And curse yourself for making the grievous error of not investigating the first sentence in the store before you dished out your hard-earned cash. Oh, not that the prose is awkward; not that the writer possesses an indigestible style. In fact, the author may have had the ability to suck you into the story had he not made his own grievous error, one that shattered any hope of escapism for the reader—the name of the main character is horribly, despicably, unforgivably wrong!

Sound familiar? Shame on the unthinking author or the uncaring editor who allows this sin to occur.

Luckily for readers, most authors and editors have learned the importance of properly-named characters. Imagine what might have happened (or not have happened) if Margaret Mitchell had elected to christen her character “Sunny” instead of “Scarlett”; “Rupert” instead of “Rhett.” Would the spirit of Gone With The Wind be the same? Would the romance leap off the page when “Sunny” and “Rupert” kiss? Would theatergoers in Hollywood’s Golden Age have waited with bated breath for one of the finest movies ever made? Perhaps. But I think not.

Or consider this—would ratings for the “Who Shot J.R. Ewing?” episode of Dallas have gone through the roof if the question had been “Who Shot F.Q. Hicksby?” Doubtful. Yes, a well-chosen name can make all the difference between success and a rejected manuscript.

Well fear not, because The Character Naming Sourcebook was written with the sole intention of aiding writers who are struggling to find that perfect appellation.

The authors call Part One of their book “The Craft Of Naming.” No exaggeration—it is a craft all its own. Not only do chapters include topics regarding the importance of names, Characternyms (People), Toponyms (Places), and Resnyms (Imaginary Products or Companies), but also provide advice regarding specific genres. Here, in enlightening and ofttimes hilarious examples, it becomes crystal clear how names should mirror the character’s personality, while at the same time, reflect the character’s history as well as their ethnic background.

Part Two, however, is the book’s core. The authors have compiled a seemingly-exhaustive list of names. Over 20,000 are included, grouped according to their origin (from Anglo-Saxon to Welsh), then separated by gender. The name’s original meaning is supplied as well.

Here, also, can be found intriguing advice for surnames. For instance, under Greek, the book informs the name-hunting author that “A married woman changes her middle name to her husband’s name and adds an ‘a’ to feminize the name.” Or did you know that women in Hungary, in lieu of using Mrs., will add the suffix “-ne” to her husband’s given name (i.e. Mrs. Vidor Balogh would be Vidorne Balogh)? And heaven help you if a Russian historian denounces your research for naming a peasant “Petrovich” if your novel is set in the time of Empress Catherine—the “-ovich” suffix wasn’t allowed for certain classes.

So toss aside those phone books and baby-naming books. I have. With The Character Naming Sourcebook nestled beside my Compaq, I no longer have to fear that my dashing, young, and brave hero is misnamed “Lloyd Cameron” (which equals Gray/Crooked Nose in Celtic). “Donovan Keane” (Strong Fighter/Tall And Handsome) somehow seems more appropriate.