Naming Characters
I hear a lot of writers saying that they have trouble naming characters, but there are loads of places to go for inspiration;
- Online name generators; such as Seventh Sanctum, Serendipity, etc
- The census; there are census name generators online like this one
- The phone book
- The credits on tv programmes/movies
- The thank you list in books/CDs
- People you went to school with
Just remember to mix these names up (trust me, naming your villain after your ex is not a great idea!) Also, Google the names to make sure you’re not naming your characters after someone well known.
When you find a name you like, say it out loud. Make sure the first and last name sound alright together. Introduce your character out loud, introduce them to your other characters. Let your ears hear the sound of the name.
Also, check out my post 5 Things to Avoid when Naming Characters
Character name puns
eytancragg asked: can we get a post on how the names of people are kind of like in-jokes?
This is only a list of the ones I can remember at the moment important ones, not comprehensive.
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Momo - means ‘peach’ in Japanese. Named thus by Aang since he ate one.
Aunt Wu - ‘Wu’ means witch in Chinese
Kuei - Kuei means puppet in Chinese, and the Last Emperor is also known as the ‘Puppet Emperor’
Bumi - Bumi means earth in Indonesian
Ran and Shaw - the dragons are named ’ 燃烧 to combust, Ran - 燃 to burn
Shaw -烧 to roast ’ in Chinese.
Jeong Jeong - jiong jiong - jiong means fire in Chinese
Zhao - Zhao is a common family name in Chinese, it can also mean ‘to set afire’.
(a lot of the FN names can be translated as fire/fire related)
Piandao - 騙到 to trick, dao can also mean knife/sword 刀
edited: Also a kind of sword and the typical Asian kitchen knife.
Tenzin Gyatso - is the name of the current Dalai Lama
Möngke - is the name of a Mongol Khan
Longfeng - long feng means Dragon and Phoenix, Emperor and Empress, royal principle in Chinese
Dai Li - is the name of the KMT head of secret police, it can also mean ‘great strength’
Yue - ‘yue’ means moon in Chinese
Suki - can mean ‘like or love’ in Japanese, but also, if transliterated Tsuki (sounds similar), it means ‘moon’. Sokka just can’t help dating the moon.
Laogai - was the name of real life prison camps in China
The Best Character Naming Resource: BabyNames.com
babynames.com
Naming characters is almost as difficult as I imagine naming your children is, the only differences being that you’ll write far more characters than give birth to/father children (hopefully!), and your characters can’t complain to you when they grow up and don’t like their names. But still, it’s a big deal! I have a habit of using a few names over and over in my writing (Kate, Adam, Lindsay, Mike), which is fine for now but will be problematic if when I become a famous author.
So my favorite website for helping me pick character names is BabyNames.com. Not only do they have an incredible database of every name in the entire world (they even have a record for my name, Livia with-no-O!), but there are a ton of parameters in the search engine so that if you have something in mind, you can find a bunch of names that are close. I’m especially fond of putting in the number of syllables and the regional origin (I like my straightforward, curt characters to have one syllable names; I like my dreamier characters to have multi-syllabic Irish or Scandanavian names; etc.). You can also put in the first initial you want, the last initial, the meaning in the original language, etc. That’s also helpful if you want your names to be symbolic (like how “Sirius” is the dog constellation and the X word for canine). I often find myself thinking, “I want to name this character something like Sarah, but not that exact name” and then going over to babynames.com and putting in “two syllable popular American name beginning with S”. It’s super helpful, and I’d highly recommend bookmarking it under your list of character planning resources!
Divergent Characters Name Meangings
- Beatrice: "Voyager through life", "blessed"
- Caleb: "Devoted", "Faith", "Wholehearted"
- Natalie (Tris' Mother) : "Birthday" (refers to birth of Christ) "Chistmas"
- Andrew (Tris' Father): "Man, Warrior"
- Evelyn: comes from the irish name "Evlin" meaning "Beautiful, or Radiant"
- Tobias: "God is Good"
- Marcus: "Dedicated to Mars" (Mars being the roman god of war)
- Will (William): "Will, desire, protection", "Determined" or "Resolute"
- Christina: "Follower of Christ"
- Marlene: In german, blend of the names "Maria" "Star of the Sea" and "Magdalene" "from Magdala". (In honor of the saint)
- Lynn: "Ruddy- complected"also a surname meaning "lake," "waterfall" or "pool". Sometimes a diminutive in Spanish for "pretty".
- Peter: "Rock"
- Molly: "Star of the Sea" a name that branched off of Mary.
- Drew: "Wise"
- Edward: "Wealthy guard"
- Myra: "Myrrh"
- Jeanine: "God is Gracious"
- Eric: "Forever, or Alone" "Ruler"
- Tori: "Bird" also derived from "Victoria" which means "Victory".
- Zeke (Will's older brother): Comes from "Ezekiel" which means "Strength of God" also "Zachariah" which means "the Lord recalled"
- Fernando: "Adventurer"
- Cara: "Beloved friend"
- Johanna: "God is Gracious"
- Amanda: (before edith prior changed her name): "First to be loved, loveable"
- Edith: "Strife or Wealth"
- (I was unable to find a meaning for Al, since his name is a nickname)
So, if you haven’t heard of 20,000 names, you should click HERE because it is the bomb.
It separates the country origin and can separate name and female names for you.
Followers?
-H
What’s in a Name?
Being a fantasy reader and writer, names are extremely important to me. When browsing the bookshelf, people read the summary of a book and already make judgments on based on a 150 word blurb. And what’s the first thing they learn about your book? The character’s name. Readers make judgments based on names, particularly in fantasy novels.
So here’s some friendly reminders for when you need a name.
Fantasy names:
Make sure it’s pronounceable. Please, please, please, please, please, check this at least ten times. There are some names that are straightforward like Bilbo Baggins. But then there are some crazy names like M’aiq. Just how do you pronounce that? I can come up with four pronunciations off the top of my head. If you’re unsure if your name is easily pronounceable, write it down on a piece of paper and ask people to say it for you. If more people get it wrong than right, it might be wise to consider a change of spelling, or changing the name completely.
Names with apostrophes and dashes are annoying. Done correctly, having names like the aforementioned M’aiq or Gulum-Ei can work well if they come from a culture that commonly uses names like that. But if tossed around randomly, they are annoying and look stupid.
Be consistent with the names. This ties into a point made above. If you have two different species that were formed on opposite sides of the world and all the names sound interchangeable between them, it looks like bad writing and worldbuilding. If you have some sort of theme in your names, make sure it’s easily noticeable.
Avoid the obvious names. Most of you have been in this spot. You’re reading Harry Potter for the first time, and Harry is off on his way to Hogwarts and he’s just met Ron and they’re hitting it off, and then this kid named Draco Malfoy comes up and starts to talk to him. You know instantly that Draco is going to be a little shit just because of his name. Similarly, you know Bellatrix Lestrange and Lord Voldemort are evil and you know Luna Lovegood is good without needing any other evidence than their names.
Follow the Pokémon rule. Shannah McGill coined probably one of my favorite rules for naming ever. The Pokémon Rule. In the games, you have only ten characters to give your Pokémon a name. This keeps the names from getting too long, and in fantasy, having long names can be a huge problem.
Don’t get weird with the spellings. I’m not a big fan of using real names in fantasy novels, but I don’t mind them too much. What I do mind is when someone wants to name their character Jennifer but they spell it Ginnafur to make it fit the fantasy setting. If you’re going to use a real name, use it. Don’t slaughter the spelling.
General names:
If it’s suitable for a porn star, it’s probably not for your character. Common names used by porn stars are any gem stones, Disney princesses, Candy, Angel, Roxy (with as many Xs as you think is appropriate), or basically anything listed in this infographic.
Be consistent with the names. Yes, this is down here, too. I touched in this briefly in my How to Avoid Mary Sues post. If all your supporting characters have names like John and Bill or Rachel and Liz, don’t give your protagonist a name like Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way. It sticks out and rather than sound cool, all it will do is make readers laugh at you.
Check your character’s initials. Bella Swan, while bearing a name fitting of a porn star, also has to go around with the initials BS. No one wants that.
Make sure all of your characters have different sounding names. I wanted to kill George RR Martin when he decided to have two characters running around named Jon and two named Robert. But just as confusing is when you have two characters named Jane and Joan. It makes it hard for readers to remember which is which. Try to spread your characters out evenly along the alphabet. If possible, only have one character for each name. But if you start having repeats, try to make them sound very different, like Caroline and Chell.
If you’re writing historical fiction, make sure your name isn’t out of place. For a story about a young woman in New York during the 1920s, Millie is a perfectly acceptable name. Addison is not. There are plenty of resources on Google that have information from censuses to help you pick out an appropriate name for the era you’re writing.
Lastly and most importantly:
GOOGLE THE NAME. I don’t care if it’s fantasy or real, always Google your names. You might think Ian McKellen is a fantastic name for your character now, but you won’t once you realize it’s already the name of an extremely famous actor.
