In this blog, I’ll describe how the name Wildsmith Webster arrived in my life like a gift… and tips for researching or making up character names.
A few years ago, there was a local history project organised as part of Hebden Bridge Arts Festival called Who Lived in My Street 100 Years Ago. The idea was to find out about and celebrate the ordinary people of Hebden Bridge.
Everyone who took part and discovered who lived in their house a hundred years earlier was given a sticker to put in their window – just like the blue plaques that mark the houses of famous historical figures. We would display the name and occupation of the person who’d lived in our house – for surely these lives deserve celebration too? I love walking through my town and reading the names and jobs – especially on the main street where it shows what a particular shop used to be. We have butchers, printers, fustian cutters: all sorts of people! I’m not even sure what some of the jobs must have involved.
I was very curious about my house. We’ve moved since, but we lived there for over a decade and were very happy there. I liked to think the previous people had been happy too, because it had a lovely feel to it. I knew that terrace had been built at the end of the nineteenth century for railway workers. But I wasn’t expecting to find such a beautiful, memorable name!
It turned out that the householder was named Wildsmith Webster, and he had been a ‘warehouseman’. I was delighted to learn this! Mr Webster had lived in our house in 1911 with his wife and daughter. I wondered about him, especially knowing the date of this census and what was about to happen later that decade. I hoped that Wildsmith Webster came through the war years and lived a long and contented life.
And I hope he wouldn’t mind that I borrowed his name and used it in my children’s books. I decided Wildsmith was a job title itself, a kind of magical healer who can speak to animals. Rowan’s grandfather Inigo Webster is a wildsmith – and later in the story she discovers that she is one too. So thank you, Wildsmith Webster, I salute your name and your memory!
Tips for character names:
- I am always looking out for unusual names. Sometimes I scan the closing credits of films or TV shows and jot down ones that leap out. If I’m walking through an old graveyard, I read the headstones and try to remember interesting surnames.
- I wouldn’t borrow the name of a living person unless I had permission, so you can try mixing up first names and surnames from a few different places to get a unique combination.
- Baby name websites often include the meaning of a name. It can be fun to have that extra layer of resonance, even if no one else ever notices!
Wildsmith: Into the Dark Forest, illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton, is published by UCLan Publishing on 2nd February 2023, £7.99
