That's my name...

[Reyn]

Finding good names for characters (both main and supporting) can be extremely difficult. Sometimes a name will come with the character concept, but other times it's extremely difficult to find a name that 'fits' your character.

So how do you do it? What strategies do you employ to name your characters? Where do you find your names? Is it frustrating for you when you have a perfect character fleshed out, but you are missing that all-important name? Or are names not important at all?

Discuss away!

For me, I often use the phone book and street directory (for those more exotic surnames). Glancing at the names of the crew at the end of a tv show/movie is also helpful.

I take great care in selecting names that mean something, and are appropriate for the character. To me, names are definitely important, and they need to 'match' the character they belong to. I remember taking 2 weeks to decide what Madame Executive's real name would be.

[Dark Witch.]

Well, for me, I do try to think of more exotic names than your average Jane, Joe concept. For Nick in Seer, I used his name as one that I liked at the moment, and Ember was a girl at my school. I try to be as unique as possible. Which is why I am using a name that people don't normally use in.

[Astral Martin]

Sometimes, I just look up baby name, more specifically, names that start with P. But I also use movies and TV as well.

[Marshmallow]

It's meaning is only of tertiary importance. The heritage is by far more important. I wouldn't call an aristocrate Robert Stone, or a French Hishikawa Yatsumi.
Names shouldn't be too unique, unless there's solid reason for it. I mean calling an average teenie Theodorius Abundiantus Apparitor? C'mon.

[du1387]

Usually, when I'm working on a character, I usually just go look up common first and last names and try to find one that I think might suit the character unless I absolutely have a reason for it to be an unusual name.

[epiphony]

Aug 4, 2008 21:43:49 GMT Marshmallow said:

It's meaning is only of tertiary importance. The heritage is by far more important. I wouldn't call an aristocrate Robert Stone, or a French Hishikawa Yatsumi.
Names shouldn't be too unique, unless there's solid reason for it. I mean calling an average teenie Theodorius Abundiantus Apparitor? C'mon.

Hey! That's what I was gonna call my kid

Haha, nah but I do agree. Names shouldn't be too unique unless they're from some different planet or a different world or something. I usually stick to normal names like Jamie, Drake and Laura and stuff when I create characters.

[Deleted]

I just hope fanfic writers don't choose names the way latter Charmed did when it was based on Episode Titles: "PAIGE from the Past", "CHRIS-Crossed", "Kill BILLIE, Vol 1 & 2" and "The Last Temptation of CHRISTY" coming immediately to mind.

I remember all the Chris-fans thinking that Christy's name was a slap in the face at them. They wanted The Charmed Sons as the spinoff rather than Billie, The Teen-Aged Witch (thank God we got neither!). But I'm certain that that title was the reason for Christy's name.

[Reyn]

Off topic, but Charmed had some of the worst episode titles ever. I don't mind witty puns, but simply inserting a character's name into a pop-culture reference to which the episode belongs is lazy and insulting. Once, I could forgive - but the amount of times it happened on Charmed? Not a chance. Payndz had it right.

Payndz Harmed

But back to topic

I sometimes have trouble naming supporting characters, because I like to stay away from naming characters with the same names as people I know. And since most of the names that pop into my head are names of friends or family, it becomes difficult. That's why I love the internet name generators - they are fantastic.

Random Name Generator

I think that site is useful, although some of the names it generates are rather humorous. I once was given a suggestion of "Conkle Ring" for a name. Needless to say, there won't be any "Conkle's" appearing in my writings.

[Deleted]

Oh, I ABSOLUTELY ADORE Paydnz's stuff! It's some of the funniest Charmed drawings I've ever seen. And when he joins forces with Teshik, there is some major rib-tickling going on!

Awhile back, they came up with an interactive game called 'Harmed with Teshik writing it and Paydnz drawing it, and it's the best Charmed game I've ever played. Doubt you can get a hold of it any more...that came out about the time the show ended, but, OH, it was great!

I also apologize for going off-topic, but...

Back to the topic...Thanks for the link to the Random Name Generator, Reyn..that's great.

We were talking Mary Sues in a different thread. Well, I once read a thread where you can come up with your own soap-opera name by using the name of your first childhood pet as your first name and the street where you lived (unless it's a number, then you use the cross-street) as the last. So in one of my fics, when I on purpose had a Mary Sue-type character (who came to a dreadful end), I named her Smokey Dunlap! Try it! It's funny and just might give you a good character name!

[Destined One]

Sometimes what I do is look in a magazine or on the telly and see what characters or people are called there. And if I like it, I sometimes come up with characters from that. Because people on the telly or in magazines have interesting names to use. Like I got an idea for a name from a film. The Mummy, where my character is called Evelyn Chasity. < Original but good.

[epiphony]

Do you guys ever base some of your characters on real life friends or anything?

I get a lot of my names from real life, well, recently I do.

[Nerf]

I suck at coming up with names for characters. So if you need help with that, do not come to me. I may just have to use that name generator you gave the link for, Reyn.

As for basing characters on real life friends? Nope. Don't think I ever have. Two other friends and I did once make a story where the names of the three main characters were our own names. Man, that could be weird to talk about. "So I'm going to quit my job? Well, I mean my character?" We would frequently say it like we were them. Which in a way we were, since our personalities were sort of like theirs. ... So weird.

[epiphony]

Haha, that sounds pretty fun.

I used to write little fairy tales for some of girl friends, using their names, boyfriends names etc. It was pretty funny, they seemed to think so. I might post a few actually. I don't know if I would use real names in say... a fan-fiction or anything. I think I would draw from that person too much if I did.

[Reyn]

I sometimes use the real names of people I know that I dislike, but only when I'm naming a random innocent who's about to be mauled/tortured/killed by my demon of the week. Anyone who's ever met a horrible end in my episodes has always been named after someone I really don't like. Petty, but fun

I have a rule that I don't use names of people I know for supporting/major characters, because invariably the personality of the person I know becomes infused with the personality of the character I'm writing, and I like to have 'clean' characters.

[Mr Stranger]

I just pick a name that:

a) Doesn't Suck
b) Is memorable
c) Isn't littered with oddly placed vowels and consonants
d) Follows points a-c

There you have it. Follow this guideline and you will never have a bad character name. It's worked for me so far.

[LadyDisdain - Liane]

I always take AGES to pick my characters names. With the Charmed One's children, I tried to follow the family and p-theme, and each name has a backstory as to why it was picked. I also considered how the names would fit with the parents - would Phoebe really call her child Prometheus? That sort of thing.

With other characters, the names are a little easier. I like to look at name meanings and this is how I get many of my supporting characters names. I also name my characters after friends and family, for example my character Ceri Halford was named after my friend Sophie, and my english teacher Ceri.

I also like to think about how their names fit with relatives and last names.