What’s in a name? (updated for 2025!)

Here’s a sampling of how Kingsbrier & Shattered Hearts of Carolina character names came to be... Adam — first man, first son

Aidy — Found in a Facebook group

Bellamy — originally named Avery, but I thought that would cause too much confusion with Trig Avery from Splinter of Hope.

Brier — Describes her personality; prickly. Cadence — Colette’s need for control.

Cary & Holly — References to towns in North Carolina.

Caroline/Sweet Caroline’s & Baked Beans — references to Boston.

Chesney — reference to Kenny Chesney

Colton — Colt ➡ young. He's the youngest. Note: I don’t refer to him as Colt. EVER.

Corey — A placeholder name that never changed. This is rare.

Cricket — I wanted an uncommon southern name. The opposite was true of Savannah Andrew (mentioned in Cavanaugh).

Cris — I didn’t want to add the h.

Dash — For a long while, he was an unnamed baby who wouldn’t stay put.

Daveigh — Actually one of the few girl names that made it on the list of what to name our kids.

Drew — in draft chapters he had a placeholder name of John. I happened to listen to the first 3 lines of “Drew” by Taylor Swift. While the song has very little to do with Brier & Drew’s story, the name stuck... Drew looks at me / I fake a smile so he won't see / That I want and I'm needing / Everything that we should be ...Plus the line: I wonder if he knows he's all I think about at night.

Eric — I’m partial to names spelled with c instead of k... and Eric Kingsbrier reads better than Erik Kingsbrier.

Ginny — I happened to work out that Ginny ➡ Virginia ➡ virgin ➡ pregnancy storyline. Not planned at all. Dumb luck.

Gracyn — Keely needed to be granted a little grace, but she was ashamed holding onto the secret of Gracyn’s parentage.

Imogen — (Cassidy & Isaiah’s daughter) An arc reader’s name that literally means “beloved child” or “daughter”.

Kat & K2 — Mountain ranges

Kenan & Finley — (Kimber & Trig’s twins) Raleigh-area sports stadiums.

“king” in Kingsbrier — Texas ➡ farm ➡ truck ➡ All-American ➡ Then a King Ranch F150 pulls up next to us. 💡!

Mateo — originally Matteo. My editor had a linguistics degree and removed the extra t.

Newhouse — I was standing in line at Disney World and the name was on a family’s backpack. It worked to my advantage months later when realized that Colette would become part of the family.

Rae Lee — Wanted a southern 2 part name. It coincidentally fit with Anson mistaking her identity.

Remy — (Gatlin & Bellamy’s younger daughter) Reference to Boston sports broadcaster Jerry Remy & the Sox.

Rose — Fit with Brier.

Roseanne & Lily — Homage to Rose and Lily Anne to understand how much Brier & Drew’s mother’s meant to them. Many characters have part of a family name.

Ross — His original name was Russ. My eyes started interchanging the u with the o in Rose. However, I vow to never again have a lead character coupling where their names even begin with the same letter, let alone are one letter off!

Shelby & Portia — (Holly & Cary’s daughters) Cary’s love of cars.

Strand — A single piece of hair, thread. Colette is on her own when we meet her.

Temple, Contessa & Rhiannon — all regal names. If there are any names that aren’t here that you’d like to know more about e-mail me and I’ll add them to the list!