forum HELP! Best way to name characters??

Started April 17, 2018 by A :)

tune

I am so bad at naming characters! I want interesting, unique names that aren't boring and plain, but also not too weird so that people eye roll at them. What's a good happy medium? Any suggestions for some teen/young adult names? Thanks!

Hi there, I face the same problem sometimes. I have a few really good techniques that seem to generally work for me.

• Check out the site 'nameberry' they have this thing called namehunter, it picks names from common groups of your favourite names.
• Write a whole bunch of names you like on paper (I keep mine for future use) and keep adding.
• For a dystopian, I saw this post on Tumblr, say a common name while having your mouth full of food (I usually just imagine what it would sound like.)

If that doesn't work then I can send you my list of names I like.
Glad to help!

Also, if you're looking to name your characters appropriately to their culture or race, fantasy or reality, I would definitely suggest heading over to Fantasy Name Generators and writing down some of your favorite suggestions or looking up the meanings of ones you stumble upon if you want.

I like to have symbolism behind many of the names of my characters; if I can't find something fitting as a normal name, I tend to actually use google translate or something similar and I think of words that could be related back to that character and translate it into different languages and see if anything nice comes out. Anagrams help, too.

I love nameberry, I have an account and sometimes participate in the writing forums there.

There are lots of different routes to take for naming characters:

1. The "Hidden Meaning" Route - Is your character royalty? Well give em a name that means "prince" or "ruler" or something. Is your character super flirty? Well give em a name that means "flirt."
2. The "Whatever Author Feels Like" Route - You could care less about the meaning or about what would make sense, you just pick what name you wouldn't hate reading about a billion times as you write. A name that you could envision people fangirling over. A name that even makes YOU fangirl.
3. The "#Mood" Route - Similar to the "Hidden Meaning" Route, but disregarding the actual meaning, you pick your names based on how they FEEL. The name "John" seems like a nice guy. Also a boring one, maybe. "Ella" is perfect for that shy, but drop-dead-gorgeous girl always blushing to herself. You have no idea what these names mean, but somehow they have connotations that fit specific personalities.
4. The "Parents' Whim" Route - You ignore the first three entirely. At least, for yourself. Instead, you name your character from that characters' parents point of view. Had a dramatic mom and a hipster dad? Well that kid will probably be named Phelony or something. That's how real life works, anyway. Our names don't match anything about ourselves in definition or mood, it is completely up to our parents.

I personally go with #2 and #4 most of the time. It usually comes down to determining a kind of area of certain names for each character based on the #4 method, and then I use #2 to pick what I just think sounds good. I'm a firm believer in the fact that it doesn't matter what your character is named. They could be named something super ugly, and people might hate it at first. But once they get to know that character, and get used to it, suddenly that name is the best thing ever. I tested this out by naming my main character from one of my stories Phyllis. I had been totally worked up about what to name her, I wanted it to be PERFECT, but then I was like "what the heck, Imma name her Phyllis and see what happens." Now it just works. You could pick literally any name, and you'll love it by the end.

Oh and of course, there's actually a fifth method that really encompasses all four of the ones mentioned above: The "Times" Route - like some people already said in this thread, you need to name your characters according to the time period and place. If you don't, everyone reading it will think, "YOU HAD ONE JOB."

LOKI QUOTE OMG

…sorry

There is this website I use called fantasynamegenerators.com and its amazing

@TurtleOfFreedom, lol

When I was naming some of my characters, I googled the names of ancient rulers and heroes and used those.
I also used fantasynamegenerators.com and it's awesome. Don't let the name fool you, there's much more than fantasy there.

I randomly put letters together and that's how I got Hicia.
I shrank down words like Sycamore and I got Sycore.
I smashed words together like Bird and Zane and that's how I got Birane.
Take their personality in an account.
Here's my names and meanings from another chat. (Characters and the chat's called "Does anyone else use descriptive names that describe your character's personality?)"

"Ember: She's a small spark in the world, the earth supporting her. She believes she isn't much compared to the roaring flames beside her. Something ignited and she rose to be powerful and beautiful. She is warm and calming but if uncontrolled she can lash out and become extremely destructive, wiping out anything and everything in her path.

Audra: "from lithuanian; translates into English as "storm" - as in gale, hurricane or tempest ie. a violent windstorm, esp. one with rain, hail or snow."
For this reason, she is a very temperamental person. Her feelings build up inside her until it rains out in a giant thunderstorm, literally. She gets blown all over the place and takes a lot of shit. When her emotions rain out they do so passionately causing her to be a great fighter, channelling her emotions into the fight."

Wow these are so helpful!! :D Thanks!!