Young Writers Society

Finding first names for your characters are easy; there are at least five million site out there where you can search for names based on origin and meaning. For example, if I want an Italian name that means "couarageous," I can find a good one fairly easily.

But I'm having serious issues with last names.

I'm looking for a Roman/Latin last name that means "elite" or "pure." So I go online looking for a site that will let me search that.

Every time, without fail, they ask me for the name and then give me its meaning. Never the other way around.

Are there any sites out there where you can search however you need? Or are we writers really that small of a market?

Please tell us if you've found a good site.

Behind The Name: Surnames is my usual go-to when it comes to last names.

Ah. Much better than the geneology sites. Thanks!!

But it's still hard for me to search for "precious" in English or Dutch names only.

Yeah, sometimes they don't have quite the right word. Try experimenting with synonyms, or related words, sometimes you get lucky.