Thread: Names

Names, I hate them, I really do.
I can never seem to decide on one, and when I do, I never feel it fits the character. Even things like "what would you name your kids?" put me at a total standstill.

Any tips & tricks out there? Or do you apply any method or reasoning in particular?

People get their names before developing any individual characteristics. Something about parent's choice and/or decision. Later on the person may acquire a nickname based upon their 'character'.

Interesting..humm....
I do not rely on books toget my names.
I carefully make them up as to not to impose it on others who already share the same name.
What I mean is that the names are either related to me or I make them up.
For example I named my child using my name and his father's a name.
And if it is a story then I make them up.
It is a lot of fun making them up.

I use baby name books to find names that i like first of all, so i have a list of names i could possibly use in the future. The way i usually end up naming my character is by deciding on who the character is, what they act like, their hobbies, what they look like, etc, and then visualizing their face in my mind and seeing who they look like. If you can picture your character in your mind saying their own name, and it sounds good, chances are you found the right name.
But i am strange, who knows.
-Duality.

It depends on the character's age, gender, location, personality, etc., etc. (Elmer Deeds is one. I love my old Elmer character, and he's shown up in more than a few of my works.) Once I peg them, the name usually comes right behind it. I've also mixed the names of people I've known.

Maybe you're over thinking it. I do give some consideration to it. For example, I've got a story posted now with two women characters. One I imagined as fair skinned, some freckles. She has a pleasant self-effacing disposition. The name Sandra just seemed right to me. The other is kind of bitchy and particular. Her name is Clarissa. But If I'd named them the other way round, it probably wouldn't have made any difference to readers. We don't chose our own names and we're usually not shaped by them. You could think of your characters the same way. I have changed character names once the story is written, sometimes once the character is fully realized -- something else pops in my head. Just do a "find and replace" and poof -- it's done. So you might just want to write the story -- and maybe the right name will come to you.

I like the phone book. I get most of my names from there. Especially ethnic names. I like to play against type-because, as Joe notes, the name doesn't make the person. Myron can be a tough guy, Biff, a nebbish.

There are some names that I really like, such as Nicole or Carlie. When I run out of those (it's a small list), I turn to the internet. There are all sorts of "name meanings" sites out there, and I try to choose names that both sound decent and fit the character. Probably 80% of the characters in my story have meaningful names.

Originally Posted by WolfieReveles

Names, I hate them, I really do.
I can never seem to decide on one, and when I do, I never feel it fits the character. Even things like "what would you name your kids?" put me at a total standstill.

Any tips & tricks out there? Or do you apply any method or reasoning in particular?

I'm kind of the opposite because name-making or -picking is something I really enjoy. It's funny you mention the kid thing because for a few years now I've had a schwack prepared for if I ever have kids, cause bad kid names are just cruel.

I think the feel of the name should suit the character (you wouldn't name an action lead something like Bernie). Having a good name vocabulary, knowing lots and lots of names, can only help, and being familiar with foreign or ancient names is surprisingly beneficial. Unorthodox but cool names I think are the most memorable and catchy; I'm thinking Under the Dome by Stephen King here, where the main guy's nickname is Barbie, full name Dale Barbara. Probably the best names in any fiction ever are those in Star Wars, which are all extremely snappy, catchy and memorable.

I guess my problem is that I've never had this sense of what names "feel" like. In fact, I've never had that bond to names in any way. I never cared if someone called me nicknames or which of my names people used to address me, because names don't carry such a strong emotional connection to me. I can never get that feeling that many experience, "hey, Dick Gordon sounds just like a..." or "that guy feels like a Thomas"

My friend is just like you. She has changed her characters names probably 10 times, and she's almost through the book. She says nothing feels right. I couldn't do that. I picked my characters names, and once I started writing with them, that is who they were. Just like a baby. After you've got their face with their name, you couldn't imagine them being called anything else. I like to pick my names by the type of person they are as well. If they are older, kind, and generous, I like names like Abigail, or Hope. If they are snobby teenage girls, Brooke, Statia, or Chloe works. I guess it all depends on how you see your characters.

Originally Posted by Sunny

I picked my characters names, and once I started writing with them, that is who they were. Just like a baby. After you've got their face with their name, you couldn't imagine them being called anything else. I like to pick my names by the type of person they are as well. If they are older, kind, and generous, I like names like Abigail, or Hope. If they are snobby teenage girls, Brooke, Statia, or Chloe works. I guess it all depends on how you see your characters.

Totally agree, except for the face part (my characters are largely faceless in my mind; when I think of them, all I see is their body type and possibly their hair style and color).

I'm aided slightly in that my characters are mostly European (I'm American), so the names I pick are a bit more unfamiliar to me. Names like Evert, Alessa, Salvatore, Isolde, and Lothar don't have much implicit meaning for me, as I've never really known anyone with those names. Instead, the names take on meaning as my characters develop and grow. When I think "Markus," I don't think "kind of like my buddy, or my uncle," or anything else. I think of my main character.

I agree with Elowan,
The name is given at birth, so if the name means anything it should have meaning to the parents not to a character trait,except for those traits noted at birth.

Names are what we call each other, Nicknames have a meaning to a person, but birth names usually don't.

Names should match the time and place of the setting. Severin is not a common first name in society today, it was common in the 13th century.

Originally Posted by Sunny

I picked my characters names, and once I started writing with them, that is who they were.

That's true for some of my characters, the most important characters have their names practically etched in stone, probably because after more than 50k words, I'v mentioned them so many times. Meanwhile, one of them has a real name(most of the story he uses an alias) that I can't settle for, and many of the antagonists feel poorly named. I find it particularly hard to name the bad guys, because I want them to sound bad-ass without being pretentious or overdoing it. For one of them I went through ten names before settling for "Zachariah Bartlett", and now I want to include him more in the story just because I'm so proud of myself for finally picking a name I'm actually happy with.

Simply go for Babynology and find your name details