NaCl

Do you "like" her character? If so, give her the name you would give your first female child. Then, you are writing about a character, in which, you are invested.

By the same token, if you're looking for a name for the loathsome villian in your story, think about names that you would find objectionable for your own child.

This simple little trick allows me to become internalized with my characters while I'm writing the story. AFTER the story is complete, then it's time to re-think the character names to see if something better calls out to me.

BTW - when my first daughter was born, my wife and I disagreed on her name...wife wanted "Jamie"; I wanted "Kelly". My wife won. However, the heroine in my current novel is named Kelly! LOL!

.....NaCl

slayerofangels

I bet the people in that story don't know they're characters in a story either. A name is just that, a name. No-one is going to penalise you or throw your story in the trash because the MC's name doesn't tell you what kind of person he/she is. Though if your main character was called Cletus... Hmmmm, there are possibilities there.

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KingGrant

This is a little off topic, but my favorite character name in a long time was Charles Farmer. He was the farmer in The Astronaut Farmer.

Anna_Pavarli_76

Wow! That's a really great tip. In that case, It would probably be Emmaline. That also gives me a really good idea for the girl that bullied her in elementary school and caused her to have a really low self-esteem: Jade...it also sounds like the perfect name for a spoiled, stuck up girl (sorry if anyone has that name, but it reminds me of this cheerleader in eigth grade named Jade, who was really stuck up and snotty).

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RebelGoddess

I choose my characters names depending on my mood. Sometimes I go with meaning, sometimes with what sounds like how I picture them, and sometimes I just choose one I like.

But here are a few websites to help you:

A Random Name Gererator to give you ideas:

Random Name Generator

Two website of baby names, including a search function for meaning and origin:

Baby Names at BabyNames.com | Baby Boy Names | Baby Girl Names | Top Most Popular Names

Baby Names. Meaning of Names. Baby Name Origins.

What I think is most important though is that you have fun and enjoy naming them. Because remember, they're going to be with you for a long time, so give them a name you like!

Racheal

P.S.

Also, remember that you can always change their name; WORD has a "replace all" functioon for a reason, LOL!

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Writers' block doesn't exist. It's actually called work avoidance procrastination.
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