Naming characters, avoiding the same first letter?

Questions, skill improvement, and respectful critique involving game writing.
Message
Author
User avatar
Shinoki
Veteran
Posts: 289
Joined: Sun Feb 16, 2014 10:12 pm
Completed: tender feelings like water, Follower A, Moon Archer Shooting Stars, Heart's Blight, from that moment she neglected the world
Projects: Pomegranate Fruit
itch: 4noki
Contact:

Naming characters, avoiding the same first letter?

#1 Post by Shinoki »

Generally, when naming characters, I would avoid using the same first letter in the names to avoid confusion. Like, if there were 3 girls: Sam, Sally, and Sara, I would get slightly mixed up between the characters at first because of how similar their names sound. Thus, I tend to use different first letters for names.

However, some names that start with the same letter have very different sounds. Cynthia vs. Cattleya. Cynthia has an "s" sound while Cattleya has a "kah" sound.

I'm not exactly attached to the names at the moment, but I'm thinking of naming two characters Cynthia and Cattleya.

Do you think names that start with the same letter are always easy to confuse with each other because of how the name looks? Or is it usually the sound of the names that gets you mixed up between characters?

Also, any comments on naming characters, choosing the right amount of difference between name sound/spelling/etc., are welcome.

User avatar
Mammon
Miko-Class Veteran
Posts: 712
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2015 3:09 pm
Completed: Pervert&Yandere, Stalker&Yandere
Projects: Roses Of The Thorn Prince
Contact:

Re: Naming characters, avoiding the same first letter?

#2 Post by Mammon »

I do find it easier to differentiate characters with different names. Sam, Sally and Sara would indeed mix together in my head if they were in a story, I have read games before where two too similar names just mixed together, even if they were just the first letter and any vowel. And with programming, it would be easier to define the names and remember their definition if all characters have a different first letter.

I myself don't even bother naming most of my characters until the story is already summarised, and sometimes even when it's completed. I just appoint them a letter alphabetically and later pick a name that suits them. Or I literally give them terrible names like Protag-kun and Yandere-chan as placeholders.

I think the best ways to make your character names differ would be to color-code them according to their attire, give them names fitting their character, and maybe look at ways to differentiate them further. If the entire cast has Japanese names it'll melt together, but if only one of them has such a name it'll be memorable, for example.
ImageImageImage

Want some CC sprites?

User avatar
trooper6
Lemma-Class Veteran
Posts: 3712
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2011 10:33 pm
Projects: A Close Shave
Location: Medford, MA
Contact:

Re: Naming characters, avoiding the same first letter?

#3 Post by trooper6 »

I read game of Thrones where not only are there people who have names that start with the same letter (Tyrion, Tywinn, Tyene; John, Jaimie, Jorah), there are people with straight up the same name: (Robert Baratheon, Robert Arran; Jon Snow, Jon Connington; All of the Walders....all of them)...the characters are all so well drawn as different people, and the contexts are are strongly done...I don't have a problem with it.

If you are doing a large cast, it is going to come up. If you want to avoid same letter characters, avoid it. If you want to be less rigid on that, you can do that too.
A Close Shave:
*Last Thing Done (Aug 17): Finished coding emotions and camera for 4/10 main labels.
*Currently Doing: Coding of emotions and camera for the labels--On 5/10
*First Next thing to do: Code in all CG and special animation stuff
*Next Next thing to do: Set up film animation
*Other Thing to Do: Do SFX and Score (maybe think about eye blinks?)
Check out My Clock Cookbook Recipe: http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... 51&t=21978

User avatar
Yunou
Regular
Posts: 56
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 4:24 pm
Contact:

Re: Naming characters, avoiding the same first letter?

#4 Post by Yunou »

I really only get characters confused if they look and act too similar, names don't really throw me off so much. I could easily read something with two characters named "Ann" and "Anne" and not blink an eye so long as my mental picture of them is unique enough.

Honestly what would trip my up the most about your chosen names are that I am probably not pronouncing Cattleya properly in my head and it sounds "clunky" to me. I mean, it does sound pretty, but it's also just a mouthful. I'd end up mentally nicknaming them as I read through it.

User avatar
Imperf3kt
Lemma-Class Veteran
Posts: 3785
Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2015 5:05 am
itch: Imperf3kt
Location: Your monitor
Contact:

Re: Naming characters, avoiding the same first letter?

#5 Post by Imperf3kt »

I find it easiest to use two letters and in the case of too similar names, 1,3 or 3,3 letters.

John Smith = js
John Samuel = jsam
John Samuel = jonsam
Warning: May contain trace amounts of gratuitous plot.
pro·gram·mer (noun) An organism capable of converting caffeine into code.

Current project: GGD Mentor

Twitter

User avatar
Shinoki
Veteran
Posts: 289
Joined: Sun Feb 16, 2014 10:12 pm
Completed: tender feelings like water, Follower A, Moon Archer Shooting Stars, Heart's Blight, from that moment she neglected the world
Projects: Pomegranate Fruit
itch: 4noki
Contact:

Re: Naming characters, avoiding the same first letter?

#6 Post by Shinoki »

Thank you for the responses, everyone.

@Mammon:

Placeholder code names are good. I have them right now for the two characters (Catgirl, Princess). Hahaha, though I tend to give characters nicknames that I refer to them by when brainstorming ideas, so I tend not to use such things for too long. It might also be that I have too many unfinished stories, so some of the character designations overlap. XD
The thing about color-coding. Aahhhh, that's a great idea! Nod nod. I'll probably incorporate that in.

@trooper6:

My cast is pretty small as it's a light hearted Cinderella-based yuri game. There's like 6 named characters excluding the main character of Cinderella. I don't think I'll be literally repeating names, but hopefully I can characterize the characters well enough to separate them even without taking into account names.
I might look into Game of Thrones. I haven't really been reading much except for Worm fanfiction, Chinese webnovels, and Japanese webnovels recently, which might be kind of bad for my reading/writing skills.

@Yunou:

Thanks~ When it comes to the name Cattleya, the character will actually be nicknamed Kitty in my game. But, as for the pronunciation... Somehow, the internet world of English people pronounce it completely different from what I thought it sounded like. (For most names you can google pronunciations and you'll be able to find videos of people saying the name. It's pretty cool and convenient when choosing names with strange spellings or something.)

@Imperf3kt:

Interesting advice. It could be useful when coding.

User avatar
trooper6
Lemma-Class Veteran
Posts: 3712
Joined: Sat Jul 09, 2011 10:33 pm
Projects: A Close Shave
Location: Medford, MA
Contact:

Re: Naming characters, avoiding the same first letter?

#7 Post by trooper6 »

I would pronounce Cattleya like so: Cattle Ya
So cattle like a herd of cattle
Ya like the Outkast song "Hey Ya"
A Close Shave:
*Last Thing Done (Aug 17): Finished coding emotions and camera for 4/10 main labels.
*Currently Doing: Coding of emotions and camera for the labels--On 5/10
*First Next thing to do: Code in all CG and special animation stuff
*Next Next thing to do: Set up film animation
*Other Thing to Do: Do SFX and Score (maybe think about eye blinks?)
Check out My Clock Cookbook Recipe: http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... 51&t=21978

User avatar
Hazel
Regular
Posts: 80
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2016 10:10 am
Projects: Wreath of Roses, BookSLEEPer, Girlfriend Material
Tumblr: zincalloygames
itch: zincalloy
Contact:

Re: Naming characters, avoiding the same first letter?

#8 Post by Hazel »

With these specific names, I would say probably not. It's not just that they both start with a C, they just have a few too many similarities. They are close in length and end on a similar ia/ya sound.

User avatar
storykween
Regular
Posts: 154
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2013 1:17 pm
Completed: Serafina's Saga, Quantum Conscience, Echoes of the Fey, miraclr - Divine Dating Sim
Organization: Woodsy Studio
Location: St Louis
Contact:

Re: Naming characters, avoiding the same first letter?

#9 Post by storykween »

In Screenwriting school, I was taught to avoid starting the names of any two characters with the same letter if possible. This was primarily to make the script easier for others to read. When reading a script, people's eyes scan just the first letter of the speaker's name before continuing downward.

This rule is less important if you are the only one reading the script in its original format. Once the characters are visible on screen, they give other visual cues to indicate who's talking.

So I don't think it's a hard rule for visual novels, but it's still one I prefer to follow.
Image
My website: woodsy-studio.com

User avatar
blackcross12
Regular
Posts: 114
Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2014 11:00 am
Completed: The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, The Rose of Segunda, Homecoming, Heaven's Grave,
Projects: Best Friends Forever [IP], The Thorns of War [IP], Rise of the Phoenix [IP]
Organization: Blackcross & Taylor
Tumblr: blackcross-taylor
itch: blackcrosstaylor
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: Naming characters, avoiding the same first letter?

#10 Post by blackcross12 »

Just adding my two cents worth, since I thought it was interesting when I heard about it, but depending on the setting of your story, there may be a case of a lot of the same names cropping up a la Game of Thrones.

I read this article about English Elizabethan naming conventions recently and this struck me.

"The Elizabethan pool of given names was MUCH smaller than ours. There were only about 30 to 40 common names in circulation for each gender, with perhaps another 100 or so that you would run across from time to time. According to Janell Lovelace's statistics, seventy percent of all women were named Elizabeth, Joan, Margaret, Anne, Alice, Agnes, Mary, Jane or Katherine. More than one out of every four men was named John, and 70% of all men were named John, Thomas, William, Richard, or Robert. "

The website is here if anyone wants an interesting, short read. ^_^

http://www.mygen.com/users/outlaw/Engli ... utlawe.htm
ImageImageImageImageImage

User avatar
Agashi
Regular
Posts: 169
Joined: Sat May 16, 2015 11:35 pm
Completed: Celestial Crossing, This My Soul
Projects: Queen's Crown
Organization: Code: Silk
Tumblr: queenscrownvn
Skype: ali.almonte
itch: agashi
Contact:

Re: Naming characters, avoiding the same first letter?

#11 Post by Agashi »

I think I'd avoid it, personally... Some players have dyslexia and other reading difficulties and the sound of the name will probably be less of a problem than the spellings and length of the names being too similar. Even readers without these difficulties can sometimes skim over a word and only spot the first and last letters before deciding in their mind that they're reading about Cynthia, rather than Cattleya. A stumble like that could break up the flow of the story and confuse the player, worst case scenario. I'd just switch up the spelling of Cattleya to Kattleya or something to avoid the issue. :lol:
Current Projects:

Image [GxB][Fantasy][Drama][Romance] Play the demo here!

Image [GxB][Sci Fi][Romance][Drama] Nanoreno '17 winner! Now COMPLETE!

Proud writer of Celestial Crossing! [Fantasy][SoL][High School][BxG] COMPLETE!


User avatar
Antizaba
Newbie
Posts: 21
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2016 2:28 pm
Contact:

Re: Naming characters, avoiding the same first letter?

#12 Post by Antizaba »

I don't mind same starting letters, if the names look different on the first sight. By that i mean different lenght of word and different positions of small and tall letters. I tend to "just look at" names instead of reading them. For me personally, it's easiest if different names are different colours (but i understand that's not possible for every game). But in general, the shape of the whole word is what i see at first. First letter does a lot to the shape, but it's not the only important part.

That means I would have problem with Cynthia and Cattleya, and also with combination like Olivia and Clinsi.

But Cynthia and Cath would be ok. Even Cath and Catherine would be ok.

Also don't rely on the sound too much. People from non-english speaking countries (me including) sometimes tend to read (non-common) names in their language instead of trying to find out what would it sound like in english. (for my language it means 'C' has always the same sound, no matter what letter comes next)

User avatar
Kuroi_Usagi
Regular
Posts: 42
Joined: Thu Sep 03, 2015 1:12 am
Projects: AuL, I am Succubus, 74901
Organization: Self
Soundcloud: ragingwhiterabbit
itch: kuroi-usagi.itch.io
Contact:

Re: Naming characters, avoiding the same first letter?

#13 Post by Kuroi_Usagi »

Keep in mind that there are more than one ways to spell a name. Cynthia, can easily be rewritten to Sinthia, or Synthia. It's less about names being too similar, Storykween mentioned this, the rule of thumb in writing same first letter names in scripts is more about the quick glancing over as you read. So that when agents read your script they aren't immediately confused. It is more important about how similar names sound. I think Cattleya and Cynthia sound fine and distinct enough from one another.

Two things to keep in mind about names that I hope helps you: Nicknames and syllables.

When you're naming characters, keep in mind how characters will refer to each other. Whether they are family, enemies, strangers, and etc, it is important to discern by what manner their name is said.

Your young character's name is Samuel, but his mother has an endearing habit of calling him Sammy; his friends call him Sam; and his deadbeat father calls him Samuel. So, in trying to avoid same name characters, in naming Samuel you may inadvertently shut out naming a character Samantha, who may also have been referred to as Sam or Sammy in her life.

Notice also that each iteration of Samuel has varying syllables. Sam has one, Sammy has two, and Samuel has three. Be mindful in naming too many characters a single-syllable name.

Sam, and his friends Ron and Jill, play tag in the city's bazaar and accidentally knock over an apple stand. The owner, familiar with the young mongrels' antics, screams out in frustration, "SAM, RON, JILL!" That just sounds like a silly mantra.
"I've always seen failure as a possibility, but never as an option."
Discord: Bunny of Wrath#3201
ImageImageImage

User avatar
Semicolonkid
Regular
Posts: 51
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2017 6:13 pm
Projects: Summoned
itch: semicolonkid
Contact:

Re: Naming characters, avoiding the same first letter?

#14 Post by Semicolonkid »

If it makes you feel any better, in my VN I've got a Steve, Stella, Stanley, and Stan. 4 "St's."
And yes, you read that right, I have a character named "Stanley" and a totally different character named "Stan."

Now to be fair, I'm probably being stupid. But nobody else who's read my VN has even noticed until I've brought it up to them, and thus I've yet to see it generate confusion. The sample size here is around 8, so I dunno.
It's also worth noting that no more than two of those "St's" are ever in the same scene at once, and Stanley and Stan never interact at all (at least so far). Furthermore, all 4 characters are quite different. One's a large older guy, one's a young teenage guy, one's a girl, and one's a gigantic red demon.

So I personally don't THINK it's that big a deal if the characters are obviously different builds/ages/genders/species, and is even less of a big deal if the characters don't interact.

But, a reminder, I'm also probably being stupid.
Image

User avatar
Sonomi
Veteran
Posts: 211
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2016 5:34 am
Projects: Lethargy of Snow
itch: sonomi
Contact:

Re: Naming characters, avoiding the same first letter?

#15 Post by Sonomi »

Shinoki wrote:Do you think names that start with the same letter are always easy to confuse with each other because of how the name looks? Or is it usually the sound of the names that gets you mixed up between characters?
Generally speaking, the first letter of a name is not a problem for me. Here are is an example of characters that I never mix up:

from Naruto: Sasuke, Shikamaru, Sarutobi (these have different syllables and sounds)

from Bleach: Aizen, Ichigo, Orihime, Chad, Uryu (variance of spelling, sounds/vowels, and syllables)

The second example is probably better if you would like to have a different first letter and more unique sound combinations.
Image

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users