I love names. I often ask people their names and the origins of their names because I find it interesting. I love names with stories like my friend who was named for her great aunt or the one who was named after his father’s father having the number IV (four) after his name. Names have power, they can even make you feel things, especially if you meet someone with the same name as your first love or remembered teacher. How you feel depends upon the memories of that person. I like for names to have a cadence. Whether I’m naming a character, a town, a store or a band, I want that name to have a certain sound.

Is there such a thing as the perfect name? I love the name of my fictional town, Leeward, and my fictional island, Teach’s Island. I love most of my characters names, so much so I have to be careful not to reuse them. But as I’ve struggled to come up with the perfect name for my band, I’ve vacillated between my first thought, Queen Anne’s Revenge and my current idea, Flintlock and Steel, until I’m just not sure what to name my band. I need your help. I took to social media and had a few responses, but I’m asking you to really search for a name that you could see plastered on tee shirts and shouted by groupies.

The band members are in their late twenties. They play easy listening rock and country with a classic rock vibe and a hint of beach music. Two of the members are classically trained musicians who bring a bit of east coast jazz and blues into the mix. They write their own songs but get their start playing covers of Hootie and the Blowfish, Zac Brown Band, and Kenny Chesney. They started out dressing as pirates to get gigs in high school and college, winning a battle of the bands style reality game show while still in college that launched their music career.

Help me name the band. If I use your name in the book I’ll send you an Amazon gift card for $5 and give you credit in the book. You have until February 14th to send in your ideas to suspenseshewrites@sherrilhollister.com or simply reply to this post. Thanks for your help.