow some from Jim, but I created Jim before I ever knew Jim. Don't worry, Jim, it isn't you - it's another Jim.

Allen isn't based on anyone real. I might have named him Steve, but that would have been misleading. Williams is a substitute name, because my much smarter wife noticed that too many names I picked started with the letter "J." He was originally Allen Jefferson, because I don't know any Jeffersons.

Vicki, you know who you are.

Tali is a nickname I made up from a Hindu name meaning "bird." Look it up. I picked Larry because it is so inappropriate for him, it makes his nickname more acceptable to use.

If you don't know whom agent Laramie and Dr. Manos are named after, you either haven't been reading or don't watch the same plays and movies that I do.

Some of the minor characters are named after people I know, either because I have a mental image of what they look like in my head, or because I like them and wanted to include them in the book, or because I wanted them dead. I'll never tell which is which. There are also some characters - like Jessica's husband - that have no name at all. That is very deliberate on my part, it's a way of designating them as non-persons for the purposes of the story.