A few years ago, Angie shared a spreadsheet with all the different names she’d used in her Glad Tidings book which features 25 different short flash fiction stories. That got me thinking. I wondered what sort of names I used most in my stories. I knew I overused some names, but which ones? And which letter of the alphabet got used the most?

So I came up with a plan. I was going to read all my books and stories that have been published and see what I could find. Let’s just say I was surprised but what I discovered. I could just tell you everything, but I thought it would be fun to make this into a quiz. (This includes all my published novels, short stories, Christmas stories, and pocket books except Summer Light and He is Still Emmanuel.) Ready?

First Names First

1.) Which letter of the alphabet have I used the most?

2.) Which of these boy’s names or variation of the name have I used the most? (Tip: These are my top used names except for Jonathan/John/Johnny/Jon.)

3.) Which of these girl’s names or variation of the name have I used the most?

4.) Which of these letters have I used the least? (Tip: I have 0 first names that start with X.)

Doctors, Ministers, Outlaws, Sheriffs

I did have fun making special note of all my doctors, ministers, law enforcement officers, and yes, even the bad guys. So let’s talk about them for a bit.

5.) Do I have more Outlaws/bad guys, or more Law Enforcement officers?

6.) What Letter of the alphabet is most commonly used for a Doctor’s last name?

7.) How many vowels have I used to start a minister’s last name?

Last Names Last

8.) Which 2 letters of the alphabet have I used the most to start last names?

9.) Which letter(s) have I not used to start any last names?

10.) How many different last names have I used?

I like lists. And seeing all the names of characters in neat lists is rather fun. I learned which names I have overused, and which letters I should work on using more. My goal in making separate lists for the doctors, ministers, etc. is so that I wouldn’t use the same ones over and over. Anyway, leave your answers to the quiz in a comment. Right now I don’t even know the answers to some of these questions. But I’m eager to find out!

Do you have a list of names you have used? Do you find that you often use the same name multiple times? Come back next week for the answers.