Recent copies of baby-naming books have included a section titled, "What to name your son if you want him to be the President," followed by a list of names you could probably guess: William, Robert, John, etc... So you see, we even have preconceived thoughts about people by just hearing their name. If we hear "William" we might think political or wealthy or intelligent. The same goes for Robert and John. These facts sometimes determine why people choose the names they do.
Other writers like to research names for their meaning. For example, Jessica means wealthy (ha!), so some writers would only use that name to portray someone of wealth.
In the past, I have written stories, only to change the main character's name about five times. Each time I'd have thoughts like, "No, this name is too mature for the young character" or "This name is overused." The cycle would go round and round until finally, I landed on a name I loved.
Do you struggle with naming your character(s)?
