What's In A Name?

I've been following a conversation on a message board where writers, published and unpublished, post book-related topics. There's a thread on there about overused names in books. This is the unofficial list:

LUCAS

WILL

JAKE

KATE

CASSIE

BELLA

ISABELLE

JACK

GRACE

ALEX

AVA

SAM

SOPHIE

NOA/NOAH

AIDEN

JAYDEN

JASPER

FINN

Bet you can figure out where the author got his/her inspiration for a couple of those names.

You might want to give some thought to your characters' names, too, so you don't end up with the same name everyone else chooses.

But maybe you do want to follow a trend. After all, it is interesting to note how many Jennys were born in the seventies, how many Jessicas and Michaels were given that name in the eighties, how many Megans made an appearance in the nineties, etc.

HERE's a cool site where you can plug in a year and see the most popular baby names used at the time. Hey, don't laugh! It's a great resource. Another resource is a baby name book. Page through and see if a character's name jumps out at you.