what's in a name?

When we choose character names for our scripts/films, we think about what name would best suit our stories. But did we ever realize that it's possibly because those names really connotate a certain image even in real life? That it's not as random as we first perhaps thought. I listen to these podcosts almost daily on spirituality and positive thinking, and today the guest was a woman by the name of Sharon Lynn Wyeth. She wrote a book called Neimology, the study of what names really mean. It was so interesting! It got me to thinking that when we choose characters, that maybe we always knew there was meaning behind them, without even realizing it. Sharon, (pronouned Sha-rone, not Sharon), did a study on names and letters for fifteen years and visited 60 countries collecting data, before publishing her book. She found that all the rules she writes about with names and their meanings holds true as long as they're written with the same characters. If you think about it, we know that a Jennifer means one type of person, whereas a Norma would be a completely other type of person. Even recently a writer friend on Facebook asked for people to chime in on character names for a guy that's annoying, boisterous, obnoxious. People quickly wrote, "Clifton, Chad, Lewis," on and on and on. Sure some names seemed to fit that type of character more than others. But right away I got images of who those characters fit and what type of person I'd expect to see. There really did seem to be some truth to what she wrote and talked about. And perhaps if we writers get this book, we'd be able to come up with the perfect character names without just reaching randomly into thin air or googling, "baby names" in search of the perfect name. I for one am curious and might have to get the book. Even if I don't use it for screenwriting, I could always find out what my name means. I hope it's all positive! Plus knowing names could help us understand our day-to-day as we interact with people. I mean, I might like to know which producers are easier to work with someday, right? Here's her website for anyone that's interested in reading more about it. http://knowthename.com/about/