The Name Game: How I Choose Names for My Characters, Planets, and Cities

One of the questions I get asked most often is, “Where do you get the names for your characters?” And the honest answer is… it’s a process! It’s not always easy, and my methods have definitely evolved over the years.

When I first started writing, I had a little list of names I’d collected that I loved and wanted to use. As you can probably guess, I burned through that list pretty quickly. Some characters walk into my head fully formed with their names already attached—Sanaa from the Nogiku Series and Vivian from the Flyght Series were like that. They just were. Other times, I borrow from real life, like how Skylar from the Amagi Series was named after a good friend of mine.

But once the easy ones are gone, the real work begins. I did what I think most writers do: I went to those baby name websites. And I kept seeing the same names over and over again. So, I tried a few fantasy name generators, but the results were always just… so-so.

The Soccer Solution

Then, one weekend, I was watching a soccer match and had a total “aha!” moment. Sports teams have tons of names from all over the world. I immediately looked up rosters for Olympic teams, and a whole new world of naming possibilities opened up. It's a trick I still use to this day! Just mix and match first and last names until you have something unique and inspiring! Usually once I have a name I like, I research it to find out its origin and other people who have used similar names. It helps me get into the character.

I thought maybe AI would be a good shortcut for names, but honestly? It's not there yet. I’ll ask for a list of character names, and every single time it suggests Elara, Marcus, Chen, or Henderson. Lol. Nope.

From Planets to Ships

When it comes to naming cities and planets, my method is a little different but rooted in the same love of research. Since my series are all based on the idea that humans left Earth to settle a galactic diaspora, it makes sense that they would bring their place names with them.

This is where I get to indulge my love of maps. I can spend hours on Google Maps, just zooming in on different parts of the world and looking at the names of towns, cities, rivers, restaurants, and even streets. Everything is fair game! When I created the Californikus System in The Flyght Series, I spent a huge amount of time exploring maps of California and drawing inspiration from them.

And for naming things like ships, I turn to my old pal Wikipedia. It’s a treasure trove for historical deep dives. For example, all the ships in Skylar's mother's fleet in the Amagi Series were named after Japanese maritime ships from the 1900s. The flagship Amagi itself was named for the real-life Amagi-class battlecruisers of the 1920s.

So that’s the secret! My inspiration comes from all over the place. It's a mix of personal history, a love for maps, a dash of sports, and a lot of happy hours spent falling down a Wikipedia rabbit hole. It's a game, but it's one that helps me ground my worlds and make them feel real.

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