Tuesday, February 05, 2013

When I make up character names, I often check the Social Security site to make sure the names I'm picking reflect the age of the character. "Lisa" is going to sound like she's in her forties. "Chelsea" and "Madison" are probably in their late twenties.

Right now I'm writing a cop comedy set in Québec, so most of the characters are French Canadian. (Someone else will adapt it in French.) Québecois names, too, have changed over the years. Marcel is probably an older guy. Marie-France is probably younger. But to be much more precise, check out this fantastic collection of links sent me by my friend Martine, of Ni Vu Ni Connu:

First Names

Popularity of first names in Québec (with graphs)

http://www.lesprenoms.net/graphique200.html

Most popular first names by year (1890 to 2012)

http://www.lesprenoms.net/Premiersnoms18901998.html

Prénoms 2006 to 2011

http://www.rrq.gouv.qc.ca/Interactif/PR2I121_Prenoms/PR2I121_Prenoms/PR2SPrenoms.aspx?langue=fr

Last Names

Les 1,000 premiers noms de famille selon le rang

http://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca/donstat/societe/demographie/noms_famille/noms_famille_1000.htm

Liste des noms de famille les plus courants au Québec (probably extracted from the previous sources)

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_des_noms_de_famille_les_plus_courants_au_Qu%C3%A9bec

Frequency of family names by area

http://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca/donstat/societe/demographie/noms_famille/freq_max_mrc.htm

More statistical details on last names

http://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca/donstat/societe/demographie/noms_famille/index.htm

How names were historically given in Québec

http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/fr/nomsPrenoms.htm

4:25 PM

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