Is anyone else as lackadaisical about names as me?

lucidzfl · Apr 19, 2010

I recently started a new WIP. I knew who I wanted my main character to be, and I knew the name of his brother, but for every other character, I had no idea.

Since my story is a political/naval thriller, I went to google and looked up "Famous naval officers"

There was a helpful wikipedia page and I sat down and wrote down the names, combining the name below with the name above.

After that I just looked at them and said "That sounds like a good name for a mechanic" or "That sounds like an Admiral".

Anyone else just pick shit out of a hat when naming your characters? Or does every name have deep meaningful resonance?

DeleyanLee · Apr 19, 2010

You mean we're weird? Never knew that.

Not that I really care. It works for me and I like that I don't get hung up for 3 months in writing limbo because I can't name a new character.

Though I will be honest, characters will get names like [Q], [Buddy], [Smartass] until I sit down to figure out names. Not having a name doesn't mean I have to stop writing.

Mr Flibble · Apr 19, 2010

For my last WIP I had two mcs. For the first I said 'Hon, what's a good name for a pirate?' and the Old Man gave me one that reminded him of one of his fave books. For the other I had no idea so I gave him a placeholder ( Holden lol) and it stuck

Lydia Sharp · Apr 19, 2010

Depends on the project. Sometimes I put a lot of effort into naming characters, and sometimes I just go with the first thing that pops into my head.

Ehab.Ahmed · Apr 19, 2010

Well, for my current WIP (which's incidentally my first) I named my characters out of whims. I tried having a deep, meaningful name, but at the end of the day, it only matters to you, the writer. I don't think readers would bother themselves with the meaning of your characters, so going by that, I don't even care about that. So, no deep, meaningful names for me :tongue

heyjude · Apr 19, 2010

I frequently give my characters names like "Joe" and "Jane" because I'm shockingly uncreative for a writer. Then I have to go back and do what you did--scour the net for names. Or, better, sit at the playground and listen to what people call their kids and use those. Usually kind of trendy.

Also I have a sad number of characters with the surnames Smith and Jackson.

I know the character is going to be good if she arrives with a name I don't have to think up myself.

katiemac · Apr 19, 2010

My two main characters for this project have names that have been in my back pocket for ages. I don't even remember anymore how I came up with them, but there you go.

Another character's name changed a lot. I never did like anything I stuck her with, but now I think she's a permanent "Emily".

Other than that, it's just kind of on a whim that I name them and that's that, unless they really put up a fight.

Baryonyx · Apr 19, 2010

I struggle with surnames more than first names.

I prefer female characters and I like lots of female names so I don't find that a problem. Male names I find much harder to find good ones which arn't ridiculously obscure. Surnames though I really struggle with and usually just use google to find one.

In my WIP alot of the minor characters and the antagonists are from main-land Europe, I just google something like "Belgian names" and pick whichever one seems good.

Bubastes · Apr 19, 2010

Yep, I'm the same way. I ended up getting a character naming book because I ran out of name ideas. I'm especially bad at last names.

Shady Lane · Apr 19, 2010

Yeah, mine are just random names, usually. I try to make sure that siblings have consistent names--the same parent wouldn't name one kid Sarah and one Indigo except in really bizarre circumstances--and that no two characters have names that are too similar. Besides that it's whatever.

Stunted · Apr 19, 2010

For me, it has to sound right for the character and be appropriate for the world. But I don't worry about meanings, or what kind of name their parents would give them, etc.

lucidzfl · Apr 19, 2010

what I like to do is pick a name from a famous person in the profession.

If I'm writing a killer, i pick a combination of names from famous killers.(Not gacy or dahmer of course.

For spies, i look up spy names and do a combination.

At least if anyone knows their history, the names will have SOME meaning I guess

Cyia · Apr 19, 2010

The one on deck at the moment had everyone named and then... [the boy]. [The boy]'s name popped into my head in a waiting room the other day, and brought his sister a new name to go with it.

Usually, I'll go to a baby names site and click through until I see something I like.

Phaeal · Apr 19, 2010

Names just seem to occur to me for my contemporary stuff. For my own-world fantasies, I develop some linguistic patterns for the proper names, then come up with long lists of possibilities, often by altering names in the phone book or in the microbios at the back of my dictionary.

The fun thing is when I "invent" a name, only to find out it's a real world name.

Two of my favorite meaningful names are Redemption and Patience Orne. Orne is a common New England surname which conjures up the colonial past. Redemption is anything but redeemed, while his wife Patience is anything but patient.

RemusShepherd · Apr 19, 2010

I pick names that sound good, that create a feeling that resonates with the character.

That can lead to trouble, though. I wanted a version of Race Bannon (from Jonny Quest) in my WIP, so I made a guy named Horace. I then picked a name out of my head that would sound good with that -- 'Karsten'. General Horace Karsten. Sounds good. But then I realized that when he used his nickname, he was Race Karsten. (As in, 'Racecar-sten'.)

Now I have to figure out another last name for him. Maybe 'Tracksten'...

DustyBooks · Apr 19, 2010

My names tend not to have any "significance," but they have to sound good and I want to avoid any embarrassing coincidences. Like I just found out one of my major female characters has the same full name as a romance novelist--she spells her last name differently, but I must now change it.

Funny you should mention naval officers...if I find out that any of my naval officer characters has the same last name as someone who appears in the history books, unless it's very common (and even sometimes if it is), I change it. Most egregious were Blackwood (a well-known frigate captain of the Napoleonic Wars) and Hardy (as in Trafalgar, as in "kiss me, Hardy...")

The other day, though, I needed a last name for a WWII pilot. I was playing Blazing Angels while writing and really didn't want to go upstairs, so I picked up a history of motorcycles and picked an early make...Williamson. It no longer existed by WWII as far as I know...the funny thing is, said pilot actually rides a motorbike in the story (but it's a Triumph). Brother who I'm writing the story for (ploy to encourage reading; he's into planes and bikes) says he's okay with that. If I thought it was actually going to be published I would change it.

Shadow_Ferret · Apr 19, 2010

lucidzfl said:
Anyone else just pick shit out of a hat when naming your characters? Or does every name have deep meaningful resonance?

Well, I don't go to the lengths you do. I just name them with whatever pops into my head as I come upon them in the story.

Chris P · Apr 19, 2010

I get a large phone book and open to a random page. I pick a few first names at random and then turn to another random page and pick out a few last names. I do this until I find names that I like. I get way better results than the "Mike Johnson"-type names I come up with on my own.

For ethnic names, I find an online newspaper for the city (Warsaw, Johannesburg, Madrid) and pick names from there.

ceenindee · Apr 19, 2010

I'm pretty random with mine. If I do get to know a name it it's usually after I've decided on it, not the other way around. Not that I don't mind having sneaky little hidden meanings when they come up.

But they don't for all characters.

Kateness · Apr 19, 2010

What I have a tendency to do is figure out who my characters are going to be, look up a definable personality trait name for them, and fuck with it to make it different, so that if/when I'm published, it's not obvious to everyone who speaks classical greek what I'm on about. (uh, yeah...)

On the other hand, sometimes I just make names up. And for some...well, I forgot. Must've been drinking, then.

S.J. · Apr 19, 2010

This sounds stupid, but I tend to just 'know' what a character's name is. Sometimes it comes to me on the spot; sometimes I open a book at a random page; other times I have to research meanings, and meanings of meanings... But in the end, there's always a name that makes me think, Yes.

For random supporting characters, though, I have a document of cool-sounding names (I write fantasy).

Specific meanings don't really matter. I think it's kind of lame, actually. If I read a book about a sad character called Tristan I'd probably be annoyed.

owlion · Apr 19, 2010

I choose by whatever pops into my head. Usually, it works out okay. But I have a serious issue with not naming MCs....

Jumpy2 · Apr 19, 2010

I picked all the names (first and sur-) in my WIP from characters in my favorite TV shows. Little homage I gues. It was fun and easy

JackinElgin · Apr 19, 2010

I let my wife name all my characters

bglashbrooks · Apr 19, 2010

Is it weird to say that my characters tell me their names? It's like they are knocking on the door to my brain and they just kind of pop in complete with faces, names, fashion styles. I don't have a baby name book and I don't use place holders. I've only changed a character's name once and that was from Georgie to Georgia.

Strange...

Is anyone else as lackadaisical about names as me?

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