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While answering one of Laura's questions below, I realized that the #1 influence on my naming style (and my namenerdyness in general) was books. As a kid I read a lot of fantasy books (still do) and when I started becoming a namenerd, I was heavily influenced by the general style of fantasy character names. It may have even been that reading books about characters with interesting names is what got me interested in names in the first place. First it was making up names, then collecting interesting names I read/heard, etc.

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What has been the biggest influence on your naming style? Did anything in particular influence you to become interested in names? Did anyone else start out their career by crafting made-up names, or did you go straight to the baby name books?