How do we come up with names for fictional characters?

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lyndsie_anna
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Re: How do we come up with names for fictional characters?

Post by lyndsie_anna »

Generally, I like to write the first drafts of a story without names. Through the course of the story the character kind of…tells me their name. But at the same time, I think it's almost more alluring (depending on the story) to leave the protagonist or narrator nameless, because by the end the reader assumes they had known the name all along, only to go back through and see that there was never a name.

In the event that I DO choose a name though, I tend to begin with names that I like aesthetically, and narrow it by choosing a name that I feel most expresses the personality or culture of the character.
I've also heard of writers doing their rough drafts with the names of people in their lives that the characters are based upon, and then changing the names before publication.
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PaperCuttingLunatic
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Post by PaperCuttingLunatic »

I try to find names that fit in terms of time-period and the character's origin/roots/ culture and then pick something I think fits. I'm not a fan of people giving all their character's names with specific meanings that go well with their character because I think it's over the top and doesn't make a lot of sense or that end up writing about a group of regular yet oddly perfect teens who happen to all be named after fantasy cities and wild chains of random syllables.
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Post by Bibliophile97 »

It's horrible coming up with names, absolutely horrible. Course, I'm not that good with naming things in the first place, so that transferred over to the realm of writing. I usually just pick names from friends and family or historically important people, though I always feel like if I do that then I have put some aspect of their personality into the character.
I hate naming things.
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Post by deanfromaustralia »

I often come up with names that sound attractive to me. With both of my novels, some of the characters simply had single names - like surnames - until the novels were ready for publication. Refining the names happened at the very end.
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JaneAustenfan
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Post by JaneAustenfan »

tbughi1 wrote:I try to keep my names different. I scroll down the alphabet, picking a name for each new character introduced that doesn't start with the same letter as another name or even sound similar to another name. I don't want my reader to be introduced to Mike and then a couple pages later meet a Matt. There's more to this process obviously, but that's step #1
I agree with this. This is exactly what I do. It's so important to the reader to have a clear idea of the characters and be able to keep them separate. I try to avoid having any names with the same initials or even that rhyme. I was a bit disappointed though, when I sent the outline of my proposed first novel to my tutor on a writing course and he disliked my main protagonist's name. She was to have been called Darcy, but I ended up changing it to Helen. :(
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ZombieReader
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Post by ZombieReader »

I pick names I like from my past and "ask" my characters what they think.
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Post by Sammy_Nicks16 »

I like to look up words that describe my characters in other languages. If I like how it sounds, I usually tweak it a bit and make it their last name. Sometimes I give characters with deceiving parts more common names. Nobody suspects a Matt when a Mevolent is standing there.
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Post by Sketched_Out »

I find it difficult to think of names for characters
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Shellby85
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Post by Shellby85 »

I usually see the character in my head then pick a name that suits that person. I also use baby name books and a name generator to giveme ideas too
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Post by yalonde »

I love names. When a writer uses names that i think are beautiful or unique, it grabs my attention as a reader. J.k. rowling did an excellent job with her name choices. I loved her books, but the names kept my attention.
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Post by Yukiora 24 »

Sometimes I make them up
Sonetimes I look through a baby name book
I sometimes search google based on their personality
In most cases in my writing the name is the last thing to come.
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WriterBLAlley
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Post by WriterBLAlley »

I look at lists of names until something jumps put. If the character is a particular ethnicity, then I list names within that group, if it's important to the character to establish their heritage.
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avatarofrozein
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Post by avatarofrozein »

For modern stories I usually decide their ethnicity then look on baby name sites for names in that general ethnicity. If nothing in that category jumps out at me then I resort to going letter by letter. For high fantasy setting I just start mashing letters together. I also try to keep in mind the time period of my stories s the names can be more believable.
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Post by moderntimes »

First of all, DAT, no, authors are not liable if they accidentally use a real person's name. If however the person is real, and both the real and fictional person own a tavern and the tavern in the book is described perfectly, and so on, yeah you'd be possibly looking at an actionable situation. But to use a random name and accidentally use a real name, no. Remember the disclaimer you see in all legal pages, "This is a work of fiction and any resemblance..." etc.

How do I choose names? Okay, in my mystery novels (2 published, 3rd in progress) I am writing a realistic series, and so my characters have very realistic names that don't sound contrived, like "Muggsy Malone" -- satire, yes, but I've created a modern, realistic scene, so the names are realistic as well. That being said, my private detective has a slightly distinctive name that's a bit punchy: Mitchell King, so the stories are "A Mitch King Mystery". A decent rhythm but also very common, just a teeny flair for snappiness.

My other characters have common enough names, picked from all sorts of places -- my fevered brain, random name listings, and first/last names jumbled. Here are a few:

Homicide Captain Joe Duggan (Irish in name only, no brogue or stereotype)
Homicide Sergeant David Meierhoff (incidentally an observant Jew and Mitch's best pal)
Julio Cardozo, aka "Julie Cards", mob boss
FBI Agent Ed Scudder
Texas Ranger Arvis Danforth
Detective Lieutenant Juanita Hertza, Hispanic gang task force commander
Dr. Frank Winger, Harris County forensic pathologist (African-American)
Angel and Ricardo Perez, cousins and mob lieutenants (Angel is pronounced "Anhel")
CSI techs Shawnelle Jensen, Tom Phelps, Bart Deely
and so on... and the novels being set in modern day Houston, I mix the mostly Germanic-root Texan names with Hispanic, Asian, and traditional African-American-style given names.

I do however try to avoid stereotypes. Although Joe Duggan of Homicide has an Irish name, I totally stopped there, no brogue or other Irish references. Likewise, I avoided the common TV-crime stereotype of making all coroners, CSI labrats, and medical examiners Asian. And the same for other backgrounds, such as having a big burly black cop or a smarmy thin Anglo rude cop. Three of my regular-appearing characters are also homosexual, one is an electronics whiz (and Mitch's business partner), one is a CSI tech (both males), and one lesbian is a real estate investor. And occasional characters who come across the stage are of mixed age, race, sexual consideration, and other factors. I've tried to cut a slice through a modern city's population and character names are just the top layer.
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CourtneyRac1
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Post by CourtneyRac1 »

Recently I get mine from watching so much anime. They have tons of names in each anime.
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