This is a favourite subject of mine, but while I'm still on the Middlemarch theme, I do think it's worth a renewed visitation. George Eliot is clearly totally in love with her character Will Ladislaw. So she gives him her best name. How could Will Ladislaw not be a slightly flawed, curly haired, passionate young man, who was going to love Eliot's best, sweetest, most ardent heroine? Three syllables for a character, I would say, suggest significance. Contrast this with Casaubon, dry as dust, also worth three syllables, but his very name is a drag.
In Season of Light my own heroine is called Asa (short for Thomasina) Ardleigh. Ardleigh is a good, slightly unusual, English name, as befits, I hope a solid English heroine. Beatrice Paulin, another character - French, has a first name that to me bespeaks complication, and learnedness, but a second name which is slightly on the light side. Shackleford, slave owner - the name speaks for itself, but on the other hand, three syllables, so potential for greatness. You see....
Yes, names are vitally important ... I was reading about a new novel and thought it sounded soooo interesting, "just my kind of thing," thought I. Then I read the prologue and the first page online. The main character is called Melissa. Well, after that I just gave up ...
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