I was working with a friend to find character names for a WIP. I have a list of surnames that I plan to use to name streets/buildings, pretending the surnames once belonged to fictitious famous people. While we were exploring, my friend voiced a great idea:

I could take some surnames and, based off of the etymology of the name, build a history for these famous people. For instance, what kind of person might have the name “Sauveterre,” meaning “safe haven” in French? What did he do to earn that name? And how did he become famous? If I do this for several surnames, I could build a fairly complicated history backwards.

Since I’ve never done extensive history for any of my works, this idea appeals to me. The major struggle will be figuring out how to work all this information into the book. (Originally it was supposed to be a sci-fi medical thiller-esque, so I have no idea where a history lesson is going to tie into that… but as I answer that question, I’ll develop the idea significantly!)

So my question is – has anyone ever done this? Any thoughts or suggestions?

I've never tried to make history out of names before... not that I know of. I don't even have names for most of the specific places in my book.

Sounds like a good idea to me. I've never tried it, but I might give it a try on one of my stories histories.

It sounds like a really cool idea! I haven't tried this before, but let us know how it goes.

Rather like the names Smith and Miller being so common because they were occupations... That will make for an intriguing read. I've done that a little with names but it's more so what they will become rather than what they have already done.


P.S. PM me if you want me to make up some really crazy/ridiculous histories that won't help at all. They're great for a laugh and some brainstorming.

Because this story isn't my main project right now, I haven't sat down to work up any histories... but I'm excited to do it! I will let you know how it goes and what I come up with.

Riniel, I just might do that sometime! Thanks for the offer! And you never know - they might actually work in the story, humorous or not.