I had an idea about the female lead in my novel wanting to change her name from “Alexandra” to “Zandra”. Other characters would call her by the new name, but so would the narrator.
But I’m worried that people might react like, “It confused me when she changed her name…I couldn’t remember who this ‘Zandra’ was.”
Any advice? Thanks in advance!
You didn’t specify if the narrative is first- or third-person. If it’s third, I definitely wouldn’t change a character’s name in the narrative unless the name change was crucial to the plot (i.e. “Paul” becomes “Maud’Dib” or something). If you’re really in love with “Zandra”, I suggest introducing it as early in the story as possible, and be sure to introduce it explicitly (i.e. using both terms in the same sentence):
This way, there can be no confusion in wondering where the heck this “Zandra” character came from. If you think anything might be confusing, leave it out. There’s no point risking getting the reader annoyed into tossing your book away. Casually changing character names can be a major pain in the ass.
If it’s a first-person narrative, I’d introduce the nickname at the character’s first appearance.
It’s third-person, and the change is important to the character development. She’s a teenager, and she changes her name because a lot of things are changing for her*. And it has to be roughly at the midway mark: it’s not a turning point in itself, but it illustrates a shift in tone.
How 'bout if I do it like this? She’ll spend a paragraph or two mulling the idea of a name change. Then there will be a scene where she discusses it with her boyfriend, he reacts (favorably), and he agrees to help her make the transition by calling her “Zandra” from then on, so others will hear it and get used to associating it with her. Through that, I think I should call enough attention to Alexandra’s transformation into Zandra for people to remember it.
*A side benefit for her is the acid test it enables her to perform on her friends and acquaintances: seeing which ones react with “Uh…okay” or “You’re kidding” and which ones say “That’s cool!” either for politeness’ sake or with sincerity.
People change their names in real life, so there’s no reason it shouldn’t happen in fiction!
As long as it is properly drawn attention to in the storyline (and it sounds like it will be) and there is a valid plot reason for doing it (and it sounds like there is) then it could be a useful narrative tool.
“My name is Alexandra, but you can call me Jim after my sex change.”
It worked in The Count Of Monte Cristo.
Does your character tunnel her way out of a French prison after many years of unjust imprisonment? Would you consider adding a women’s prison scene, where all the girls spoke French? And were very—friendly—to each other?
If the answers to these questions are all “yes”, you have a future writing screenplays for Madonna! 
Not only do people change their name in real life, but different people call the same person by different names. This is a very good way of indicating something about the relationship between them.
So, yeah, a name change is fine. But if you don’t want any confusion make sure and subtly spell it out to the reader. (And I do mean subtly, I can’t stand books that signpost plot developments like that and then keep returning to point them out to the reader. I got it! Move on!)
Actually, I can think of plot devices that depend on the same person having two names, it only being revealed later on that they’re both names for the same person.
Couple things:
I wouldn’t have everyone change what they call her. Have some people just keep on calling her Alexandria–I’ve never known a name change to work quickly in real life–most people still have friends and family using their “old” name for a decade at least. Also, after a name change people call you "Alexandri . . . I meam Zandra " a whole lot. YOu can also change the spelling to Xandria, which mankes the connection more obvious, nad use a spostrophe–'Xandria, which reminds the readers that letters are missing.
Second–you may need to be delicate with that particular name change at this particular moment. The first thing I thpught of when I read your post was “Ah! A Buffy fan!” because thats the only place I’ve ever seen the Alexander/Xander nickname and Buffy tends ot attract the sort of people who like to write. Now then, it dosen’t matter where the idea really came from. It dosen’t matter if you’ve ever watched Buffy or if you got this idea from your grandmother who was named Alexandria and changed her name ot Zandra in 1908. All that matters is that if an editor has seen a huge upsurge in Xanders who are really named Alexanders lately, you don’t want to be lumped with them.
Now then, I may be being over-sensitive to this because I watch Buffy* and becasue the fane base is disporporionatly strong here on the boards. It does kinda suck. If it is any comfort, in 1998 someone out there was on their last rewrite of a great novel with a main charecter named Monica.
Sure, go ahead and change it as long as you make it clear.
I once wrote a Zelda fanfic where I changed Zelda to Hail in the third chapter and didn’t change back to the very end. I think it works best if you’re doing it to make a point about the character, and not just because of a whim.
I just wanted to point out that just because things happen in real life that doesn’t mean they will “work” in fiction. That said, the name change would probably work IMO. I would have some small reservations about the narrator using the new name, but I think it could be pulled off. If you submit it for sale, let us know if you get any comments about it.
Pearl S. Buck did it in Imperial Woman, her novel about the Empress Tsu Hsi. The main character underwent several name changes: Orchid, Yehonala, Tsu Hsi, Empress Mother, Empress, Old Buddha. I may have even left out a few.
What POV was Imperial Woman written in? Did the narration also switch to the new names?
At some point in The Lord of the Rings Strider became Aragorn, but some people kept calling him Strider, and I don’t think anyone was confused.
The difference in name can be very important in subtly or not so subtly (that looks misspelled to me, but my caffeine hasn’t kicked in yet so I’ve no idea how it should be spelled) indicating some things. When and by whom she gets called the new name, or the old, is important in context.
Okay … that didn’t seem to make much sense. I’ll illustrate with an example from a fantasy novel I’ve been working on. The main character, Terza, had a very dysfunctional childhood, and pretty much got kicked out of house and home at the age of ten. An older man took her in when she was half an inch from starving, and when he died a few years later she took his last name, Velyan, instead of her family name. It was an important change for her, because she was leaving behind the hell of her family’s treatment and starting a new life. The next time she got called by her original last name was when she unexpectedly ran into a cousin of hers; she quickly lost her newfound serenity and a vicious fight ensued. Her cousin refused to call her by the new name, even though that’s how she was known at the school they were at.
Flash forward a number of years. Terza’s in charge of a division at that school, and her son comes to study there (against her advice). She has two roles to play for him: mother, and headmaster. He has two roles: son, and student. They pick up each other’s cues by how they’re called; when she comes into the dining hall and says, “I expect you in my study immediately, Apprentice Velyan,” he knows he’s in deep crap. When they get really angry at each other, they get incredibly formal, and the local temperature drops like twenty degrees. 
You can indicate a lot about other characters by when they call Zandra Zandra, and when they forgetfully or otherwise call her Alexandra, or how long it takes them to use the new name. The narrator’s in a bit different situation; I would simply call her Zandra in the narration, unless it was in a flashback or dream sequence sorta thing that took her back to the time when she was still Alexandra.
It shouldn’t be too confusing, as long as a big enough thing is made of it that the reader remembers, even if they set the book down for a while and came back later.
Third person omniscient, and yes, each new name was introduced. Let’s see . . .
IIRC, the remaining name changes were all formally announced to the people.
They did it in Mulholland Dr. and I don’t remember anyone complaining about it being confusing.
Did the narrator also refer to her as Yehonala from that point on? I’m not talking about dialogue, I mean like when her actions were described. Like:
Stuff like that.
That’s precisely what I was planning! Some people will stumble over the name, some will take to it easily, and one teacher will say, “I’m not going to change my attendance sheet every time one of you kids decide to change your name. It says “Alexandra” on the sheet; that’s what I will call you.”
**
No…I’ve crafted this character very carefully, and she would not go that far. She wants to be innovative, but she’s anxious to stop short of what she thinks of as pretentious (no offense). Besides, it will be enough trouble getting people used to the new pronounciation, never mind an unconventional spelling.
**
Well, I thought of that too, and by extension, so did she. That’s another reason why she will use a Z instead of keeping the X. (There is a designer named Zandra Rhodes. That’s not an influence on her either, but that’s what her boyfriend’s mom assumes when she’s told of the change.) Anyway, I’m aiming this at girls 12-18, so maybe the familiarity would be a good thing? (Even though the story is straight-up fiction, not fantasy or whatever genre Buffy falls into.)
Dragonblink, you spelled it correctly.
People may not be as likely to be confused as you would think. I write [sub]fanfics[/sub] on another message board that people leave comments on as I post parts of the story, and have about 30 regular readers, most of whom are between the ages of 14 and 30( fairly evenly split between teens and 20-somethings, actually). None of them has ever expressed in their feedback confusion about a character who is altenately called Alexander or Alex for short by his mother and aunt. And I never explained that they were using a nickname! I’m sure that if you explain a slightly more unusual nickname no one will get lost.
If you want to see how I use his names, click on the link in my sig
Also in LOTR with Strider/Aragorn/Dunedan as mentioned and in Shogun with Blackthorne/Anjin-san/Hatamoto.