I posted a little the other day from Where the Heart Is, by Billie Letts, and there’s another passage from it that I thought you’d all enjoy:
“… Two months had passed since Willy Jack had dumped her — and she had done nothing. She hadn’t looked for a place to live, hadn’t figured out how to make a living. She hadn’t even picked out a name for her baby.
Then she remembered a list of names she had started on the day she and Willy Jack left Tellico Plains. She pulled the spiral notebook out of her beach bag and flipped to the back. The list was still there — one page for girls, one for boys. Felicia, Brook, Ashley. Novalee made a face as she read them. Rafe, Thorne, Hutch, Sloan. Names she had taken from soap operas. Blain, Asa, Dimitri. Moses Whitecotton had told her to find a strong name, but the names on her list weren’t strong. They just sounded silly.”
(Also: Willy Jack. Fantastic name for his mostly despicable character.)
(I have a hard time hating the name Novalee though, I love the character too much.)
Sancta Nomina 
I love Billie Letts. Where the Heart Is is my favorite, but I also love The Honk and Holler Opening Soon. And there is are interesting points about names in Shoot Down the Moon, especially one that the main character makes that becomes apparent at the end (can’t reall say anything without ruining the book). I think she must have been an author that loved naming her characters.
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Ooh I’ll have to look into those! I’ve loved the movie Where the Heart Is for years, but only just discovered it was based on a book.
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Though only a character in a novel…Godluver!
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