need a name for my charater - Writers Forum

Anonymous · 04-10-2003, 11:44 AM

I need a last name for a charater I'm writing about his first name is Gallen but i can't think of anything that would sound like a good last name he's an adventurer and his parents are billionaires he's madly in love with a 16 year old girl from a local village (he lives in spain) but is afraid to tell her he has a 40'ish tough guy as a bodygaurd against his wishes his parents hired him to acompany their son on his dangerous missions gallen is only 19 years of age he lives with his parents so they will fund his trips he graduated from collage when he was 16 and and spends most of his time looking for priceless artifects i hope you all have some understanding of the charaters personality by now so what would be a good last name for gallen?

Anonymous · 04-12-2003, 04:31 AM

Gallen Adams rolls off the tongue. Does it have to be spanish? Cortez sounds good.

Spudley · 04-12-2003, 05:01 PM

Firstly, I'm assuming that although the character is Spanish, you're writing in English?

It would help to know a few spanish surnames - but not just the common ones, because if you're not careful they can sound cliched. Appologies to whoever it was who suggested Cortez, but No. Please don't inflict such a common name on your characters. They won't thank you for it.

I don't have any specific names to suggest, but let me offer you an idea for coming up with plausible-sounding foreign names that I have used in myself in the past:

Firstly, think of some English surnames that mean something beyond just being a name. For example, Butcher or Farmer. Then run them through a translator (try Babelfish) to get their Spanish equivalents. Finally, make sure they really are genuine Spanish surnames by looking them up in a phone book (Spain, South America, or California would seem to be the best, but I'll leave it up to you). I use Phonebook of the world to get international numbers.

You can of course still use a name even if you don't get a match in the phone book, but if you get a match, you'll know that the name is a genuine surname, so you won't get lynched by angry spaniards when they read your story.

False Dawn · 04-19-2003, 06:57 AM

Hm, Spanish... Gallen isn't particularly Spanish, is it? Is he a native of Spain? Or perhaps an immigrant (or his parents immigrants) from another country?

The name Gallen is an interesting one though. Surnames for it... hm, Handas? Turiados? I think it should end in an S, because that sounds correct orally. Hope that helps

TDX · 05-30-2003, 12:27 PM

Gallen Seacrest sounds cool to me. puts me in the mind of of a pirate though.-TDX

luddite · 06-02-2003, 02:56 PM

Habanera like in the opera Carmen

SamIAm · 06-02-2003, 11:18 PM

Going along with the idea of giving him a name with a meaning, one thing that I've used is BabyNames. If you put in the some trait of the character and look up the meaning, it will give you a list of names that mean that (for instance, putting in, "Adventurous" give you the name "Fernando"). You can also go to advanced search and look up names for a specific nationality. Both of these tend to work better with first names, but often you'll get usable surnames.

Anonymous · 06-03-2003, 07:32 AM

Another thing to think about: Do you want your charachter's name to reflect who he is now, or who he becomes as he transforms in the story?

Consider harsh vs. soft consonant sounds, the connotations of words begining with or containing the letter V (nearly always combative, if not downright negative.) Consider long vs. short vowel sounds to accentuate or play down Gallen's romantic nature.

Good luck.

free_mind_7 · 06-09-2003, 01:21 AM

im not good with names but the surname Vorhees sounds billionarish to me. i dont know if that is spanish sounding or if ur character needs a spanish name at all but i like Vorhees. just my 02.

free_mind_7 · 06-09-2003, 01:24 AM

i just checked out that previously mentioned baby names site and looked for adventurous and found Valencia meaning brave. it is listed as a spanish name. i advise u to check out the site linked earlier in the thread. its cool. hmmmm Gallen Valencia, i like it....hope u do, its ur story not mine. good luck.

-FM7

Andrew · 06-10-2003, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by free_mind_7

im not good with names but the surname Vorhees sounds billionarish to me. i dont know if that is spanish sounding or if ur character needs a spanish name at all but i like Vorhees. just my 02.

Sorry, but any name sounding like Voorhees just brings me to the Friday the 13th movies. I don't think you could possibly do that kind of name without too many people thinking of that.

free_mind_7 · 06-10-2003, 05:09 PM

nutz i knew that name was familiar. now i know why. yeah ur right. scratch that. my bad.

Kimberly Bird · 06-12-2003, 02:09 PM

Gallen Gibbert, ha. Sorry just having fun.

Is Gallen a Spanish name? Here are some; Amelio, Philip, Gann, Montfitchet, Blancandrin, Malbien, Acolin. The Song of Roland or ballad has tons of Spanish names in it. You could probably find this on the net somewhere.

Best of luck.

Kimberly

DragonReborn · 06-12-2003, 10:25 PM

Lors. Gallen Lors. Not particularly spanish, though.

Kujo · 07-20-2003, 03:44 PM

Gallen Dorlo. i like that..although its not spanish or a real name