Naming your characters.

[southernsontn]

Is there a good method for picking names for characters in your work? I know it may sound strange, but that is my biggest problem writing is picking names, and "unnamed hero" "unnamed sidekick" etc only last so long.

[crich70]

There are many ways of coming up with names. A baby name book is one and using a phone book is another. With the phone book you take one person's first name and another person's surname and combine them. Some people go back to myth's or history for names. J.K. Rowling does that in her Harry Potter books. Argus and Minerva for example are myth names while Lucius and Severus are out of history.

[Elfwreck]

There's an app for that! Well, actually, I've no idea if there's an app for that, but there are helpful scripts on websites.

Random Name Generator based on US census data; allows you to hedge towards "common" or "obscure" names.

Random Identity Generator creates one at a time, complete with birthday, address, occupation, height & weight, and other random-ish details.

Fantasy name generator for people who don't want modern realistic names.

Many many other random generators: Medieval Name Generator, Magician Generator, Fantasy Gown Generator, Cuss-O-Matic, more. Lots more.

And once you've got yourself a pack of names, you can head over to They Fight Crime to give them a plot.

[southernsontn]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

There's an app for that!

Elf, you are a saint. that is exactly what I needed, thanks.

[CFAM24]

I tend to name my characters based on what the name means and if it describes their persona. But, I also am guilty of simply using names of family members, so that they can feel special

Ex. In the young adult novel, Wavering, the character, Joy, was named after the person who was the inspiration for the story (although it isn't her first name). Also, the name seemed fitting for such a sweet, naive girl.

[John Carroll]

I like to use gothic names or variations thereof:

http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect...hic-names.html

[G J Lau]

I agree that coming up with character names can be a tedious process. My latest story was set in 1863, so I went back to look at historical documents from that era to find period-suitable names. Town histories are a great source of names. There are also web sites that will tell you the most common names for just about any historical period. For my first novel, I must have gone through half a dozen names for the central character before I found one that seemed to fit.

Creating a backstory for each character is also essential, as suggested by one of the links referenced above, where you can create an entire identity. Before I get too deep into a story, I create a file that has each main character's name, relationship to the other characters, dates of birth, marriage or death as appropriate, plus anything else that is pertinent to their overall biography. Writing something over the course of several months, a little reminder file like that is surprisingly helpful.

[Xanthe]

It absolutely drives me crazy when an author will populate a book with characters that all have easily-pronounceable Anglo-Saxon names. That lack of imagination by the author always induces an eye-roll on my part, speaking as a person whose surname causes strong men to weep when attempting pronunciation. It always makes me think that if they don't have the imagination to create a unique character, how can they create a unique story?

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

It absolutely drives me crazy when an author will populate a book with characters that all have easily-pronounceable Anglo-Saxon names. That lack of imagination by the author always induces an eye-roll on my part, speaking as a person whose surname causes strong men to weep when attempting pronunciation. It always makes me think that if they don't have the imagination to create a unique character, how can they create a unique story?

That's one thing Piers Anthony is good about. He even finds interesting names for his imagined countries. He got the name Xanth by taking the e off of Xanthe for example. And Michael Ende came up with some interesting ones in his book, 'The Neverending Story."

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

It absolutely drives me crazy when an author will populate a book with characters that all have easily-pronounceable Anglo-Saxon names. That lack of imagination by the author always induces an eye-roll on my part, speaking as a person whose surname causes strong men to weep when attempting pronunciation. It always makes me think that if they don't have the imagination to create a unique character, how can they create a unique story?

As an author, I try to stick to a few rules in naming...

1) If there is more then one "group/race/sub culture/etc" of characters in the book, then their names should reflect that grouping. That is all characters from a group should have same flavor. For example in my series there is a group of humans that live on a planet and are frankly fairly normal/average people.. they have names like Bill, Mike, and so on. There is another group of people that are a reptilian race and they have names like Zalith. I also have a group of aliens from a much more exotic place with names like Salsartazar, Mathorn and Korshalem. The intention is that you can tell when reading my books if you pay attention what culture a person is from by their name.

2) I keep main character names very easy read, pronounce and remember (at least to my own mind). For example the primary character in book one has the name Vydor.

3) I try to avoid names that are over used or well known such as Harry Potter or James Bond.

4) When stuck for a name I will often just star typing letters and see what words I can make out of them.

5) When possible I match names to personalities. If I had a cherry, happy go lucky character I would not name him Marvin or Eeyore for example. I could see the fun in doing that, and enjoy reading people that play games like that at times, but it is not my writing style.


I have played with other languages to make names. For example in book 3 there is a fish that the characters eat that is considered to be a rare and expensive delicacy. I name it aupessi which if you know even a little Latin you can probably see what I did there...


So anyways... that is how I approach it as an author. As a reader... I just want all the important characters to have names that are easy to tell apart and remember.

Hope that helps someone...

[John Carroll]

Originally Posted by crich70

That's one thing Piers Anthony is good about. He even finds interesting names for his imagined countries. He got the name Xanth by taking the e off of Xanthe for example. And Michael Ende came up with some interesting ones in his book, 'The Neverending Story."

It was my understanding that he got Xanth from his name: Piers Anthony. Take the 's' from Piers and the 'Anth' from Anthony and you get Santh, or when you say his full name out loud, it sounds like Xanth.

[Xanthe]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

As an author, I try to stick to a few rules in naming...

1) If there is more then one "group/race/sub culture/etc" of characters in the book, then their names should reflect that grouping. That is all characters from a group should have same flavor. For example in my series there is a group of humans that live on a planet and are frankly fairly normal/average people.. they have names like Bill, Mike, and so on. There is another group of people that are a reptilian race and they have names like Zalith. I also have a group of aliens from a much more exotic place with names like Salsartazar, Mathorn and Korshalem. The intention is that you can tell when reading my books if you pay attention what culture a person is from by their name.

2) I keep main character names very easy read, pronounce and remember (at least to my own mind). For example the primary character in book one has the name Vydor.

3) I try to avoid names that are over used or well known such as Harry Potter or James Bond.

I have played with other languages to make names. For example in book 3 there is a fish that the characters eat that is considered to be a rare and expensive delicacy. I name it aupessi which if you know even a little Latin you can probably see what I did there...

As a reader, I appreciate an author taking the time to think things out like that.

One author who's naming of characters I've always enjoyed is Juliet E. McKenna. They are distinctive yet easy to associate with the character and where they come from. I also like her place names because they give the appearance of having some sort of historical/etymological connection to the land (and the fact that she includes a map).

[joycedb]

It's interesting how many different methods are employed to come up with names for your characters. However, I don't use any of them. My characters come to me complete, names and all. I've never had a problem like that.

Joyce

[Steven Lake]

The method I use for picking character names are three fold. Either A) a practical, common name as you'd expect some joe on the street to have, B) an off kilter name that either fits who the person is (ie, John Logger for a lumberjack) or C) something that's a pun. I don't use C too often, but when I do the names are usually a lot of fun.

[ebusinesstutor]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

There's an app for that! Well, actually, I've no idea if there's an app for that, but there are helpful scripts on websites.

Fantastic tools! Thank you much for sharing. I got a chuckle out of the They Fight Crime one.