How naming affects characterization

[Jason]

@his-instrument I really, really want your root list! I’ve never thought about that before and that’s so so cool and helpful! Just the wolf and friend explanations were really really cool. How did you get this knowledge!!!! It makes me so excited. 🙂 🙂 🙂

[Jason]

What do you guys think about names that are made up of words like “Blue Thrush” and “Red Leaf” and should they be made into one word: “Redleaf?”

[Snapper]

@Jason Ooh! I do like that. *writes down in notebook* I will, henceforth, keep that in mind.
*sighs* Naming is great, except when you spend an hour or so doing it. 😛

@his-instrument Yes! The list! 😉

☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀

[Hannah R.]

@jason I like the idea of names like Blue Thrush and Red Leaf. You’ll want to be careful not to make them sound like Native American names (not that all Native Americans have names like that, just that that is what a lot of people associate with them), and I think combining them into one word would be a good way to do that. Shakespeare had some faeries (in A Midsummer Night’s Dream I believe) who had names like Cobweb, Mustard-seed, Blossom, and Moth, which I thought was a kind of cool concept for any kind of character, not just faeries.
And as for my list of roots, I preface this with the disclaimer that these are just things I’ve observed and I am not a certified etymologist. 🙂 I use The Complete Book of Baby Names as my biggest resource, and I’ve discovered these roots by observing names. When I see that “Marissa” means “Woman of the sea” and “Mary” means “star of the sea,” I can deduce that “mar” has something to do with the sea. I’ve learned a little bit from studying Latin and Greek root words, and I also find names in my Hebrew/Greek Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Oh, and I love looking at roots on Dictionary.com. Old English roots usually make great names.
One more disclaimer: some of these roots mean different things in other contexts or other languages, but your readers probably won’t know that. These are just a good way to construct names that have a meaning to the writer.
So now, the list, (@dragon-snapper) by no means in alphabetical order:
shaw = woods
gris = grey
wold = forest
bos = forest
gunn = warrior
win, wyn = friend
-ley (usually at the end of a name, like Hadley or Gridley) = meadow
grim = dark (surprise!) (English origin)
hag = enclosed (English origin)
-olf = wolf (Norse)
geir = spear (Norse)
leif = descendant (Norse)
bjorn = bear (Norse)
ard = strong
swell = spring
car = swamp, marsh, or sometimes rock (English)
cath = fighter
hild = battle (I think that one’s Norse or Scandinavian)
el, eld = old
mer, mar = sea
mor, mort = death
brand = sword
ar = lion or eagle
gar = spear
han = having grace (Hebrew)
cen = bold (English)
brad = wide, broad (English)
bram, bran = raven (English)
lief = beloved (English)
glen = valley or, shockingly, glen
gil, gill = servant (Scottish/Irish) (e.g. “Gillies” means “servant of Jesus,” “Gillean” means “servant of St. John, etc.)
gorm = blue (Irish)

And this is only what I’ve written down so far! I highly recommend you purchase a copy of The Complete Book of Baby Names by Lesley Bolton. It has over 100,000 names in it, and you can open it to pretty much any page and find patterns in the names from which you can deduce roots.
And, guys, let’s just appreciate for a moment what an epic name “Glendower” is. It’s Welsh (which is a pretty easy way to tell whether or not it’s a cool name– “Is it Welsh?” “Yes.” “Then it’s fantastic.”) and it means “From the valley near the water.” It sounds like it should be the name of Gandalf’s sidekick or something, if Gandalf had a sidekick.
Hope this is helpful!
In Christ,
Hannah

YA Fantasy Writer
Obsessive Character Namer
Find me at hisinstrumentblog.wordpress.com

[Snapper]

@his-instrument *steeples fingers* Excellent.

😛

☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀

[Arella Noreen]

@his-instrument I’ve also used roots before, although not for character names! That’s actually a really intriguing idea, now that I think about it…

My main use of word roots is for places or things. A fantasy novel that I have the main idea of the plot for already is a good example. I used roots to make up the cities, countries, races, and in the past I’ve also used it for naming swords. Usually it’s less along the lines of putting roots together or closer to taking two roots and mashing them together, switching around letters until I like the way it sounds. Sometimes it’s easy to tell what the original roots words, but other times…

[DelightInLife]

@jenali @dragon-snapper I totally agree! I really like J and L names for heroes. Lately I’ve been noticing that I have a lot of J & L names in my WIP…so I might need to pay a bit more attention to that. 🙂

Meanings of names are also SUPER important to me. I always look up any name I like for a character to see what it means first, because to me that will really reflect who they are and their personality, even if no one else knows the meaning. When I was talking to my aunt about names and their meanings, she made a really good point that that has stuck with me since then. She said that every time she says her daughters name (Liberty) she is speaking freedom over her, as that is what her name means. I love that. My parents and I joke that I’ll have a lot of fun naming my kids someday!

I also had a question (out of curiosity) for anyone who wants to answer. Where do you guys find names for your characters? Do you go to websites? Find them in books? In real life? I found a website that has a list of names from medieval times that I use a lot medieval.stormthecastle.com/medieval-names.htm though I also find them in other places.

For those of you who are familiar with the Kingdom Series, I think Chuck Black might have gone to that website at some point, for there are a lot of names on there that he chose for his characters. 🙂

I also really like certain names from the Bible, and will use that as well. Since I am writing medieval fiction, I am always on the lookout for names that will fit the time period. One of my characters right now I first named Luke. The problem is, I keep thinking of Star Wars, so I want to change it, but I haven’t found names so far that will fit the character. Does anyone have any tips\ methods they use when trying to find a name?

@kate-flournoy @winter-rose @christi-eaton @jess @jane-maree @aysia-serene @emma-flournoy

@ethryndal

Thanks so much!
-Bella

[DelightInLife]

@his-instrument I would love to hear names meaning fire! I know Josiah means “the lord burns, the fire of the lord” and I have always loved that name. What are some that you have?

[Kate Flournoy]

Wow guys, there are no words for the awesomeness of this topic. Fellow word-root lovers— group hug! 😀

@DelightInLife I don’t have time right now to do as long a post as I could, but starting out, I basically figured out what kind of feel/culture I wanted the name to belong to/have, then went and searched on Google ‘old Nordic/Saxon/Japanese/whatever names’. If I wanted a specific symbolism/meaning, I would tack on a ‘that mean etc.’ to the end, but when I was just starting writing, literally all I did was browse the lists and take mental note of what everything meant, and how they all went together to make different meanings… Having been writing for about four years now, I have a pretty large stock of names and meanings tucked away in my head, and (more invaluably) an understanding of how names work in regards to different languages and cultures.
So… research. It’s fun, anyway. I mean, who DOESN’T love scrolling through lists of cool old names? 😀

INFP. kateeverythingwriting.wordpress.com

[Jane Maree]

@DelightInLife the method I use when naming characters is often to search up say ‘boys names meaning suchandsuch’ if I want a particular meaning. I sometimes do the ‘unique/rare girl names’ or ‘Irish/Gaelic/Welsh/Spanish/ect. names meaning blah-blah.’ Because then I can find one that fits with my setting.
If it’s medieval fiction, what country is it based in? What background does your character have? Say the setting is in France but his mother came from, say, Scotland, he might end up with a name that just screams Scottish and really stands out from the other names of the supporting cast. And you end up with a little bit of backstory along with his name.
Same thing works for any other genres too. Fantasy countries are generally based of some real life country (even if it’s by accident) so if it’s a dry arid fantasy world, Arab/Middle Eastern names (possibly with slight modifications to the author’s liking) work well. Or if it’s Irish-like setting, a Gaelic name fits (just not one of the completely unpronounceable twelve-chapters-and-a-prequel-long ones :P).
So I try go for something simple enough to pronounce but not too common-place, because then there’s the risk that the reader has heard the name a heap of times before and come into the story with preconceived ideas about the character just because of their name.

Writing Heroes ♦ Writing Hope // janemareeauthor.com.au

[Ethryndal]

You guys make my pitiful attempts at naming look so lame… XD

@DelightInLife Basically, when I need a name for my fantasy story, I just sort of…come up with one. I start putting random word syllables together, until something like Liriel emerges. (Liriel, by the way, is the main character in my WIP) I take a letter I think sounds nice, like L or J, and try to form something around it. To be honest, I’ve never even considered word roots until now, though that is a super neat idea.

INTJ ➸Your friendly neighborhood mastermind. ➸https://thesarcasticelf.wordpress.com/

[Jess]

@ethryndal, that’s alright, I’m with you 😛 I bang on the keyboard until I find sounds I like, then string them together. It’s a very refined technique, developed over a long time of use. 😛

BUT, if I want a name that means something… I, well, I go to baby name websites. *blushes*
And if I’m really stuck, I’ll think of a word I like (for example: rock) then google what it is in different languages. @DelightinLife

[Hannah R.]

@ethryndal There have actually been times when I’ve just typed random letters and come up with names. Example: when I can’t think of anything to write (which does happen on rare occasions), my fingers usually fall in the nonsense pattern weioth. So I named a character Weioth.

@delightinlife I’ll get that fire list to you if I can find it. 🙂

YA Fantasy Writer
Obsessive Character Namer
Find me at hisinstrumentblog.wordpress.com

[Snapper]

@his-instrument @delightinlife @ethryndal @jess @jane-maree @arella-noreen @kate-flournoy Come on, guys! I can’t keep up with you!
Arella–I use roots to make names of cities too! However, the root is so obvious at some points, that I’ll have to switch a few things around at some point so that you root lovers won’t know
firsthand what means what. 😛
Delightinlife–I love ‘j’ names. I also find that I use A quite a lot. And the meaning of names, I agree, is important, though its not if I find a name and just like the sound of it. 😛 Then I’ll just hope that the meaning of the name fits the character. Oh yes, I compiled a list once of naming characters, most of which I got from other people in the Kingdom. I will be sure to type that up soon.
Kate-flournoy Yes! Roots! I love roots! It’s so helpful when it comes to taking tests!

☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀

[Shaina]

The way I name characters is that I look at their personality and find a name that fits them. Which is either from the top of my head, my baby name book :), or I make one up if it is fantasy. What I love doing is taking a common name, like Mark, and flip some letters around so that it is still slightly the same name, but is different enough to be interesting. Like Maruk.

@DelightinLife

The Scattered Writer

[Author]

Posts