Young Writers Society

I do the same thing as Marzipan. I decide the nationality--my favorite is Spaniard, they're always good for romance stories --then I type in "spanish surnames" and voila! *does a dramatic air smooch thing*

I often do literary or historical references, sort of like LOST does (e.g., Desmond Hume, John Locke, Mikhail Bakunin)

Same as Marzipan and deafwriter: I make surnames fit with the nationality.

I use street names that I see when I drive.

The other day I saw a street named "Yochum". I was like, hm, that'd be an interesting last name.

I grab a local newspaper and throw something at it. If it lands on a name, I use that. If it lands on an article, I skim the article and look for names, words that could be names, or the writer of the piece.

Or I get out a phonebook.

I look things up on the Internet but here's a great program that helps me sometimes. It was orginally made for the Sims but it comes up with great first names and last names. Its called MikeInside 2003's Family Generator (or Creator) I have it on my computer but can't find it. Try looking here:

[url]http://mikeinside.modthesims2.com/forum/index.php
[/url]

I use classical music composer names. D: Not necessarily Beethoven, and Mozart and obvious famous people, but there are those not as famous ones with fancy names and such... I just need to look at my library of music scores to find a name... Kind of random, really. XD

I have a horrendous time picking out names, although last names seem to be easier for me now. What I usually do is pick out two objects or things and put them together. Then after I do that I look and see if there is a different way that I could spell the name or I will take out letters in the words making them slightly different.

I think that it is also helpful to pick out a last name that flows well with the first and middle name (if the character has a middle name) because if it is sounds weird to you then your readers are say "Why in the world did the writer name him that".

hope this has helped
Cait

i dont, hahahahaha

I really like the last name of FelAmber, I use it a lot. I also use FelMaple, Felgerth, and Felurthin. You see how I took Fel and added it to the beginning or real words and words I made up. Kinda like Mc. Make up a beginning part of a name ranging from 2-3 letters long. But make sure no 2 characters in the same story have the same beginning last name.

I either search google for last names and pick one that sort of suits the character or I use this database and try to find a first name that would make a good last name(I usually choose either as the gender and then choose a origin.)

Heh he he... In my world, it's the future. People do not use last names. There is a given name, a code name on a database, and that's it. Though, if I do use last names, i just pick a bunch of letters that sounds good. Usually, I'll have a pre prepared list of names and i just search through them till one of them sounds right. Otherwise, I use www.seventhsanctum.com

I find an old year book and randomly point at a last name, look up it's meaning, and see if it fits one of my characters.

I get all my character last names from other characters in books, tv shows, and movies. Sometimes, I just take them off the top of my head. Like right now, there's an ad for Fairfield University- McFairfield