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How did you come up with your characters names?
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I keep a book of baby names in my desk, and I will sometimes refer to that. If I need a last name, there's a great website for the US Census that lists the 500 top most common last names.Naming is *really* hard, though!! I'll start with one name and then sometimes change to another. Or I'll realize that I'm using the name of my next door neighbor or a distant cousin or a former student...
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Naming ..."
Lol, that sounds like fun! It must be fun to name your own creations!
Question: Do you think a name defines a character ?
I was playing around with names for the lead female character in my book Mindflight, the hero's antagonist and a very strong woman. I made a list of first names and a list of last names, and started mixing them around. One name that came out of that process was "Jade Darcy." I loved it instantly. I sat staring at it for a long time, then said, "No, that name's too good for this character. Jade Darcy deserves to be the star of her own book." And I moved on and chose a different name, "Joby Karns," for the woman who has to hunt down my protagonist, Alain Cheney.But I never forgot Jade. And, years later, Jade Darcy did indeed appear in her own books, starting with Jade Darcy and the Affair of Honor.
Tt wrote: "Michelle L. wrote: "I keep a book of baby names in my desk, and I will sometimes refer to that. If I need a last name, there's a great website for the US Census that lists the 500 top most common ..."I think it can. Think about Harry Potter. I can't imagine him with any other name, lol.
I have a few old phone books I keep around just for the names. Also, I like to look on the net for the Latin roots (or other culture's) and meanings behind some names.I do think that a name is a jumping off point for a character... I mean, you never get a romantic hero named "Bob" (Sorry all you Bobs out there!). Now ROBERT, I could work with!
I was saddled with a fairly odd name back before they were popular, but now I love it, and my next character has an unusual one too.
Hey I know... Let's start a campaign to bring the sexy back to "Bob"! LOL
I usually trawl either the baby name books or the name generators on the net, something POPS and that's it :D
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I do think that a name is a j..."
Lol, I would totally put the book down if the love interest name was Bob *frowns nose* and I didn't think about that until now. :D
I usually go to the page with baby names and check out various lists to find the name that fits. I really can't explain it, but when I see a name, no matter is it the one I like or not, I just know that's the right name for my character. Sometimes I do look for a specific meaning or a name for specific culture, but I choose those only if they feel right. :P
A lot of my characters names I just made up. Some are greek words and others are regular everyday names.
We usually talk about the character first, sketch out a biography for him/her, and 9/10 times the perfect name just pops into our heads. If we are struggling we just throw names back and forth until we stumble on one which feels right. I think the baby names book is a great idea though, i may have to try that one :D
Sometimes I start with appropriate initials (e.g. MC for Main Character, LT for Lost Twin). I often look up names with particular meanings and then see if any of those names sound right.Tt wrote: "Ive always wanted to know what goes into an others process of picking the main character or the supporting characters names?
Do you search for names on the internet?
Do you use someones name tha..."
I'm doing something a little weird with my latest book. I have two main characters-slash-love interests that share the same name... it's tricky, but there are lots of opportunities for humor.
Hmm Derrolyn, that could get confusing... I'll be interested in seeing how that turns out :P
Julie wrote: "A lot of my characters names I just made up. Some are greek words and others are regular everyday names."I think making up names is way harder than picking modern day names. I've done it a few times, but they never sound quite right.
I recently read
and the MC's name was Karou. It was a wonderful name, and it struck me as being just right.Have you ever read a book in which you wish the character was named something other than what they were? Right now, I'm reading
, and there is a character named 'Terrible', and I *hate* that name!! I like the person just fine, but the name bugs me, lol.
Lynxie wrote: "Hmm Derrolyn, that could get confusing... I'll be interested in seeing how that turns out :P"You're right... it is! But I'm just stupid and stubborn enough to give it a try! ;)
I think this might be where a good content editor could steer me in the right direction... LOL
This is a fun one, Tt. A few of my characters came to me with names in tow. Others I searched baby names and all that has been mentioned above, but I think the funnest thing I have done is to just let a character give me their name. A couple that I really like (who knows what everyone else will think, lol) are:Lysanne and Valen.
My current character came with her name. I had her fully formed in my mind and it was like BLAM she smacked me with it :)
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Is your book finished or are you still currently writing it and what genre is it if u can ask? Sorry for the 21 questions. I'm just interested in what your writing :)
It's a WIP Tt. It's a fantasy novel (aiming for around the 80,000 word mark) but it's a ways off yet. Only up to chapter 2 :P
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Awesome, Cant wait to read and thanks for letting me be nosy lol!
Lol, no worries Tt! There is a part of it in my writing section, if you are keen, it's only a really rough draft though!!
Cuff (James Cuffy), the main character in my Caribbean mystery, DEADLY EYES, is aptly named, I feel, since an unknown stalker is pursuing him, and, in some ways, he feels as if he is handcuffed in that he cannot seem to shake the unknown stalker.http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Eyes-ebo...
I usually invent names for my characters. or find other vesions of a name.
Mod
Ooh, okay where is this writing section? I wanna read! :p
It's on my profile. If you go there, then scroll almost all the way down to the bottom. It's called Testing (hehe)
Mod
Lol okay. I'm heading there now thanks! :D
Well, I'm not a published author yet, but I either refer to the Internet or make them up, especially the last names (though half of them are subject to change since I got some pretty weird ones haha). If I'm freewriting and need a name face I'll just look at an item and make a name out of it. For example, I might look at a pencil and come up with a name that involves "Pen"
I like names to be unique since I don't like having characters with the same name as my friends. For me, it's kind of weird haha.
Sometimes, to get unusual names, I'll read street signs when I'm driving. Although, that's an invitation to end up with a heroine named Wisteria, lol.
Michelle L. wrote: "I keep a book of baby names in my desk, and I will sometimes refer to that. If I need a last name, there's a great website for the US Census that lists the 500 top most common last names.Naming ..." That's a great idea!
It is also nice to browse through foreign language dictionaries. I do that a lot. I want all my character names to mean something =P
Naming can be tough, for me it's more trouble with secondary characters. For my first book Friedkin's Curse: A Werewolf Tale of Terror, I named the main hero Jack, for no other reason than I thought it was a good everyman's name. For my second book, Winston & Baum and the Secret of the Stone Circle it was a little bit more of a process. I liked the name Winston because it sounds similar to Winchester and it's a rough and tumble character but it isn't so commonplace, the other name Baum arose because they have a creation called the 'Tin Man' and I thought I'd name the character for the creator of Oz, L. Frank Baum (so we have Lee Baum, instead of Lyman). Social media is also a great way to find names, just search for a common first name and look at all the last names that appear. Hope this was helpful.
If some my character is from specific country i Google names which are characteristic for that are. I try to be precise as much as i can.I look all names offered because i want them to differ.It's not bad to write down in search for example "most often Spanish female name" or so.
For The Undead Heart http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/84... and the follow up Blood Thirst http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15... I used my family and friends names and discriptions. For When Angels Fallhttp://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15... I had to do alot of internet searches for angel and demon names.
I spend hours and hours researching culture and roots of words before I choose a name for anything, be it side character, main character, place or race. I feel that every designation has a purpose and story behind it. For me, the name research is synonmous with background design. A character's name should blitz the reader with a flash of his personality, even if the reader hasn't met him very well yet :)
My process was a little different. Since I had elves as characters, I found a Tolkien alphabet website and then tranlated some family names into the character names.
Picking character names was one area I always worried about. I wanted my characters names to stick out and be rememberable but not far fetched. The main character in my book Uniquely Unwelcome was already set before I had even planned out the full outline of the story. The name came to me in a dream I had after spending hours working on the outline. I automatically fell in love with the name which is Racquel and knew that was going to be my main characters name. As for the rest of the characters, I spent several days researching meanings, origins, etc. on many different websites to get those names that had meaning and fit the character just right.
I used several factors for my names. Since my work is based in ancient Egyptian and Greek mythology (pre-Christian era), I couldn't pick names like "John" or "Robert."So, I chose names that I thought were:
1. Easy for the reader to pronounce;
2. Had a particular meaning about the character I wanted to convey;
3. Sounded cool (this is the vain one).
Variations of names of real people I've known or know of.The hero of The Silk Code - Dr. Phil D'Amato - is a based on a Lt. with the NYPD I know (first name, Phil), and a former Senator of NY, Al D'Amato
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0091W43JW/r...
Years ago I bought a fabulous book from Writer's Digest, "The Character Naming Sourcebook." It is divided into different origins (i.e. Greek, Russian, English, Irish, Hebrew, Native American, etc.) and each section is divided into male and female. The meanings and/or roots of the names are also given, so I can find something that I like the sound of or the meaning of. I've written three volumes of a huge fantasy series (yet to see print, unfortunately) and that book was a godsend!
On my most recent novel, "Red," my lead female is named Gina, and I have no idea where that name came from. But her last name, Larsen, actually was pulled from my agent's husband's name, lol, because his book "Guerilla Warfare for Writers" sits on my desk.
Tom Hanson, however.... well, his name is a little joking tip of the hat to Johnny Depp, who played Tom Hanson on 21 Jump Street.
I usually come up with the reason for the character's existence first, design, then name. Sometimes names are spontaneous, sometimes it's based on a scheme (the Shadow Magic usin', darkish FBI Spook Squad agent is named Mesmer, but his old partner, the leader of Department XIII for the Vatican, is named Father Gustav von Schlaket...who is also known as the Hammerhound, or the Hound of Slaughter. "Hunden von Schlaket" = Hound of Slaughter. Yeah, my German's probably off, but it's close enough~!), and sometimes it's even just because it's catchy to me or because it's a prelude to a power or ability they have.The Hammerhound, for instance, is a psionic weapon expert who can not only generate a proper full-plate armor but also utilizes a psionic weapon...shaped like a warhammer. Really wish I could get cute with that, but nope. It's a freakin' warhammer, one of the old-school euro ones with the claw on one side, blunt on the other.
But then you have ones like Frank Todd, which is more or less based on a character I made waaaay back when which I thought it was funny he had two first names for his first and last names. Later on when he teamed up with Daniel "Dash" Hopkins, it just stuck with that character during the transition.
~Thomas
Agreed, re: reason for being. Sometimes a name just sticks in my head for a while. That's usually a good choice if it's going to be a series name, as long as it remains accessible according to the culture/time/genre. I've changed them in fantasy or scifi settings, when beta readers had issues with retaining them. I know that as a reader, I often retain names as the mnemonic that leads to a story. The title is less of a key than the characters, unless the name is also in the title.
I seem to think about just a few personality traits of the new character and then the name just kind of speaks to me. I know that sounds boring but its true, lol.
Thomas wrote: "I usually come up with the reason for the character's existence first, design, then name. Sometimes names are spontaneous, sometimes it's based on a scheme (the Shadow Magic usin', darkish FBI Spo..."Hiya Thomas,
your German is way off... to the point where the name makes no sense... I have been trying to think how I would say something like that in German, but have not come up with anything yet... well... nothing that would be "correct."
Awe... C'mon, Don't you just buy em at the Name Store like the rest of us? You know, the one down on Broadway, South of the 72nd Street Subway entrance?
Hawaii is so multi ethnic it is not hard to find different names, but I still do internet searches.
How about a bunch of phonetic scraps written on paper slips, then toss 'em into a hat and pull 'em out three at a time? Works for full words, too. Or not...
For Codename Fairy Godmother: Reassigned I had a blast with all the different names I had to come up with. The heroine, Agent Thunder, well, that name just appeared to me so I can't explain that one. Ciaran, the terminator-leprechaun is Irish so I looked on the Internet for an everything-Irish website and thought that name the most fitting. The fairy godmothers were the most fun because I thought of the most absurd, ridiculous names I could think of and ended up with characters such as Fairy Bunnyjoy and Fairy Twinkletaps. lol. Classic.
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Books mentioned in this topic
Reassigned (other topics)The Silk Code (other topics)
Friedkin's Curse: A Werewolf Tale of Terror (other topics)
Winston & Baum and the Secret of the Stone Circle (other topics)
Daughter of Smoke & Bone (other topics)
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Do you search for names on the internet?
Do you use someones name that is close to you for your characters?