Marla Cooper, Mysteries

Isn’t that name already taken?!

When I was writing my first book, Terror in Taffeta, Kelsey’s best friend and wedding photographer sidekick was named Brody. Just Brody. I wrote the entire book without giving him a last name.

Eventually, I realized I needed to fix that. One of the first name combos that popped into my head was “Brody Marks.” Hmm. It sounded good. Too good, honestly. It had the kind of easy rhythm that made it feel inevitable, like the name had been there all along. I didn’t even bother shopping around for other options—it just felt perfect.

Cut to a few weeks later: I’m driving to the grocery store, radio on, and I glance at the display. The song playing was by Bruno Mars. I started laughing out loud. Brody Marks… Bruno Mars. That’s why it had sounded so perfect. My brain had quietly rearranged a few letters and turned a pop star into a wedding photographer.

Over the years, I’ve noticed it happens more than you’d think. I feel like we ought to come up with a name for our collective tendency to name characters after famous people. Here’s some proof it’s not just me:

Exhibit A: Lucas Haas

A friend of mine once named the romantic lead in her manuscript Lucas Haas. Everyone in our writing group was like, “Wait, like the actor?” Oh, you should have seen the look on her face. Totally unintentional. But yeah, she’d heard of him.

Exhibit B: Shelby Lynn

Another friend named a character Shelby Lynn—not realizing that Shelby Lynne (with an extra e) is a Grammy-winning country singer. And again, it wasn’t intentional. In fact, this one could have been pure coincidence. It happens.

Exhibit C: Christie McFee

A couple of weeks ago I ran across a book featuring a character named Christie McFee, which—once you see it—reads a whole lot like Christine McVie, as in Fleetwood Mac. A different spelling, sure. But close enough to earn a double take for sure!

Readers: We’d love to hear your thoughts! Have you ever encountered a character name that got your attention? If you’re a writer, have you ever named a character after a real person—on purpose or accidentally?

Marla Cooper is the author of the soon-to-be-relaunched Kelsey McKenna Destination Wedding Mysteries. Sign up for her newsletter at www.marlacooper.com for updates, surprises, shenanigans, giveaways, opportunities to be an ARC reader, and more!

29 thoughts on “Isn’t that name already taken?!”

  1. Marla, that’s too funny!

    Years and years ago, a colleague and I both wrote for Kensington Publishing. I worked with Selena James. I can’t remember her editor’s name. But my colleague, who wrote rom-coms at the time, named her heroine Selena James. She hadn’t made the connection to my editor and her editor never brought it up. Ha!

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    1. That’s so funny! That must have been weird for the real life Selena! And for the author once she realized it. All sorts of awkwardness must have ensued!

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      1. LOL! My colleague was very embarrassed when I asked her about it. Her book had already released. LOL! We couldn’t understand why her editor, my editor’s coworker, hadn’t pointed that out to her. LOL! I mean, the intimacy scenes would have made me squeamish. Yeesh.

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  2. I once named a character after my boss. Of course, this was way before I worked here, but when she read the book she did do a double-take.

    In my most recent book, I had a character Tyler Florence. I thought the name sounded really good. Then my critique partner pointed out there was a famous chef with that name – which I should have known because he did TV shows on Food Network and I really liked him! No wonder I liked the name. LOL I did rename the character.

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    1. That’s the thing about it — the name sounds SO GOOD in your head! 😂 Thank you for reaffirming that this is a real thing!

      By the way, with your boss, was it just a total coincidence? That’s so funny!

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  3. I almost accidentally named one of my characters the same as my friend’s child but caught myself in time. Oddly, I have a tendency to use certain names, so now I keep a list of possible ones to use (though I better remember to check them off!).

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  4. I can’t think of one at the moment. But I did make the mistake of naming three of my protagonists names that start with M. And that has been a pain! I can’t tell you how many times Maggie from Cajun Country suddenly popped up in New York in a Catering Hall Mystery.

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    1. Ooooh, I feel that! I had a friend proofread my second book and he caught me using the wrong character name in the sentence “I think I know who killed _______.”

      P.S. I do love names that start with M! 😄

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  5. Marla,

    great post. It’s amazing where authors find inspiration. I might have named one or two characters after real people. But it’s more I use their pictures for descriptions.

    in the draft I’m doing right now, every last one of the characters is an actors picture except the sleuth (who is based on a friend).

    Joe Pesci, Melissa McCarthy, Jaden Smith, Michael Douglas….
    it’s fun to use real people!

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    2. It must be really fun to write with those particular characters running around in your head!

      I recently did a character exercise where I was trying to figure out one of my lesser developed characters and it all jelled when I figured out what actress would play her. Now I can picture her in my head and it helps so much!

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  6. When I was coming up for a last name for Sally in my Santa Cruz-based mysteries, I did research about surnames from Liguria–the place in Italy where most of the Italians in Santa Cruz came from–and decided upon “Solari.” The alliteration had a nice ring to it, and I liked the idea of her being “alone” in her search for justice (there’s a reason they were named Napolean “Solo” and Han “Solo,” right?).

    But then after DYING FOR A TASTE was published, I learned that there was in fact a well-known (except by me) family by the name of Solari in Santa Cruz, and that the matriarch, Mary Solari, was one of the biggest patrons of the arts in our town. So maybe I HAD in fact heard her name…. (A few years back, I finally met Mary and told her about my character. I think she was pleased.)

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  8. My Elmo Simpson Mysteries give me room to come up with unusual character names, so I have minor characters named Bobby Darin and Fabian. The younger crowd may not get the references, but they make me smile.

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    1. Ha ha, that’s a nice little wink! It’s like the really obscure jokes on The Simpsons that only 1 in 20 people will get. I love it!

      I love naming characters. Sometimes it’s random, and sometimes you get to kill off a former coworker!

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  9. I don’t trust myself with character names, so I google to make sure I’m not “borrowing” from someone famous. (Real people I do use sometimes. Like, my mom’s college roommate in 1942, Mary Lee Messinger.) My real problem is creating “adjacent” character names. Like, the detective/bf in my Ladies Smythe & Westin series is Shane McGarrett. The detective bf in my Irish series is Garrett McGavin. (I did know a real Garrett from Ireland way back. Nice guy.)

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