When I first envisioned the concept for my novel one of the things that immediately came to mind was the two main characters. It didn’t take long, and their names quickly popped into my head and I have stuck with them. The female lead is “Kelly” and the male is “Chris.” Not sure where they came from, but they’ve stuck. Even though I know both of each, they’re not named after anyone.

A few other secondary characters came along and I had to give those names as well. I did a Kickstarter to raise the money to go to Dublin and I used the two biggest contributors names for two of those characters. Luckily I think they fit well (Laura (Lara) and Tyler) so those two were out of the way.

It got trickier the more names I needed. When possible I tried to use names of people in my life (my novel, why not?), but they didn’t always fit. Here’s the list although it is not exhaustive, I’m still needing a few more names.

When I needed a name for a construction foreman, I went with Harlin (Harlin is a burly guy but he’s more writer than construction worker). For the not so nice mom I used Dannielle (sorry darlin, I know you’re pretty nice).

Some of the names I used but didn’t pull from real life: Ruby, Lisa, and Petra.

I used the dog’s name of someone I dated- Theo (probably one of my favorite and most aptly names in the book).

I named the cat Oscar, have no idea why.

And I know an Ian but don’t know a Mug and neither are named for anyone in real life.

I used another friend’s name but don’t want to give it away.

I have a yet to be named nurse, Irish bartender, and on the fence on whether to give Kelly’s parents names or not.

I’m sure I’m leaving out a few, as with all my writing, editing to follow.

Oddly two of my BFFs, Evan and Bill, didn’t make the book. Sorry dudes.