Young Writers Society

I need help. Names elude me. (as do many other things, but I'll concentrate on names). PLEASE give me some tips/help/suggestions of names.

Ahhh, the name problem

I'm pretty sure everyone's had that problem, so no need to be shy

I only have a handful of names that I use for, well, everything so it's not much of a problem, well, at least, not anymore. When I need names, I pick them off sites.

2000 Names: Names from different origins

Cormanthyr: Elven Name Generator

Seventh Sanctum: Attacks, organizations, cyberware, etc name generator

I recommend the last one especially.

Also, you can pick names out of those sites, and mess around with the syllables until you find something that sounds nice / that you like. ^^

Wow. Thanks. The last one is interesting. Thanks again.

Yeah, for some reason, names are the hardest part. I work with tons of kids during the year so I generally just use their names.

But what I find myself doing a lot is using a common first name, but taking last names from objects I have on my desk. Like in the storybook I just started, the character's last name is Snapp. That came from a Snapple bottle I have right next to me.

Here are some tips that I generally abide by as well to come up with unique sounding names:
1. Change the first letter of a common name, or add a letter afterwards. For instance, Rachel becomes Rachelle or Jasmine becomes Yasmine.
2. Combine two common names. Brian + Jeff = Breff.
3. Go with meanings. If your main character is a warrior, call him Martin, which means warrior.
4. If the first name is short, make the last name long. Same goes the other way around, such as Beth Patterson or Gabriel Lane.
5. If all else fails, just push down a lot of letters on the keyboard and "randomly generate" a new name, such as Jnasdfi or Apofwej.

http://babynames.com

Choose "find this meaning", type in a word, and voilla. I use it all the time.

I actually got help with names from my dad lol! It's strange, because he doesn't seem like the creative type.. Anyway, he randomly came up with Malkin and Tenik.

Some names I took from stones, like Crystalia (crystal) and Saphirus (sapphire).

Others, I took from birds, like Heronius (heron) and Agrytta (egret).

I like the idea of randomly typing letters on the keyboard, but I take it one step further. I add vowels so it's at least pronounceable, then switch around syllables. I also find sounds that I like or letters that follow a pattern with that race, and combine them.

When I first started creating names, I looked through my French/English dictionary. I would pick a word that described whatever I was trying to name, and then I would try to spell the word how it's pronounced, or change it very slightly. Now, if I want to use another language, I usually look up online language dictionaries. I especially like Welsh.

Nate, that's a great idea, combining two common names! I might just try that..

Anyway, I hope that helped, Drizzt! I, too, have problems with names.. but when I get stuck, I try one of these methods, and it usually helps.

For main characters that are male... Lots of "R" starting names seems very strong and up-lifting. Rand O'Thor in Wheel of Time, Richard in that Goodkind series, Robert with the Double R Diggity, and Ron in Harry Potter. Drizzt, I suggest changing your main character's name, it's too much like that girls. I like the girls name though, it's really fitting, but your skinny boy needs some re-naming. That's just my opinion.

-Z

phone books are good too, except pair up different last and first names so you dont use anyone's real full name. like, i saw in the phone book the name 'Snodgrass, Everett M.' You just can't make that stuff up.

faith, that's actually a really good idea. I never thought of it before. And I always have trouble with last names.

Okay, the evil phone book has now become my friend... =)

Yeah... that is a good idea...

lol, I really like that phone book idea. Now I have a better use for it other than as a coaster

But it makes such a good coaster...

It does indeed, ours are under the computer moniter to make it higher...

I always look for names with a certain meaning that describes my character. For example since the name "Jason" means "healer" if I named a character Jason he would probably be some sort of healer (Duh, that was an obvious one) A really good site to find names on is

http://www.babynamesworld.com/

You can search by gender, meaning, origin or search a name and find out all this stuff. Very useful.

Names of characters depend on what you're writing. If you're writing fantasy its best to use made up names, I usually go for names that I already know and make them sound like words in my own language.

I guess it depends on what you really are trying to achieve. All writers suffer from this problem. They believe, including myself in some regard, that finding an exotic name is essential to the story itself. Though it can be an interesting read, it's not so crucial.

Currently, two of characters have very simple names, and I've wrote my story so it fits. Besides using the 1000 Baby Names' links, I fall back on my heritage. I'm not entirely sure about other countries, but Americans can have a diverse bloodline; meaning we're a 'melting pot.' Recently, I was looking up Irish names because I have ancestors that landed in Ellis Island from... well, Ireland, lol.

Good luck.