“For my characters, I pick my names, really, by instinct and feeling they have to feel right for the character, they have to be pretty to me, and they have to have a sound that I can hear Lestat saying aloud, and Dora was a perfect name. I was also probably influenced by Dora in David Copperfield, by Dickens. I also search passionately for names in many sources. I look through baby name books. I circle the beautiful names when I come across them in history books and art books, and I sometimes write beautiful names on the walls of my room, having come across them in random reading. Names are extremely important to me. I can’t progress with the character until I have the name and can rapidly say the name, and type the name.”

– Anne Rice (Source X)