Names

Nalani Ashmore · Mar 16, 2008

I'm having a bit of trouble naming my characters, but for now I have put a random name so I could save them without getting confused later. I already know the story is going to be either a futuristic fantasy, a normal type fantasy setting, or a urban fantasy type deal.

With the last setting I could go with normal names, but for the other two I would have to say more unique names are needed. I was wondering where you get your names from. Do you make them up? Do you go the button smashing route? Or do you think of them off the off of your head?

I've been on many a name generator site and to me they feel so fake when I want to attached it to a character.

I'm just curious to see how you all named them.

Shweta · Mar 16, 2008

Personally I figure out setting in detail, figure out the historical/cultural influences I'm using for my societies, and pick the closest fit in language that I can get. Then I pretend my characters are, say, Frisian speakers, and look for Frisian names (and in this particular case modern Dutch names too cause I'm cheating).

Randomly generated names look random, to me. Names have a sound and a rhythm that matches the language of the people using those names, and when those are off, it's subtly disconcerting. When I read something in which the names sound random, it cuts into my suspension of disbelief. Something sounds off, so I have trouble trusting the author.

If that makes any sense.

giusti · Mar 16, 2008

Also beware of temp names. If you call a character something for long enough, that will eventually become that character's name in your mind, no matter what you end up trying to change it to. If you start calling your character one thing or another, be sure that you would be alright calling that character that name for the rest of the manuscript.

-giusti

Mumut · Mar 17, 2008

My work is with names - computer identity matching. So I have taken a little notebook to work for years for interesting names. I don't record the full name, of course. But a higher-class family giving a son the middle name of Middleton or Entwhistle with a double-barrel surname sounds right for that type of person. So I have a store of names to fall back on.

For surnames in medieval times, when some of my action took place, I use names like Jackson, Johnson as they would for the son of John. Or Baker or Miller (if I want to be simplistic) or Bassingthwaite (a person with yellow hair) or Gillespie (servant of a Bishop).

hammerklavier · Mar 17, 2008

Mumut said:
For surnames in medieval times, when some of my action took place, I use names like Jackson, Johnson as they would for the son of John. Or Baker or Miller (if I want to be simplistic) or Bassingthwaite (a person with yellow hair) or Gillespie (servant of a Bishop).

Why not use those archaic names (like Bassingthwaite) for a futuristic novel?

mmurphy · Mar 17, 2008

We discussed this in the sci-fi forum and here was my suggestion: Google baby names for a given nation or culture and draw from those. It keeps it consistent and prevents a place in which someone is named John and someone else is named Blizzar'tooi'min.

tallus83 · Mar 17, 2008

A phonebook.

DeleyanLee · Mar 17, 2008

Names, for me, stem from whatever I want the "core feel" of the world to be. This isn't the same thing as basing my world on any particular culture because, honestly, I don't want to duplicate, I want the mood, the tone, the sensation of someplace.

For instance, if I wanted to do a Persian-feeling world, I'd think of words, place names that fit and play with them (Is "Agrabah" from Disney's Aladdin a real place? Doesn't matter, we totally had the sense of where we were from it)--whether or not they're actual Persian names, honestly. It's the sense that's needed, not fact.

As long as what I'm working with adds to that feel/tone/sense, then I'm good to go. It's consistency that's important to establish sense of place, after all.

JamieFord · Mar 17, 2008

Have you tried alliteration?

It worked for Stan Lee. Think about it--Peter Parker. Reed Richards. Bruce Banner. Matt Murdoch. Scott Summers. J. Jonah Jameson. Green Goblin. Fing Fang Foom...

Maybe it's just me.

RJK · Mar 17, 2008

If you're stuck

Try this random name generator. http://www.behindthename.com/random/

I not only lets you select the nationalities but will provide a brief background and history of the name that you select.
It should help for fantasy writers and for historical fantasy.

Birol · Mar 17, 2008

I have to know the main characters names, and often secondary characters' names, before I can really set down to write them. Usually, they come to me with names, although, sometimes, they make me search for them in baby name books and websites. I usually know something about the person and look for a certain nationality or meaning in the name.

Tertiary characters I'll sometimes use a placeholder for and fill in later.

Charlie Horse · Mar 17, 2008

giusti said:
Also beware of temp names. If you call a character something for long enough, that will eventually become that character's name in your mind, no matter what you end up trying to change it to. If you start calling your character one thing or another, be sure that you would be alright calling that character that name for the rest of the manuscript.

-giusti

That happened when my wife was pregnant with our second child. My five-year-old started calling him Daniel before we had even thought of names. After 6 mo. there was no way he could've been anything else.

taloom · Mar 17, 2008

tallus83 said:
A phonebook.

Ditto.

blueobsidian · Mar 17, 2008

I use phone books, random names generators, and baby names websites for inspiration. When I need a more unique name, I don't always take something directly from one of those sources but if I generate ten or twenty names, one of them will likely help me come up with an idea.

Sites like http://www.babynamesworld.com/ are great for normal and more interesting names. If you search by category, they actually have a selection called "cool names" although I have no idea who decided they were cool! If you go to finding names by origin, you can select anything from Ancient Egyptian to Lithuanian to Yiddish. There are some really unusual selections if you take a little time to browse! I'm partial to the Assyrian names, although they only have a handful.

They have a section of names from literary origins too, which makes me laugh. Who would name their kid Aragorn or Aramis? :Shrug:

Birol · Mar 17, 2008

You'd be surprised.

Matera the Mad · Mar 17, 2008

I sometimes use name generators that allow one to select what syllables and how many are used and toss in a few other variables. One of the most flexible is izQuickName. You can create your own sets of name parts and rules, plain text files with the extensions .nam and rul -- a little complicated-looking at first, but it generates a higher percentage of potentially usable names than most. It's at least something potentially useful to waste time on

Toothpaste · Mar 17, 2008

Whenever I'm stumped, I like to look at my bookshelves and choose an author, usually two different ones to make up a new name. Also a really good source is the junk mail folder in your email. Some of those names are wicked! Wicked? Okay. Wicked.

Cassiopeia · Mar 17, 2008

Here's a site you might find helpful in naming your characters. Names

My personal advice--don't make them so hard to read or pronounce that a person gets stuck trying to figure out what the name actually sounds like. Cos yeah, I'm like that, I do that and it pulls me right out of the story and I will put the book down and never read another one by that author again.

I am THAT annoyed with odd looking and sounding names.

Selcaby · Mar 17, 2008

I've got plans for a novel (which won't get written until I've finished my current one) which could take place either in the present or the far future - I haven't decided yet. The names I have so far are a hodgepodge. Some are ordinary names, some are anagrams or acronyms, and some are nicknames (colours, animals, or whatever suits the character - I'd love to call a character "Everton Mint" but I haven't got a story to put him in as yet). I like to free-associate until I get something whose origin will be utterly obscure to everybody else. And I like to use words from other languages as names. (I've just been reading Terry Pratchett's Night Watch which contains a murderer called Carcer, which is Latin for "jail". And I'd love to know how he thinks of his other unusual names.)

Shweta · Mar 17, 2008

blueobsidian said:
They have a section of names from literary origins too, which makes me laugh. Who would name their kid Aragorn or Aramis?

Back in 1976 or so, there was a Bollywood movie (& theme song) called Anamika. It was a big hit.

Around 1977-8, there were a lot of Indian girl babies named Anamika.

I suspect their parents were not Hindi speakers, since the word means "nameless". I'm not sure Aragorn gets to be sillier than that!

Selcaby said:
I've got plans for a novel (which won't get written until I've finished my current one) which could take place either in the present or the far future - I haven't decided yet. The names I have so far are a hodgepodge.

I love hodgepodges for far future! It's a great way to imply cultural mixing and change.

One example I like a lot is from the Barrayar books -- the names give clues abut the worlds' cultural histories, but don't tell you everything about their current culture. So House Bharaputra is not Really Indian, for example, and one gets the sense of cultural change having happened.

Matera the Mad · Mar 17, 2008

Ratzaroni! I just realized that the link I posted above to izQuickName is not for the Windows version that I have, it is for Pocket PC.

I can't find the old one but if I do...

Nalani Ashmore · Mar 18, 2008

Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions. Sadly I can't use the telephone book from Crossett since everybody knows everybody here and the names are too common for me to use. I could always use the name Orangello(O ron gel o) and yes I did spell that right and this person does exist here in Crossett. He also has a brother name Yellonjello(Yeh lon gel o). I thin their mom was on something when she named them.

Anyway, I will go to the links you've suggested and if you all have any more it would be very helpful.

Aggy B. · Mar 18, 2008

I like to make up names by taking descriptive words (tailor, black, etc) and dumping them into something like Babelfish and looking at what turns up in other languages. Usually the results need a bit of playing with, but I find this is especially helpful when generating "fantasy" names.

The trick (as mentioned by previous posters) is to try and find a name that sounds like it fits culturally. And, while I am fond of using the occasional apostrophe in fantasy names, it's best to remember that kind of punctuation abuse is best done sparingly.

Craig Gosse · Mar 18, 2008

giusti said:
Also beware of temp names. If you call a character something for long enough, that will eventually become that character's name in your mind, no matter what you end up trying to change it to. If you start calling your character one thing or another, be sure that you would be alright calling that character that name for the rest of the manuscript.

-giusti

...then BestFriend said to SpuriousLoveInterest, 'Say, is it just me, or are MainCharacter and MC'STrueLove spending an awful lot of time together...?"

Read '[FONT=Verdana, Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans serif][FONT=Verdana, Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans serif]Sir Apropos of Nothing', [/FONT][/FONT]by Peter David. No, really; I'm serious. If you've ever wanted to...

(*Spoiler*)

...find out what would happen if a secondary charatcer realized he *was* a secondary character, then rad this, and the following novels. It's, wel... 'fun', 'informative', and 'educational', all at the smae time.

I mean - what are the odds...!?

Oasilhael · Mar 18, 2008

My names usually have a dual purpose; they have to sound good and they have to be meaningful as well. For example, the main character in my working novel is named after a humanist philosopher who I greatly admire and have read many a dissertation from. The catch is, I renamed this character by changing only one letter from the philosopher's name, so my more enlightened reader will understand the hidden reference.

It also helps to have your characters exhibit many qualities that apply to the person you're naming them after. My protagonist fits this very well.

Names

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