Focus groups and men's names

One of the things about writing fiction can be both frustrating and rewarding at the same time is picking names.

I decided to approach one upcoming character in Seven Cows a little bit differently. I formed a small focus group of two young women and three women my age.

I gave them a list of fifty names and asked them to pick the five they liked best and to rank their top five.

The results:

Young women:
Parmalee
Milo
DeSoto
Allen
Temple

Drake
Logan
Milo
Chris
Bryan

Women who are my age
Marco
Milo
Beaumont
Cullen
Drake

Dallas
Chris
Bryan
Richard
Trace

Allen
Victor
Logan
Clay
Angelo

Milo is the winner for the guy's name, showing up on three of the five lists and being like by both age cohorts. I was surprised at the amount of overlap between the lists.

I also asked for the venue where the two characters should meet.
One of the focus group suggested the Michigan Hemp Conference.

Another suggested waiting in line to buy a latte at a coffee shop.
 

And the guy's profession?
Underwater welder.

Stay tuned...