The 1st Delemma

The 1st Dilemma – Character Names

I have reached my first problem! I have the four female characters nailed down as to who they are and what God is going to teach them throughout the novel the problem is their names. I had names picked out but I want to change some of them now and I’m not sure what to change them to.

Here are the characters and their current names I’m having problems with:

Abigail (Abbey) Kessler – She is a red head who loves architecture and literature. She is a dreamer who hasn’t thought a lot about her future and is sort of the type of person who just goes with the flow and doesn’t plan much ahead of time. She is very independent. The “lesson” God teaches her is that she needs to rely on Him not just herself and also the people He has put around her who love her and want to help her.

Emmaline Hammon (Emmie) – She wants to be a missionary and doesn’t really understand why God brought her to a place with a bunch of Christians that is in the US when she knows she is meant to go over seas. She has sandy blonde hair and is what my friends and I call “granola.” This is hard to explain so some characteristics are: likes coffee, wears lots of earth tones, Chaco’s are the shoe of choice, likes the outdoors, likes soft jazzy music and stuff like Jack Johnson and John Mayer. Emmie is sort of quiet but loves people and is really sweet. She is going to be working in a coffee shop in the novel.

Ryane Shannon – Yes this is a girl! She is the character I’ve had the hardest time with and I still don’t like her name. She is sort of the “blonde bomb shell” type. She is ambitious and hardworking, maybe overly so. She is a journalist and gets a job at the local paper in the novel. She sort of does what she wants and doesn’t listen to anyone else most of the time. Her struggle in the novel is with faith. Her faith in God is just slipping because she is just doing her own thing. Also being a journalist she is very involved in the worldliness of media and it is starting to affect her.

Now you know the characters so here are the problems with their names:
I really want Abbey’s name to be Ryane. Maybe because she is a redhead and the r and r thing is really cool! (I should know that is how my name is.) Also I just feel it fits her better. But then Ryane needs a new name, which I have no idea what to name her.

Then Emmaline (Emmie) Hammon, the problem here is I have three names that end in the “ey” sound. Jackie, Abbey, and Emmie. I know I want to keep Jackie but the other two I am fine with ditching! Also the boy Emmie falls in love with is named Alex and Alex and Emmie reminds me too much of “Alex and Emma” the movie. And I also really want to keep Alex’s name so that would mean we need to change Emmie’s.

So that’s the problem. Comment if you have any ideas!