What's in a name?

For a writer, a great deal can be revealed by the choice of the right character name.  Names can show social class, ethnic background, religious affiliation, regional origin, and give us insights into a character's inner being.

For the Panthera books I wanted short, clean names that reflected my characters' professional standing in their various careers. So I settled on Ren, Nic, and Bryn.  The AI I called Panthera. That was his formal project name, but to Ren and her brothers he's just Pan.  I wanted the pace of the books to be fast, with short chapters, and I chose names to reinforce this.

For Eyemind, I chose Keri for my artist character.  She has to be creative, but also focused enough to get herself out of all the danger I put her in.  For her Mind partner I chose Bi'yann.  This gets shortened to Bi by everyone, and gives me a workable name but also reflects Bi's Qu'os roots.  

I have worked with both these sets of characters for so long that I know exactly who they are now, and I would find it hard to change their names.  They are who I've named them, and once they took on that name it influenced their character and made them the complex, rounded people they are.