Character Names

[Maria [the clockwork creeps on useless lives], Butts butts]

Ingrid, Cora, Keaira (or is it Kiara? Kiera? It sounds like key-air-uh), Mayra, Raissa. Those are just some that come to my mind.

[Yaa]

Chow Chow. I always wanted to name someone that...
"Hey Chow Chow!"

[Katie]

Kendall?

[Katie]

I kind of want to rename one of my main characters. I started the story a long time ago but just recently got a lot of writing done and back into the story. The guy's name is Stefan, but I just feel that Stefan is so over used now and I want a different name for him. He is a warlock and is some what quiet at times. he is in the back ground always looking over my other character Autumn. He's part royalty, but has been denounced from the throne. He's very gentleman like and super sweet. Should I change the name? and to what?

[Jo]

Phillip. Add an e to the end if you like.

[Lucie]

BEST SITE EVAH

http://20000-names.com

[Finley]

I obsess over making my names believable. So. Do these names sound okay? I'm kind of doubtful over Marsh.

Allan Marsh
Jacob Bridges (Considering changing this because I'd pronounce it Jacobridges.)
Celia Oliver

In my opinion, they all sound weird, but I'm really hard on myself. Thoughts?

[Isaac]

Kay wrote: "BEST SITE EVAH

http://20000-names.com"

NAME SITES ARE THE BEST

[Amreen]

I need a name for my main character. She's a teenage girl and she's suicidal and self-harms and all of that which is what my story bases around. But no one knows that she has problems for she acts normal when no ones around. I was thinking of Niki but I don't really know, any ideas? Thanks :)

[Hope]

Well, it would depend on a few things. Do you want your name to have a symbolic meaning, in history? For example, I read your description and I thought of the name Cleo, as Cleopatra the Seventh of Egypt attempted suicide. Or do you want your name to have a more linguistic meaning? (Bonnie, for example, means "pretty.") If not, do you want your character's name to have a connotative meaning? I.e., do you want a name associated with a particular feeling or something of the sort? I, for example, always associated the name Annabel with innocence.

I suppose what I'm attempting to say is that I overcomplicate and might need some more details about this character. :P

[Hope]

Brandon. Are you joking?

[Hope]

Sounds good for that genre, Brandon, it does.

[Hope]

Psst...that was a bit of a run-on. :P

But I get what you mean: slightly uncommon but not rare. Do you have any preferences as to what it should start with?

[Anastasia]

Amreen wrote: "I'd prefer a or connotative meaning. Something not very common like Emily or Stephanie but a name that's more uncommon but not super hard to pronounce either like I don't Azelkarka lol :P"


What I did with one of my characters was take a (sort of) common name, and choose an alternate spelling for it. That can sometimes make the most ordinary names seem a little bit more special.


For example: I chose the name Amy, but I changed the spelling to "Aimee."

[Poet in the Dark]

Most of my characters have names I came up with myself. I love playing around with sounds in my head, and then tweaking the spelling so it looks right. Most of the time I don't care if it's difficult to pronounce the name because I know I'll probably have to put a pronunciation guide in anyway.

[Hope]

I like doing the same thing, Poet--though I would advise you to make your names at least somewhat pronounceable. (Don't use names like Cthulhu, for instance. :P)

I say this not because I want to limit your creative freedom but because giving your characters names that are impossible to pronounce will turn some readers away from your book. I, for one, absolutely hate reading about characters whose names I can't even properly say.

[Jo]

Which is why Lovecraft turns me off.

[Poet in the Dark]

Oh, yeah, I definitely don't use impossible names. I do keep the readers in mind when I'm thinking about pronunciation, but for the most part I just have fun with it.

[Taliah]

I find that unless I've actually known someone with that name, the name doesn't seem real to me. I often use names that are common, but that's not the deciding factor- it's just that they're familiar.

I do sometimes use variations though, Ashlee becomes Ashlyn, Andrea becomes Drea, etc.

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

I feel like the opposite is true for me ... I don't like using the names of people I know in real life. I'm afraid they'd be like, "IS THAT CHARACTER BASED ON ME?" or something. :P

[Taliah]

I barely ever show my writing to people I know in real life, though I worry about that too. Especially with people I don't know all that well, for some reason.

[Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.]

Haha yeah. >.<