How do you name your characters?

[Keilah H.]

Hey everyone! I’m a little stuck on names for my characters. Every one of my stories has at least one character with a unique name–even my many fanfictions have tons of OCs (original characters) alongside those belonging to the original story. I want to know how you choose your characters’ names. Here’s how I do it:

1. I stick with natural names a lot–say, “River” or “Torrent.”
2. I take names from other characters and change or re-use them. Common names such as Luke, Peter, Rex, Hunter, Sophie, Sam, and others can be used however you want without plagiarism. Unique names such as Rinzler, Esben, Aragorn, and others, however, will draw suspicion. (If you’re basing a character off another for some reason, don’t make them exactly the same!)
3. I use name generators sometimes. I saw a few good ones on someone’s post in one of the topics (so sorry, don’t remember whose). I used a few to name or at least get ideas for names of characters. Be careful though, although there are adults on here I have a feeling there are a bunch of teenagers like me, and I don’t think all name generators are family-friendly.
4. I haven’t tried this yet, but you could try searching up “names meaning ____” for characters.
5. If you know another language, try using words or names from there. If you have a fantasy world’s culture which echoes the one the language comes from, even better!
6. If you’re writing a fanfiction, feel free to use the story’s characters’ names as a guide for your OCs’. For example, one of my brother’s characters is a ten-year-old boy named Bucky. Not only was his name influenced by the Winter Soldier’s (in the real world, not the story), his father’s name was Beck, which sort of sounds similar.
7. If you had a pet with a unique name, name one of your characters after them! I’ve had three different dogs over the years: Drako (died of a heart tumor when I was four or five), Dakota (was given away because my family had to move), and Sky (my current dog). In a family of ten Spanish-speaking siblings in one of my stories, I named three of the five brothers Dakota, Drako, and Cielo (Sky in Spanish). A fourth brother was named Mowgli, after a dog my family once dog-sat.

So, that’s all. Like I said, I’d like to know where you get your character names! I also have a bit of a challenge for you:

One of my fanfic characters is a female dragonman (human with dragon wings and tail). I kind of want her to have a techy sort of name, because her parents’ names are along that line. (Her mother’s name was Rivet–a sort of nail-like fastener used in airplanes–and her father was called Tech.) Anyone have any ideas on what this character’s name can be?

(copy-pastes a bunch of tags)

@writerlexi1216 @kathleenramm @abigail-m @faith-q @not-so-secret-secret-assassin @nova21 @ariel-f @nanisnook @scripter-of-kingdoms @lewilliams @ribbonash @imwritehere1920 @beth-darlene @lydia-s @buildsbygideon @devastate-lasting @relia @iluvhim18 @jodi-maile @daisy-torres @godlyfantasy12 @jenwriter17 @lucy @millennium @kayleigh-idea  @seekjustice @e-k-seaver @sparksaraabbott” @everyone @everyone else

"When in doubt, eat cheese crackers."-me to my charries who don't even know about cheese crackers

[Ariel]

@keilah-h

I usually use names lists, mostly the unique ones! And for your female dragonman, based on her parents’ names, how about Axel, Delta, or Spark!

[Daisy Torres]

@keilah-h Thanks for the tag!!

I like taking random objects nearby and scrambling the names. For instance–*glances around, spots Aloe Vera Plant* Vera, Lova, Lera, Ava, Alva, Alvera, Valora, and there’s tons more you could take from that XD That’s my favorite way lolll.

(I loove the name “Sky” for a dog! I’m about to get a new dog and I’m naming her “Cola” XD She’s a black lab mix)

"It's easy to be caught up in stardust and whispers when reality is so dark and loud."

[Keilah H.]

@ariel-f I love the name Spark! I think I’ll use it, thanks!

"When in doubt, eat cheese crackers."-me to my charries who don't even know about cheese crackers

[Anonymous]

@keilah-h

Ooh, fun topic! Here are my various methods for coming up with character names:

– For my novel, The Apostle’s Sister, I needed a name for St. Paul’s sister. To name Paul’s sister, I simply Googled “Hebrew names for girls.” (Her name would obviously need to be Hebrew since Paul and his family were Jews.) After carefully scrolling through various lists of Hebrew girl names, I found the name Temira and loved it. Before making the final decision, I repeated the name out loud several times and Googled the pronunciation. I always Google pronunciations, because if it turns out the name is pronounced completely differently from what I think, chances are the reader won’t be able to pronounce it either. Temira beat the test, so that’s what I ended up naming Paul’s sister.

– I also needed names for Paul’s two nephews. For them, I decided to go with names that can already be found in the Bible – Reuben and Seth. I really liked those two names, and they just stuck in my mind as perfect titles for the nephews. But before making the final decision, I looked the up meanings in the Bible. I was amazed to find that those two names were each directly symbolic of my characters and described them perfectly. Reuben means “behold, a son” and was named so by Leah when she was at last able to conceive. Temira was in a similar situation, so it couldn’t have been more perfect. And Seth means “anointed; compensation,” which was what Eve called her third son as he served as a replacement for Abel after Cain killed him. One of the biggest parts of Seth’s character is that he ends up being both anointed of God and compensation for Paul and Temira. So again, I had hit the jackpot. I’m still quite amazed I did that TWICE by mere chance. XD

– For the Roman and Greek characters in TAS, I Googled “Roman boy names” or “Greek boy names.” That’s how I came up with the names for the significant Roman soldiers that appear in the novel. XD For example, Aurelius. And for the other Hebrew characters, I Googled “Hebrew boy names” or “girl names” like I did to find Temira’s name. That’s how I found names for Paul and Temira’s family members who show up in the story.

For my most recent WIP, a Biblical fantasy based on the story of Samuel, Saul, and the people of Israel, here’s how I came up with the character names:

– For Lilibet, my MC, I literally just sat at my desk and just wracked my brain for names. (I’ve stored a lot of character names in ma brain. XD) After a while, I thought of the name Lilibet and really liked it, so that’s what I named my MC.

– For Shamuel, Lilibet’s father, it was extremely simple. Shamuel is supposed to represent the prophet Samuel. I decided to just name him Samuel and add the “h” to give it a little extra flair and more of a fantasy-ish vibe.

– For all the other characters, I literally just looked at Pinterest boards until I stumbled across names that I loved and which I felt fit my characters perfectly.

So, in conclusion, if you’re stuck I would recommend:

– Google a list of baby names in your character’s gender and nationality/ethnicity.

– Take some names from the Bible that you really like! That’s always a safe method. And if the names by themselves don’t quite fit the genre of your story, just play around and change them a bit until they do, like I did with Shamuel.

– Just wrack your brain for a while! Sit there and do nothing except let your imagination take over. Who knows? You might be surprised and have an epic name pop into your mind!

Hope this helps!

[Elfwing]

@keilah-h

google translate has been my friend lol

i look up an adjective/noun in a language I like, (Romanian, Gaelic, Punjabi) make sure it means what it’s supposed to, and with a bit of tweaking, I get cool names. Balar is my favorite; its from Romanian and means griffon/serpent, and Eala is from Gaelic and means swan. you get the idea. there is also a really cool website that generates every kind of fantasy name you could wish for, but I cannot remember the name right now, its probably something really simple like “fantasy Name Generator” XD

either that or I mutter to myself and say random words that sound like babble until I get one I like, in which way I got the name Iadiro. (if you were wondering about my sanity, now you know 😉 I talk to myself lol )

aaaanyways, hopefully that is helpful!

 

@joy-caroline Ohhhh did you know Lilibet is also her majesty the Queen of England’s childhood nickname? I personally love the name, it’s so pretty. 🙂

I'm 'a homeschooler' because cookie-making writing artistic animal-whisperer isn't a job title

[Anonymous]

@elfwing

Oh yes, I did! Prince Harry and Meghan named their daughter Lilibet because of that, I believe. It is a really gorgeous name!

[Elfwing]

@joy-caroline

indeed! 🙂

I'm 'a homeschooler' because cookie-making writing artistic animal-whisperer isn't a job title

[Keilah H.]

Thanks everyone!

@elfwing Well…My sanity is questionable too…

@joy-caroline Your stories sound really cool!!

"When in doubt, eat cheese crackers."-me to my charries who don't even know about cheese crackers

[Elfwing]

@keilah-h

Lol I think everyone’s is in their own way…

I'm 'a homeschooler' because cookie-making writing artistic animal-whisperer isn't a job title

[Anonymous]

@keilah-h

Thanks!

[Faith Q.]

@keilah-h,

Sorry, I’m a bit late to this topic, but I get names from a couple different sources. First, I’m kind of a name nerd, so I love looking up and trying to memorize names. So I get quite a bit of them from memory.

I also look up names online. For instance, if I need Hebrew names, I’ll look up ‘unusual Hebrew names’ or ‘Hebrew names no one’s heard of’ or ‘uncommon Hebrew names’. If I’m looking up fantasy names, sometimes I’ll look up ‘ancient German names’, ‘old Persian names’, or ‘names no one uses anymore’, or something like that. Then I’ll often combine them or mix up some of the letters of things like that.

Sometimes, if I’m looking for unusual names (I mostly write fantasy, so that’s almost all of the time for me), I’ll go to the Bible. The books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles are amazing for names no one will recognize.

For the last challenge, I have no idea… I’m not a techie person myself, so I don’t think I can help you much. *Googles it and sees nothing that will work* Sorry about that!

[Author]

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