What's in a Name?

The classic question, right? All the way back to Shakespeare and Juliet's "wherefore" that I think everyone misunderstood in school as something that meant "where the hell are you?". But the truth is, there is a lot in a name, especially for actors, singers, writers - the real media type. Of course, choosing a name for a publication or movie is also incredibly important. Who would have seen Armageddon if it had just been called Asteroid? So, what it boils down to is creativity and appeal - to both the individual and his or her public.
As I was writing Hearts in Flight, my original hope was that the publishing company that picked me up (which I didn't know at the time was going to be PublishAmerica) would help me choose a title for my work. I was feeling the story just fine; in fact, it had all my emotions worked up. However, I couldn't seem to find an appropriate title floating around my head. It took me awhile to put together the idea that, between the dragons and the skydiving, there was a lot of flight involved, and since it was romance, I could poetically speak of the heart. It sort of spun out as Hearts in Flight, and at first, i wasn't thrilled at all with it, but it grew on me, and now, it seems to fit the work better than anything else I could have designed.
As for my pen name, Robin Lea came a little harder. In the past, I've used the name Leah Rhoades - my middle name, followed by my paternal grandmother's maiden name = to publish poetry. However, I had already named my main character Leah, and she had come to BE Leah in my mind, so I couldn't use that name, and I couldn't change hers. My own name - Robin Vela - just doesn't strike me as the name that should appear on a book cover and sound appealing. So, my mother made a suggestion for me. She asked why I didn't just use my first and middle name - Robin Leah. I told her that sounded like two first names and that, again, I wasn't going to change my main character's name. She had become personal to me, like a friend.
But the suggestion made some sense, in a way, and I thought it over, rolling it around in my head. And I thought, Robin Cook does well, so there's nothing wrong with Robin. And as for the last name, Leah wasn't going to work, but why not Lea = cutting off the H and pronouncing it like "Lee"???
So, that is where everything derived from in this instance, and I am happy with the results. I think that Robin Lea is a pen name I can stick with throughout a career and be pleased with, though as I move on to future works, seeking out the titles for them is going to continue to be difficult.