Young Writers Society

On the rare occasions I do write prose (it happens, but so rare those who witness it should consider themselves blessed) I just go to babynames.com. Yeeep. Or just use names I like. Occasionally I'll use names that have certain meanings, but usually just random ones, though I sometimes check the meanings of said names to make sure they don't conflict with the story.

Sometimes I find it reveals odd subconscious things about me. Once when I was on one of those strange prose-writing sprees, I started maybe two or three stories. And all these stories had a main male and a main female character. And I realized after writing them that the characters' names started with one of two letters--those letters being the first initials of either myself or this guy I like *is a middle-schooler*. I didn't even plan that. It was very strange.

I usually pick names that I like...but doing that a lot makes me have tons of Jeremys.

I've tried going to behindthename.com and doing that random name generator. But as I'm doing that I think of one on my own. And usually it's school related. You know those kids that were constantly called down to the office during passing periods? Their names get stuck in your head a lot so it's usually a variation of those and names I like...

And most of the time I find myself writing characters that have the same personality as people I know. It makes the story seem more real I guess.

Robin wrote:I usually pick names that I like...but doing that a lot makes me have tons of Jeremys.

I've tried going to behindthename.com and doing that random name generator. But as I'm doing that I think of one on my own. And usually it's school related. You know those kids that were constantly called down to the office during passing periods? Their names get stuck in your head a lot so it's usually a variation of those and names I like...

And most of the time I find myself writing characters that have the same personality as people I know. It makes the story seem more real I guess.

I'm wary of using names of people I know. Sometimes I pass in a story for school, and the kids may be like 'you wrote about me!' when I didn't. I also hate the people who write people exactly how they are in real life. (You probably don't do that, lol.) I just take bits of personalities from people I know, people I see on the street, etc.

Names are hard. O.o

~JFW1415

I also hate the people who write people exactly how they are in real life.

I don't exactly just mostly similar. And how would you know if someone were to do that? Unless you knew all the same people they knew I'd think it'd be a little hard to pick up on otherwise.

Robin wrote:I don't exactly just mostly similar. And how would you know if someone were to do that? Unless you knew all the same people they knew I'd think it'd be a little hard to pick up on otherwise.

People from my school do that. Otherwise, I guess I wouldn't know. I just feel the characters don't fit too well. You can't really know anyone well enough to know how they'd deal with every situation. Not even yourself.

*Shrug* I try to make up characters, and just write short prompts to get to know them.

~JFW1415

Sometimes, if i'm really bored, i watch the end credits of a movie to see if any names jump out at me.

I like normal names. I don't really get into the whole match the personality to the name or Japanese-inspired names. I just like normal (maybe older sounding names like Eleanor, Molly, Josephine, Arthur, etc) the most with long last names.

I go to this website. And I keep clicking. And clicking and clicking and clicking...

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate. ... =quickname

If I rwally like a name I will stick with it possibly for two seperate stories but after that I will only use it as an extra. I have used Dent in two and I liked that name. It was simple and didn't reveal much about his personility.

I like uncommon names but not weird ones. I really hate it when people write stories set in present-day and give their characters all strange names that people would never name their kids.

I get way too much pleasure out of my naming my characters, though.

use names that are easy to read.

for example, i read a book with a characters name carlisle and i kept pronouncing it in my had -car-leese until i figured it out...very distracting.

so skip names like oedipus and megara and amphitryon

but i like jack russel.... funny

I didn't even realize the Jack Russell thing at first! I think it's a rather good name.

Making up names for the characters is the most fun part! I like unique names that not everyone has. Not too unique, though - I want to keep it credible. Some of my names come from spices, fruit, flowers - anything that means something. For example, one of my characters is called Satin. I'm really quite proud of that. It sounds like a real name but it's also something else.

I'd use common names like Emma very carefully. Okay, it's simple, but it's somewhat boring as well. Although I really like the name Sarah.

I have this book called "First Names" by Gem Collins. It has nice names and explanations for the names, too. But I haven't used it in a while.

I like the name Jack Russell. It's got a good vibe for me.

I like to have fun with names. Sometimes, I simply type randomly on the keyboard and see what names would pop out. Most of the time though, I check dictionaries in other languages, see what I can pick up and mix and match letters and meaning. But I do try to remind myself that not everyone would be able to read a name they're totally unfamiliar with, so I try to make the names I use easy to remember and fun to pronounce. Although I can't say that all the names I've used are original.

I like names with hidden meanings the most.

Yeah, me too - hidden meanings are fun!