Why You Should Stick to One Name for Each Character in Your Novel

You’re probably known by several different names in your life.

I’m “Alison Luke” when I fill in a form.

I’m “Mrs Luke” to my bank and to cold-callers.

I’m “Mummy” to my kids, occasionally “Mum” (they’re not convinced that I even have another name).

I’m “Ali” to everyone who met me after I turned 18, and “Alison” to some of those who met me before that and never adjusted!

I’m “Kitty’s mum” to a lot of my fellow school mums.

Like real people, your characters will almost certainly have more than one form of their name. They might also have a particular role or profession (e.g. “solicitor”) that you could plausibly “name” them as.

When it comes to your narrative, though, your character needs to have one name that you use consistently.

It’s confusing for readers if you switch between their surname and first name a lot, or if you use descriptions to try to shake things up a bit (“the girl”, “the tall man” “his friend”, “the cop” etc).

Using a character’s name repeatedly is like using the word “said” repeatedly: readers will barely even notice.

Why Switching Up Your Character Naming Doesn’t Work

Here’s an example of naming going wrong:

As Susie watched, Jason took a bottle of wine from the fridge and poured two glasses.

“Here you go,” the tall man said.

Her friend hadn’t even asked if she wanted something else instead. Surely Williamson knew by now that she very rarely drank.

“Thanks,” Susannah said.

Even if we already know that Jason is (a) tall, (b) Susie’s friend and (c) has the surname “Williamson”, it’s still a bit jarring to have him referred to in all these different ways in such a short space of time. It’s also confusing when she suddenly switches from “Susie” to “Susannah”.

Obviously, you should use pronouns (“he” / “she” / “they”) where appropriate; do use names if there’s the potential for confusion, though, or if you’re resuming after a break within / after a chapter.

Avoid Using Descriptors in Place of Character Names

Some writers, especially newer writers, think that it’s important to avoid over-using a character’s name. Instead of using the name, they write something like:

• “The teacher”
• “The cop”
• “The detective”
• “The tall man”
• “The woman”
• “The blonde”

Generally, you should avoid this.

Why? It’s distancing. It positions the narrative further away from the character and can make the character seem less of a person and more of an archetype or depersonalised figure. (You may of course want this, which we’ll come onto in a moment…)

(For more on this, check out K.M. Weiland’s excellent post Most Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 39: Referencing Characters by Title Rather Than Name.)

It can also be confusing to the reader if you use this type of descriptor. They have to stop for a moment and work out whether “the tall man” is definitely the same person as “Jason”.

When You CAN Refer to a Character by Something Other than Their Name

Of course, there may well be times when you want to use a nickname, or more formal name, or a distancing reference to a character.

This is always OK in dialogue – and, of course, the names we use for people can be significant. (My children only ever get called by their “long” names when they’re in trouble…!)

Within the narrative, though, it’s sometimes appropriate to use something other than the character’s name.

You might want to use a descriptor (like “the teacher” or “the blonde”) when:

• You want a distancing effect. (If you’ve read Brighton Rock, think about how Pinkie Brown is only ever referred to as “the boy” in the narrative.) This doesn’t necessarily need to take place throughout the novel – it might only occur in viewpoint scenes from certain characters. If your villain always thinks of the female protagonist as “the blonde”, for instance, that says something about who the villain is and how he perceives her.
• You have a minor character who won’t reappear in the story (e.g. “the taxi driver” or “the barista”) – by labelling rather than naming the character, you make it clear to the reader that they’re not important to the story. Essentially, if their role is what matters (e.g. the taxi driver is only in the story because he gets the hero from A to B), then referring to them by role is fine.
• Your viewpoint character doesn’t know someone’s name. In this case, it often makes sense to use a simple description like “the woman” or “the young man” or “Blondie” – but keep it the same each time, and introduce the character’s actual name as soon as is reasonable. (Unless you’re deliberately obscuring the character’s identity, in which case you can carry on.)

Sometimes, you might have a good reason to use variant on a character’s name (e.g. a shortened form of their name). The main reason for this is when:

• The current viewpoint character habitually calls them something different. Perhaps “Susie” is always “Sue” to her old school friends. You can certainly use “Sue” in the dialogue from these friends; if you have scenes that are from their perspective (either first person or third person limited), you can also use “Sue” in the narrative.

Do you name your characters consistently in your narrative? If this isn’t something you’ve consciously thought about before, you might want to read back over a few pages or chapters to see whether you want to make any changes.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about character names – and whether you think consistency matters here! – in the comments, too.