Guy names

Aes

Aes

You Feel Fascinated
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So here I am, fleshing out some details for the characters in the story I want to write, and it's going rather well. This is, until I need to name the male characters. :(

For some reason, I can come up with what I think are great female names without much work, however I seem to struggle with male names in much the same way George Bush struggles to run a country.

What I want to know is, what techniques do you guys use for coming up with names, particularly male names? So far, I have 5 dudes outlined, and none of them have nametags that I want them to keep.
 
I have a book of 50 000 baby names which is a most useful tool here. The names originate from all over the world, so there are some most unusual ones. The thing I find great about this resource is that it gives the meanings of the names in the native tongue as well. I now look for names that have meaning to the type of character I'm creating.
 
Mark beat me to it. I'd also suggest, in picking the names, go for sound that reflects the nature of your character, as well.
 
I've almost completed a VB programme which holds a database with thousands of names from around the world (probably similar to Mark's list).
The tool shows the meanings of the names too and is searchable in that way.
I used it in Ocean Black for Mahina's name - Did a search for names having the word "moon" in the meaning and that was one of the names.
So if you have a particular character trait that you want captured through the name, it might be useful for you.

If you (or indeed anyone) would like this tool let me know and I'll send you the beta version.
 
I'd love a copy of that program, and any other names/ways to locate large name databases.

What are the characters like? In as simple a way as possible, something like this:

1) Cares only for himself, he aspires for the power to exert his authority as well as immortality so that he can maintain this authority indefinitely. He could probably be referred to as "an ass" because he just loves screwing with people. Primary Antagonist.

2) Another powerhungry individual, he's a very wise, very old mage in the service of #1. He has little ethics when it comes to his research, as he won't hesitate to bring in human test subjects, and then dispose of them after they've outlived their usefulness. I haven't developed much of his personality yet, other than that. Secondary Antagonist.

3) While he's on the side of the 'bad guys,' (#1 and #2) he cares deeply for the protagonist, as he was once an appointed guardian of sorts for her. Duty and his family are important to him, but since #1 gets a kick out of manipulating him through threats towards his wife and child, he is forced to serve on the side he's on.

4) Father of the Protagonist & Antagonist, he's naive and kind-hearted, and never fully recovers from the loss of his wife. Not much else is really needed, because he's a goner after the first or second chapter.

5) An otherworldly being without form who 'befriends' the protagonist out of mutual necessity. Somewhat cold, easily annoyed, and rather chaotic.

6) A good-natured orphan boy who is able to stay positive through the worst of things. Street-smart and somewhat clumsy.
 
If I may toss in a couple of suggestions (not names, but things that may help nonetheless in picking names):

as noted in my earlier post, try for euphony -- names that flow easily off the tongue

don't be afraid to be ironic in some of your name choices; for example, your chief antagonist could be named Alexander, which means "defender of men", when he is obviously anything but

on the formless entity, try to avoid the two pitfalls: human names that are too familiar, and names that readers will find unpronounceable. Try to find something that suggest alienness without it being a roadblock when the reader comes across it in the text. Often fantasy writers use names with an Arab or Indian origin, or something of that nature, or derived from such roots; though these are finally making it into European culture, they are still exotic enough to "appear" alien to many readers. I'd suggest not following such a name exactly, but finding roots in these names and extrapolating, or allowing them to suggest a similar set of sounds to you
 
Ugh, the protagonist is 1) already named and 2) doesn't have a penis. Still, if you want the antagonist to be named Jerry, I have to name the protagonist Tom. In his quest, Tom will search for the legendary Wooden Mallet to slay his enemy with. More than likely, he'll only end up smashing his tail though.

Now, if you were trying to imply that certain aspects of what I outlined are overused and cliche, then by all means, say so using the direct approach. I'm always open to suggestions on how to improve my ideas, and I don't want this to end up as "just another ho-hum cookie cutter story." :D

- - -

On a more serious note, thanks JD, that's just the kind of thing I was hoping to see in this thread. An ironic name would be especially fitting for the antagonist, because as far as his people know, he's a great ruler. Well, he appears to them as better than his father, at the very least.

The two pitfalls you named were already in the back of my mind--the entity is just as likely to be named Grazz'thu'mogok'ra'zorkmmpht as he is to be named Casper the unfriendly ghost. The indian/arab suggestion is awesome, and I'm going to nose around through some online lists or something tomorrow. (later today)

Thanks for the feedback. :D
 
Actually, I think Marky was offering a not-so-subtle hint that the bad guy should be named after me, the good guy after his own sweet little self. And all just because I've been looking out for him, what with his condition and all.....:rolleyes:
 
Ugh, I should've made the connection with "Marky" suggesting that I name a protagonist "Mark," but I'm way overdue in terms of sleep. What I really need to do is stop trying to flesh out my world (as tired as I am, I'm more likely to ruin it) for now and get to bed, but creativity is addictive, especially when it's remained practically unused for roughly 10 years.

I also have a fear of making something that I think is just creative, awesome and cool beyond words, but to someone else, it's just mediocre.

Damn forum, damn story, let me sleep. :(
 
I have four or five baby name books that I've bought over the years; I think it's a fairly common practice for writers to keep one or two of these on the shelf near the computer. (Although as soon as I knew that my daughter was expecting twins, I gathered up all my name books and took them over to her house.) As for online sources, I was about to mention behindthename.com but Marky beat me to it.

Some people take names off of maps and use them for their characters. If the region on the map is sufficiently remote and exotic the names will have a suitably alien or fantastical flare. (I used to know a writer who collected the maps from old issues of National Geographic in order to have a source of names.) An added bonus is that if you take all the names from the same country they'll look like they have some sort of linguistic relationship to each other. I, personally, hate it when one character is named Albert, and his next-door neighbor in the tiny isolated village where strangers never come and everyone's family has spoken the same language for fifty generations is named Noreile, and the people down the street are Changu and U'lam'e, and ... well, the names are all a mismash that could never have come about in anything but the most cosmopolitan melting-pot culture. Names are an expression of culture and they should look like they belong to the society in which they originate, doggone it!

Another thing you can do is take familiar names from (more or less) the same cultural/linguistic background and alter them according to a handful of rules you consistently apply. Like changing all of the o's to a's, the a's to ae's, and doubling the single r's. Thomas becomes "Thamaes", Jack becomes "Jaek", Mary becomes "Maerry," etc.

For surnames, if your people have them, you can use common practices to construct your own original names, based on occupations (Steelhammer for the descendents of a blacksmith), geographical locations (Stonybrook), totem animals (Bearclaw, Ravenwing), and so forth. Again, though, you might want to match the surnames to the culture and the status of the characters. A family of peasants known locally for raising pigs is probably going to put up with a lot of grief if they start calling themselves by some flashy name.
 
For people I can't think of names for, they get placeholders until the whole thing is done. Usually while I'm mulling over things a name will pop into my head (or, more usually, I'll think of a reference to something and a suitable name will apear) and I can do a global find/replace.

I write a lot about characters called Bob, Jim, Sue and Tim as a result.
 
I've got EBON - the book of names. It generates some weird stuff sometimes, but often I just use a couple of syllables rather than the whole name.

ebon.pyorre.net
 
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