What's in a name?

Does anyone get stuck on names? I hate names. Names have history attached to them. Call a character Susan and then remember Susan in Grade 4 who turned into a hysterical shrew on picture day because you were wearing your hair the same way she was. Nope, Susan can't be a good guy. And maybe you end up picking Sandra but reader number 587 had a huge fight with a Sandra over a boy when they were 16. It's a pathway frought with danger.

Sometimes, when I'm totally stumped on names, I use movie star names in the first draft. A handsome character who uses his dark good looks to charm the women might be Pierce Brosnan. A sexy physicist might be Susan Sarandon. Her nerdish professor research partner might be Jeff Goldblum. And then if I'm lucky, as I'm writing, a name will come to me. If I'm not lucky I spend days going through baby name books, trying to find the right combination. If all else fails I take my girlfriends out for dinner and we split a bottle or two of wine and don't come home until they are all named.

I used to work at a medical laboratory, processing the lab requisitions as they came in. I kept a notepad beside my desk and anytime I found an interesting name I wrote it down. I also use the phone book, a couple of medical directories that I have, yearbooks and anything else that has a name in it.

Place names are hard too. I think I found a new solution though. I used to use my Atlas or the internet. But I just recently came back from holidays on the Oregon coast, and before we went, we sent away to all the tourist boards in Washington State, Oregon and California for their information booklets. We got these great hotel and bed and breakfast guides that list the names of all the cities and towns that hotels can be found in. What a gold mine! There are some seriously cool place names. And they don't have to stay in Oregon, for example. How about a novel set in Serendipity Alberta? Or Sacred British Columbia? That can set a mood before the book binding is even cracked!

Anyone else have any other ideas or suggestions? I'm always looking for new ones.

By the way, it was my first time on the Oregon coast - amazing beaches and breath-taking scenery. Someone should have told me about it sooner.