The statue pictured is a highly stylized likeness of Jehanne Darc, which is displayed all over France even in areas far from her homeland of Domrémy. Those few words not in “normal” English may convince a reader that they really do not wish to read a book about the famous Jeanne d’Arc (also known as Joan of Arc) even although Jehanne is her name in the middle French that she spoke, and she may have never used the location name of Darc.

A few years ago, I concluded that fictional names had little bearing on how well a character is liked. After all, Fitzwilliam Darcy, Atticus Finch and Bilbo Baggins are not common or easy to say names. But, these are well-loved characters. So, the personality and actions of fictional characters will override any less than optimal name.

That period of writing may be coming to an end. Some people’s minds work just like a spell checker. Set to American English. They are drawn to only the most popular and common names in their cultures. Even though fantasy writers are known to use names as exotic as their settings, a reviewer of my initial draft for a fantasy work in progress complained about the total number of times that the character and place names weren’t recognized by Microsoft Word spell check. This spell checker does not realize that the historical Jehanne Darc existed either.

Soon after that I answered a question on the effects of AI on diversity, and discussed a research document on machine learning (now called AI). In this research hundreds of resumes from real people highly qualified for specific positions were used to teach AI to find viable candidates from among a large number of applicants. However, AI unintentionally learned to look for candidates based on the ethnicity of their name using similarities in names as it did in other fields. Many of those resumes selected had names originating from a few languages.

As I attempted to choose the best character names for a fifth century story set in Wales and Cornwall, I decided I needed help from other people. I wrote a list of Welsh and Cornish names that I assumed were pronounceable and asked other writers which ones they preferred. The only comment in response was “choose names that sounded like they are spelled.” Roman letters are not pronounce the same in Celtic languages as they are in English speakers. Ellyn may look like Ellen, but the “ll” is an unvoiced fricative, or hissing sound.

What causes this familiarity bias in fictional names? I think readers are overwhelmed with available media and learn to scan material to choose what is most common. They are attracted to average names that they hear every day. When celebrities’ fame results in many people naming children of the same generation after them that only reinforces their this sense of average. Unfamiliar names have a strangeness and they don’t fit the requirements. This reflects the same way that machine learning chose job candidates by names.

If J.R.R. had written The Hobbit or the Lord of the Ring series in MS Word, his tomes would have broken the spell checker. However, decades later, many of his names have been added to this software, which is an unexpected example of a writer changing some aspect of the future. However, readers who now look for common nomenclature, just like AI, don’t realize how this may affect the future of creative writing.

Photo Jeanne d”Arc in Occitania region of France by K.N. Listman