Search on google. There's hundreds of fantasy name generators.
AND if you're still stuck, just rob names from around the world - TV, Internet, Music, other books *whistle*, comics etc. Or just ordinary people in the world around you.
Nate wrote:And if YWS ever does become a company, Jack will be the President of European Operations. In fact, I'm just going to call him that anyways.
We get off to the rhythm of the trigger and destruction. Fallujah to New Orleans with impunity to kill. We are the hidden fist of the free market.
We are the ink, we are the quill.
[The Ink And The Quill (Be Afraid) - Anti-Flag]
Sometimes I choose names based on they mean, like my middle name Rachel, which means innocent lamb, and find one with a meaning that best suits the personality of the character.
Please, sit down before you fall down.
Belloq, "Raiders of the Lost Ark"
Yeah, I use babynames.com a lot; it's a great site. Sometimes when I'm stuck I just use names from people I know, and then I can go back and change it later if it doesn't fit. One time I was doing a freewrite and needed a guy name, but couldn't think of one I wanted to use. I looked up and there was a picture of my sister and some of her friends, one of which is named Hunter. The Hunter in my story is nothing like the guy whose name I used, but it worked anyway.
Wow, I'm in a talkative mood today.
Got YWS?
"Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed."
- Dale Carnegie
i usually use baby name books, or use some of my friends' names or middle names.
if you believe it's in my soul
i'll say all the words that i know
just to see if it would show
that i'm trying to let you know
that i'm better off on my own
Sometimes you can alter a name and make it into something your own or you can do what my mate does and take a name and reverse it. She turned Katie into Eitak, though I'm not too sure if that would suit a first name character...
Sometimes you can take real words that aren't used too often or are used often and use them for names. (For instance, one of my characters is named Far)
I liked taking real names and taking letters out of them or alter them(For instance Elizabeth to Eliaveth) for some names and you can always just use not-so-common real names.
But I just usually pick random letters and put them together for fantasy names
When I name my characters I first look at what culture they are (or are similar to for fantasy) and search names in the language of that culture. (like in my book all the names are Scandinavian.) I also agree with Reichieru, all of the names I choose have meaning behind them. They tell something about the character: Beornwyn Dreng= Noble Woman, Brave.
There are a lot of helpful websites out there for naming characters. You can use websites that are meant for pregnant people naming their children, like http://pregnancy.parenthood.com/babynames.html, and then you can do a search for a name with a certain meaning, or of a certain heritage. There's also http://behindthename.com.
Edit: The first link doesn't work because there's a comma after it...copy and paste.
If it's a fantasy, I make up a quick language, or now a more complete (though far from) language, and use a name. Or look at the culture of the peoples from my story and relate it to real life cultures (for me it was norse in a recent case) and use those names. If it's not a fantasy, and takes place in this world, then go nuts, theres thousands of names out there, just look em up, or think of names you've heard throughout your life.
A while ago I made this enormous spreadsheet of names I like, and words like ocean or Cavern that could be names. They are sorted alphabetacly, and when I get really really bored I work on it. Then when ever I need a name, I just pick one. You shoud try that maybe..
Jennafina's Love Your Body Already Dammit Campaign
