Character Names
One aspect of stores I tend to enjoy are characters that work on multiple levels. For example, in mysterious island TV show Lost many of the characters share names with important characters from the Old Testament to foreshadow their destiny. Unfortunately, sometimes it was a little too obvious - see Christian Shepherd for one perfect example.
Now I don't believe that every character in a story should have a referential name where the author winks at the reader, in fact it may become too distracting and take the user out of the story. So, I intend to do it with a few foreground characters.
Novel Spoilers
As I was creating my protagonist, I knew that he would suffer from insomnia and other sleep disorders due to a tragedy that occurred prior to Chapter I. So after some research I discovered that vivid and incomprehensible dreams were common amongst suffers. From here, I began looking through late Victorian census data, to find common baby boy names - one of which was Daniel. Daniel the interpreter of dreams. It had a nice ring to it.
Between Biblical and superficial names, lay characters whose names reflect their personality or destiny. Since Daniel begins the story studying at an esteemed university, he should have a teacher. However, since he is having problems at home (due to the previously mentioned tragedy), the teacher should hold a senior position at the school and be consulting with his parents. So, I went with a Dean John Wilkes who is a childhood friend of Daniel's father. To highlight a strong contrast between the nihilistic views of characters such as Charles Ridpath, I decided he should be a devout Christian with a strong Christian name.
Coincidentally, the name John means "God is Merciful", which implies his personal philosophy.
As a second example, Anthony Dillow (brother of romantic interest Virginia), suffers from a similar coincidence. I wanted to give Daniel not only emotional and intellectual antagonists, but also a physical one. Most of the characters in the story are either middle aged or slim, and therefore posing little threat to your average 18 year old male. So as I was deciding upon a year to set the story (see a future entry), I discovered that London (the setting of my story) held the Olympic games in 1908. Who better to be physically domineering than an Olympian? And so a highly competitive and protective physical teen was born.
The meaning behind the name Anthony? Worthy of praise, ideal for someone who excels at something they're passionate about.
Of course, the casual reader will not pick up on the sly winks and subtle nods scattered through the book - but it will not affect the story. It's merely there as a secondary layer for those that are more observant or knowledgeable.
So that's how characters can have different levels of meaning, depending upon the importance of their role.