Naming Your Characters

torontophil

torontophil

Medieval Zealot
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Mar 9, 2007
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Hey guys,

One of my personal demons when it comes to writing is naming my characters - and I doubt I'm alone in that department. The purpose of this thread I guess is for everyone to discuss how and why they name their characters the way they do, and suggest techniques that can make it easier. That, or gripe about how nameing characters does not come easily to you if you are indeed like me.

cheers,
 
I think I've answered this question in a similar thread, but I don't mind answering it again.

I get my ideas for character names either straight out of my imagination, or I get inspired by modifying other words, particularly botanical terms or Latin names. To be honest, though, whenever I think of a name - even if I don't need to use it right away - I write it down in my notebook for later use. I have a long list of names just waiting for the right storyline.
 
The Notebook idea is great, and is exactly what I do myself. I basically create a custom Dictionary in word and add all my names to that. That way I can bring it up in any document and read through the list, in alphabetical order. As for advice on naming characters, I can only tell you what I do, which is making sure you're not naming individuals to suit the type of character they are, but instead letting their characters give the names their mood, or feel. (For instance, do not purposefully give an evil name to a character that is of normal birth or station, as it is likely Bob and Linda didn't name their son Angrimor; that doesn't mean you should name everyone by normal conventions, only that you're not trying to name characters depending on their status in your story; believe it or not, this can make the naming process much harder, and ousting the mentality will usually help you a bit; just my two sense). Also, like Talysia, I get a lot of my ideas from other languages or from certain types of terminology.
 
I go to an online translator quite often. Then you think of something that is your character, an animal, emotion, state of being, whatever, and translate it into an obscure language to see what you end up with. If it looks good, use it. It's also an interesting thing to know that someday, somewhere, someone will read it and suddenly realise the hidden meanings in your work. Makes you look smart then. :D
 
Sometimes I ask people around me or on the phone, "What would you name a male/female character?" Otherwise I get it out of my head after 15 minutes of thinking really hard. Sometimes I am uncomfortable with the names until I keep writing about them, then the name sits. I often wonder, as I don't have kids, if it is like that with parents of a newborn.
 
I generally come out with names from the top of my head. usually they are pretty good but occasionally I will place a placeholder name in until I think of something better. I don't like using name generators as I like to think of my own. occcaisionally. I do like, however, to create anagrams for certain creatures or peoples names, as long as the anagram doesn't appear to be too obvious,.
 
Eck. Naming fantasy characters is definitely my demon. I like the strange, exotic names, but I hear many readers don't, so it's keeping them simple, without being dull.

I've actually been frequenting a babynames website, which has thousands of names in all nationalities, and they all mean something. I am one of those fools that creates the character and gives them a name that means something to do with their personality. If the character is a hero, they will have a name, or at least a part of their name, meaning hero, and so on.

Generally, when I find a name I like, I modify it to sound better, or look better. I have to say all the names out loud, because if I can't pronounce it, I don't like it and I doubt the reader will, either. It's one thing to look good. It's another to be gibberish.

Some names just come to me. And I like the olde style, with extra e's, jumbled up letters and so on. Still, it depends on the style of the book. Old lore and magick would need olde language, whereas war and fighting might not. It's debatable.
 
I hardly ever invent names. It sounds strange, but I prefer to take exotic names off places like babynames.com

But here's how I wound up wiht names for my characters in my novel.

Beginning: Cleopatra Elisa Amalia Alzubra
Ariana Clarissa Jemima Awendela
Sabrina Diana Francesca Altsoba

Next: Ariana Clarissa Jemima Levana
Sabrina Diana Laila Francesca

Final: Cleopatra Iphigenia Amalia "The Fame of the Father was born strong and hardworking." Which sums up the character's personality.

Oriana Clarissa Hedwig "Golden Light of the Battle-War." Which explains an event in the book involving the character.

Sabrina Diana Lycoris "From the River comes the Divine Twilight." This explains this shy character's comeuppance.

***
I've always been all about the meanings. The meaning of the name has to relate to the character for me. That, or the origin of the name has to relate to the story or character. If it doesn't, I feel off-balanced. Do you know what I mean?

The only name I've ever created was Alyssandra, a combination of Alyson and Alexandra. And I love it, so you can never use it! It's MINE! lol
 
I must admit that I never worry too much about character names - I just think something up at the time, with the presumption that if it doesn't seem to fit the character later on, I'll change it. But that's mostly because I'm lazy... :)
 
I don't actually refer to anything when coming up with a character name :) Most of the time I'd either think of a characteristic of the character which gets translated (sometimes in a really convulted way) into the character names. At other times, it's for effect - for instance, I have a character named Shaman Mao, he's a shaman (Thank Su-Lee in "Mind Your Language" for that one). Another one of my character's is named Normal Kint but the name has a back story involving Kaiser Soze. But then again, my storyline's are probably not your normal storyline where you need normal names :)
 
Normal 'Kint'... Kaiser Soze...

Something tells me we'd get along pretty well outside the digital confines.
 
For me the characters just seem to spring into being fully formed; name, appearance, temperament and all. I struggled over some of them though - the initial concept for the series I'm working on at the moment was a childrens' fantasy, but it soon dropped the 'childrens'' as the plot became more adult. As a consequence, some of the names were a little too cutesy so I had to change them. My writing style didn't really suit childrens' fantasy anyway.
 
I'm in year 12, and have to write storys im a bit nervous about other people reading my work. :confused: I want to have the perfect names for my characters all your ideas are great and i will take them all into consideration when choosing names.:rolleyes: in the past i have used bay nameing websites and anagrams but i like the idea using the language translators.:)
 
Talysia said:
I have a long list of names just waiting for the right storyline.
Click to expand...

Every name I like the sound of, I've got envelopes and note pads full of them. I once addressed envelopes for tuppence a time and got a huge number and variety of names that way.

Other than that, I use sounds I like, even if I don't know whether or not they're actual names that I should be aware of.

And then there are the word-games. I wonder if J.Jonah Jameson and Perry White are connected in some way, other than their profession, like this (stay with me, it's a tad convoluted):

White, white whale, Jonah and the Whale, Jonah
Perry, Perry Mason, J. Mason, Jameson.

It's loose, but I like it. I named a character Stanley Melville in a loosely similar manner (not that I necessarily believe this is how Stan Lee came up with his editor's name). He was a newspaper man, too, so:
Jonah and the whale, white whale, Perry White, white whale, Moby Dick, Herman Melville, Melville.
Jolly (epiphet given to JJJ), Olly, Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel, Stanley.
Or it may have just been Stan Lee contracted, he being an editor as well, but to tell the truth, I'm not a hundred percent which it was at the time.

Doesn't matter if it makes no sense, it's a name, in the end.

Ian Fleming wanted a simple first name and a dashing second name and got exactly what he wanted on the spine of a book on birds - James Bond, of course. (Haven't read the whole of this thread, so others have probably already mentioned this.)

Strong nouns and some verbs make good second names - not 'soup', or 'bellyfluff', obviously. Second names can sound heroic as first names. McKenzie Hawk (remind me to register that one as a trade mark!).

First names can have a truckload of syllables if the second has only one. Capability Brown, to name but a few. The other way around can sound a little comical - Arnold Schwartzenegger.

I also like to trawl through archaic names, like Cornelius or Honoria or Iolanthe - someone's parents may still like them. They're great for villains. You get this big butch baddie and he's called (he-hee) Auric Goldfinger!! Auric!! I ask you!!! I thought Colin Dexter's reason for naming Morse "Endeavour" took the chuckle out of it a little bit (still think John Thaw was completely miscast, but I think I'm probably the only one).

Avoid, I suggest, "James" as a middle name, where you're tempted to give one. James and Henry and Tiberius are, I believe, middle-name cliches.

Having said that, I wrote a story once where everyone's name was a variation of Henry - Henry, Hal, Harry, Hank, Hen, Hetty, Henrietta, Hatty, Harriet etc. Same can be done with Mary and Margaret, not so many male variations there, though.

But wasn't it Wayne Campbell who said, If you name me, then you negate me? Or was that Nietsche? I always get my Wayne's World and Manic Depressive Philosophers mixed up.

:rolleyes:

Sorry to add more, but just had a thought: Your name comes from some trade, possibly, or some action that your anscestors performed, so what trade or action might an alien or fantasy character be named after? This is, I think, where Douglas Adams was coming from with some of his more exotic namings, with the possible exception of Slarty Bartfarst. Unless a slarty is something. And bartfarst is a way of being or doing.
 
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Like many others no doubt, I have used a baby naming book as a resource for names and their meanings, as it's easier to flip through and find a good name that appeals, whereas online I find the names alphabetized by letter, and it's harder to just scroll through as many as quickly. However, in downsizing my book collection, I gave away my baby name book to clear out space and simplify my life a bit. Now I usually look names up on a name site online, which works almost as well.
 
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