Character Names

...Can you guys help me pick some character names for a future slash story? .

I dunno if that's what this thread is for, but I haven't found any other character name threads.

Nevermind; I was finally able to pick something.

Usually I pick a name based on how I feel fits a character. Or if something about the name reminds me of something that could possible remind me of my character (eh? XD). I do plan on putting more meaning behind my characters' names in the future though.

In Peter from my story, Mirrors from Afar, I actually picked without putting much thought into it, but then I kept thinking 'Peter Rabbit' every time I wrote or thought of his name. I actually really like that fact now, and even though it wasn't intentional, I think it really fits him =D.

Sometimes, a character's name will be floating in my head before I can match it up to a story. If that doesn't happen, I go on babynames.com and use the advanced search option for names that describe the person I'm looking for.

I also go on modelmayhem.com and find the face before the name sometimes. That always helps me find one in accordance with their ethnicity.

If I absolutely cannot find a name, I use a random name generator (I did that for Kaelee Trine, and she's my favorite character right now).

Oftentimes, a name will come to me. Just like that.

I'll be sitting and thinking about a new story idea and then all of a sudden a name will pop into my head, and it always seems so perfect that there's no way I can choose another. So it's the name I will go with for that particular story I had in mind.

I also have a list of girls names I like that are saved to my computer, but rarely do I ever look at that anymore.

haha i google baby names and click through their lists :)

Sometimes I just know what I want to name them, or I use a baby names website XD

Or, even resort to asking people names

It can be a long, long process sometimes.

I usually hear or read them somewhere. Sometimes I pick the characters for the names XD For example, I read an exerpt from The Werewolf by Clemence Housman and there was a character named Sweyn. I actually spent nearly a half an hour trying to find out what nationality the name was so I could have a character with that name.
I sometimes name my characters after famous composers, ex. Johann Kane (Johann Sebastien Bach), Bratsche Brahms (Johannes Brahms), Dmitriyevich something Russian (Dmitriyevich Shostakovitch), etc...

I think the stupidest names I picked, not for the names but for the situation, were Gabriel and William. They hook up. And they're original characters -.-' (Gabilliam reference, BTWay...)

Choosing names sometimes annoy me. When I was roleplaying, I had to just pluck a name straight out of nowhere as fast as I could to get my character profile done but most of those characters have stayed with me in some way. I re-use names a lot, usually the ones I've had for RP's.

And if there's just a person who has a passing mention or is just going to be there for a chapter or two, I give them pretty generic names. Thomas Schulz is a new one. I don't like overly grand names.

Right now I'm really into Scandinavian surnames. Probably because I've been reading the Millenium trilogy and everything's set in Sweden. Names like Sorensen, Larsen, Nielsen... I can't stop using them!

I've recently started using YA Character Generator, since it creates the appearance, personlity, and first names, and then using The Name Generator options to find a last name.

I went to the bookstore and got a character naming book. I flip through it randomly, and if the name looks proper (if it isn't a wacky spelling, like Llwyrddyddwg, or if it is easily pronounced), I'll use it. Then, I'll flip through to find origins, and choose one of the surnames it lists, or I'll go to "Additional Names" under "English" to find a last name.

For my new story (still under construction) I'm using my most recent nickname, Letty. It's a name I think is really pretty, and I'm yet to properly assume it with me, and I think it would suit the character I'm trying to portray. Usually I don't name characters though.

There's a lot of names that I like so I usually just use those. I string different names together 'til I find one that fits the character. If I can't think up a name, then I look online.

I'll find an image of how I perceive my character to appear first and foremost, and everything follows after that image, I'll look at the picture and ask myself what kind of a person I'm looking at, what are his/her hopes and dreams and fears? How does he/she respond to situations? And once I've created the personality that I see reflected in the picture, I'll ask myself what type of a name that character would want or approve of, and then I ask myself weather the character has a name that he/she actually doesn't like at all. A lot of times I'll rely on websites that have the meanings of names and chose a name whose meaning is relevant to his/her personality.

I guess at the end of it all, my method works something like this: "She looks like a Sally, I'll name her Sally."

I find that naming my characters is pretty easy. It just sort of... comes to me. Usually it's because I get the characters before I get any kind of plot and they've normally got names attached to them. But if I can't think of a name, I'll look through a few naming websites, find a few that I like and try using them for the character. I try to avoid names with meanings that describe my character's personality, though, because I find that a bit cringey.

I like uncommon names, but rarely ones that'll make you think twice. They're just the ones you don't see often.

Sometimes I think of names I like and make up a character to match it, and sometimes I have a character, pick a letter of the alphabet, and look at naming sites and settle on one that feels right.

When I create a character, the name should come naturally to me. If I can't think of one on my own, I let it sit for a few days and then something will pop into my head that sounds perfect. Or if that doesn't work, I'll draw the character and write out all of their traits and quirks next to the drawing, and then at that point normally a name will surface. Like with Johnny Cool of Generation Why Bother (which I keep talking about and haven't written yet). He looks like a rockabilly cartoon dude and I wanted to give him a name that suited him like that.

In the same story, though, the main character's name is Oshie Olayos - he was named after the singer for a band (City Lights, to be specific) that inspired a lot of the music that the story is centered around. His best friend Tegan is unintentionally named after Tegan Quin, although I kinda hate how that came about...I remember I was in the shower one time and I had come up with the perfect name for her, and Tegan was kind of a backup name, since I didn't really want to name her after Tegan Quin because the character is a lesbian and I thought it'd be really cliche to have her named that...but alas, that's life.

Also, every character with the exception of Joshua Olayos and Johnny Cool in Generation Why Bother has the first letters of their first and last names matching...that was an accident at first, then it became intentional. The same thing happened with all of the kids in Bus who ride Doug's bus, minus Craig and Michelle Song.

I'm all over the place when it comes to naming characters. Sometimes I'll choose a name that fits the character's role in a story. For example, I named one of my female characters Shiloh because the meaning of the name is "his gift" and that's the role she played.

Other times it has to do with matching a name to the character's heritage or if there's a certain nickname I want to use I'll try to find a name that best correlates. Most of the time a name will just pop into my head as I'm writing and that's usually a good enough reason for me.

I try and pick the first name that comes to mind. I like unusual, but only so unusual that it isn't the first name that would come to mind when writing a story. I have a story on here with a character called Dahlia, and it only registered in my mind that it was a kind of flower later on. I also have a character called Anna, which is a regular enough name but suits her perfectly.

I'm in the process of writing a story with three girls as the main characters. Their names are Maria, Sal, and Alexi. The names don't show their personality (a name shouldn't do that, it should naturally suit a character) but more reflect the family they live in and the way they're raised. For example, it's never said but Alexi probably has foreign descendants as family. Sal might have more relaxed parents who imagined their daughter to be a tomboyish character. That's how I pick names.

Names usually jump out at me while I'm putting together my characters profiles. If they don't then I either look online at the baby sites or I choose names that I don't hear often where I live. Surnames usually come from acquaintances or random people that I've heard being talked about. I try to choose ones that fit the characters nationality too. No matter where they live their names should reflect where the family comes from. That's just me though.

Admittedly, I am not a person that puts a ton of thought into character names. When a character pops into my mind, the name generally comes in a neat little package with the physical appearance and style because I tend to come up with characters in the same fashion that I would meet someone in my day-to-day life.

I don't do the whole baby names site thing (I think I did it once for a minor character referenced in a Hunger Games oneshot I'm working on because I needed a name related to herbs, trees, or other plants) because I kinda think it's bullshit. If you're picking a name from a site, a lot of the time you're not aware of if that name was used at the time the character was born, if it was a regionally popular name, what have you, and a lot of the time, I've seen where people go through the baby names sites and try to match the meaning of the name to a quality or trait that the character is supposed to have, and that just doesn't seem realistic to me. Individuals are a clean slate when they're born, they don't have the personality formed yet to match a name meaning to, parents just give their kids names that they like. A lot of names don't even have these in-depth meanings. I know my first name is just lumped under "Jane" which means "God is gracious."

Most of my character names come from people around me because I feel like that's a little more authentic. Though a lot of times I do use my close friends' names, sometimes it's just because I liked that name and not because the character is based on that person. I also use names of people I've had classes with, casual acquaintances, friends of friends, that sort of deal. There's also a soap opera that my mom is obsessed with that has a lot of great names that are unique/uncommon, but not necessarily strange, so I've stolen names from there before as well. I've also stolen a couple names from trashy daytime television shows like Maury, The Bill Cunningham Show, and The Jeremy Kyle show