Young Writers Society

If you're like me and can't think of a name for your characters without a computer, then I've got a solution: keep a notebook chalk full of just character names. I have one and it's really useful, especially when I have trouble thinking of names.

Do you think looking through a book of names for babies or something works?
I heard that some people do that...

I do the baby name book thing. Because I use names primarily from other languages, it's near-impossible to gather resources from my memory alone.

Google "Baby names" to get a bunch of hits. Another site people swear by is http://www.behindthename.com

I have a whole folder on my computer dedicated to names for characters, settings, basically all the stuff I need for my novels. It's really hard to pull things straight from memory, so it's helpful to keep resources like that where you can easily get to them.

Disclaimer: I am not considering otherworldly fantasy in this post. Partly because it is entirely asinine, but mostly because I am not aware of whatever laws or traditions exist in whatever world you have created.

Naming your character should NOT be your first priority in creating a character. It should be very, very low on your list, because it, quite frankly, is not important. I've seen too many characters that are described thus: "Jadyn was a semi-popular girl with jet black hair and startlingly green eyes." The issue with this is that the characters have absolutely no actually "character" within them. They're basically a cardboard cut out of a real person. More than likely, they are who the writer wishes they were. This does not just refer to the appearance of the character - it refers to his/her name as well.

I've found that a very large number of the characters have either unisex names or names with odd spellings, especially with excess "y's." If your character lives in present time and is around 14-16 years old, it is very doubtful that they will be a boy named "Brandyn" or a girl named "Ryleigh." This trend in names did not become common until around 2002. Alternatively, if you are writing some sort of futuristic novel that takes place 10-20 years in the future, the characters would not be named "Zena," but something more similar to the names I listed above. The moral of this is to not give characters names that are the ones you want to give to your children, especially if they are spelled weird or are unisex (this does not include names like Taylor or Jordan).

When naming my characters, I take several things into consideration. The first is the time period (I've already talked about this in the above paragraphs a bit). I usually figure out about what year my character was born, and then I look up the most common names for that year. So if my character was a female of the 1920's, I'd name her Ruth instead of Brittany. Also, keep in mind that the older the name is, the less "liberal" the parents are going to be in naming it.

Next, I consider their ethnicity. I enjoy writing stories about characters from different backgrounds. This is pretty straight forward. Look up baby name websites. Their search engines always have options for looking up different ethnic names. But make sure you look them up on multiple different websites. Many of them are not completely accurate. If you looked up my name (Lena) you'd find that some baby name websites claim that it is Greek or Latin (wtf). My name's actually Russian (my mother is a fluent Russian American), but you might get that kind of confused if you just looked that up in baby name websites.

Finally, consider the parents. Remember that children don't choose the names themselves. It's the parents who choose them. A strict Christian family most likely would not name their daughter "Jade," for example. A liberal, feminist family may give all their children odd names. I know I'm generalizing, but this is how you create believable people.

Names really are not all that important. I never actually name the characters for my short stories. When I'm writing the actual story, I just type in "John" or "Dan" for all my male characters (the majority of my MC's are males). It's really not all that important at all. I only go into deep analysis of the names when I'm picking out one for a character in my novels.

Lena.

Lena.Wooldridge wrote:Naming your character should NOT be your first priority in creating a character. It should be very, very low on your list, because it, quite frankly, is not important. Lena.

I completely disagree. I almost always start with a name. Naming characters if very fun for me! It gives you a baseline. Are you going through all your character development with "Protagonist" or "That character" as your title?

Anyway, I usually go on name generating sites, stroll around baby names forums (yahoo answers baby name section- my motherlode for background character names). Sometimes I'll search the net, or use names from other sources I hear. My friend had to name a random character, so she flipped open the phonebook to a random page, pointed, and voila, a random name. I wouldn't use that way for important characters, but it's good for filler.

Names are identities, and they are incredibly important!

I get a picture of my characters in my head and then I a name pops into my head. Sometimes more than names pop up in my head and then things get a little more difficult to narrow it down.

I think that names are very important. It is vital to choose a believable name for your character depending on their gender, the time/dimension/setting of the story and the ethnicity of the character. When I see online stories with modern teenagers called 'Serenity' it makes me want to tear my eyeballs out. It sounds incredibly tacky and cliched and immediately brings the value of your story down. I think the only time it is acceptable to name a character something unusual is if it is valid to the story and part of the plot.

Personally, I think that even in real life, one can learn a lot about a person just because of their name. I enjoy listening for names and looking at different spellings. However, I do agree that the name has to be believable. I think of personality, appearance, and ethnicity before I even attempt a name, and lots of research goes into my choice. Though I really enjoy finding names, the part I probably struggle with the most is last names...Does anybody have any advice concerning that?

My character names either pop into my head, or I have to go searching for them. When I search, I search using www.20000-names.com, which has... well, 20000+ names ( ) in its database, organized by gender, alphabetical order, and culture. They have a really great selection. But I only go there for minor characters and characters whose names refuse to pop up. It's interesting, actually - my characters tend to be more fleshed-out when I pick the first name that pops into my head, as opposed to when I spend hours mulling over the perfect name.

One thing I do, actually, when picking a name, is look at all the ones I want, and put it through a couple tests; for example, if I was considering naming a character Tybalt, I would first
- imagine a parent giving that name to their newborn baby ("Aw, look at little Tybalt..."). Then I would
- imagine that character falling to their death as a close friend watches ("NOOO! TYBALT!"). And, finally, I would
- put the name to the character (the traits/life I want to give them) and see if it fits ("Tybalt was a sarcastic young fishmonger in midaevel Britain").
... as much as I love Tybalt Capulet, that might not be the best name to use...

Though I really enjoy finding names, the part I probably struggle with the most is last names...Does anybody have any advice concerning that?

In all sincerity, Sincerity (couldn't resist, sorry ), last names work best when you base it entirely on sound. Of course, if you're working with a specific style of name, you might want to look stuff up (eg if your character is Chinese and you've given them a traditional Chinese first name, you should probably look up some Chinese last names to find something that works). But if you just look at the first name, and see what sounds right. Make stuff up - they don't have to be real last names. If that doesn't work... you could probably find a database/book that features a selection of last names you can choose from. Or use another first name as the last name (a la "Ricky Bobby" ).

Nice idea, Shadow. That's a very great tip for people like you.

I've got the opposite problem. I tend to have long names because I can't choose from all the names that pops in my mind! He-he.

Usually, I have to know my character inside and out. where they grew up and what they're like always plays into the name.

Omg finally someone understands me!! I have a composition book full of character names I only have four main characters I use in my stories and I know them inside out!! But your a genius for thinkin bout that!!

For the most part, I just think up names as I go along. If I end up not liking them, I can always change them later. I try to stay away from conventional names like John or Sam because the story I'm writing now is a fantasy taking place in the Jurassic era, so the kind of names we use today would seem a little out of place. That's not to say I don't refrain from using conventional names all the time, because if you keep making up names sooner or later your entire cast is going to feel rediculous.

The way I try to remedy this is to use regular names most of the time for my characters' first names, and their sir names I try to come up with on my own. That way it feels like a legitimate name of that time period, yet it's still easy to write because everyone refers to everyone else by their first names anyway.

I kind of agree and disagree with Lena.Wooldbridge. Yes, a character's name should not be your biggest concern, because when it comes to character development it's your character's actions that define who they are and not their names. On the other hand, a character's name is still important because it's one of the main things that makes him/her stand out from a crowd, to let the readers know that "hey, this person is important." This is especially true with stories that span the length of several novels. If you have a character that you've introduced in an earlier book and want to have the main character encounter him again, a memerable name is the best way to keep the reader from saying, "who the hell is that?"

I think character names are supremely important because they automatically give you an idea of who the character is. Such as, when I hear the name Krystal, I automatically picture a young girl with a lower back tattoo and dyed blonde hair (sorry if your name is Krystal!) When I hear the name Agnes or Bernadette, I think of an elderly lady.

I definitely agree, though, that you should always avoid choosing names just because you like them or because you want to name your children that name. It often doesn't suit the character, sounds too modern or is unrealistic.

The best way to find appropriate names is to use the US census reports. Google "Popular Names of 1980", for example, and the US name census for that year should be the first link. It ranks the top names of that year in order of popularity. By using the census, you get an idea of realistic names in the time period the character was born. Other than that, I have a baby name book I got for four dollars in a bargain bin haha.