Support for Indie Authors discussion

How much thought do you put into naming characters?
(i.e. maybe the literal meanings of the characters' names represent something about their nature that you're trying to convey, or you're fond of references or homages that only certain readers will catch). Is it important to you to get a character named just right?

I wish I could say I had some deep method but "Eh, that sounds about right" is (in most cases) my go-to strategy.

Oh, good god, so much thought. I probably overthink it. But it's fun! Meaning is important, I always look at meaning for major characters, but for me it's more about getting the tone of the place and time exactly right. I look at a LOT of baby name historical statistics to pick names that are culturally, regionally, class- and decade-appropriate.

The main storyverse I've been writing in for a couple of years spans several post-immigrant generations of a family from a culture that has a pretty strong namesake tradition, so I'm pretty intentional about when and where I reuse names, and a lot of times use nicknames or Americanizations to distinguish between characters (Henriks/Henry, Anna/Annie).

With American names, when I run out I used coworkers last names. With foreign names, like Russian, I pull up Russian male surnames on the net, or female. Last names in Russia are gender specific. I try not to use famous surname, for instance, like Putin, or Gorbachev. The male name Tkachenko appealed to me, so I used it.

Not just characters, but I put a lot of thought into naming everything from towns to products to businesses. Everything I write is a stand-alone story, but by mentioning the names of chain stores (Stor*Mart, The Dooby Doo, Red Sky Station, etc.) I'm able to build the world in which my characters live.

Character names are important, too. Sometimes I go with a name that gives some hint as to the kind of person the character is or the part they play in the world. Once or twice I've given characters odd names to indicate the mental state of their parents. For the younger kids in my work in progress, I named most of them after my dogs.

Possibly the funnest name was also in my work in progress. There is a Vietnamese refugee in the story and I asked my wife to ask the ladies in her nail salon to come up with the name. From what I hear, they were excited about it and had a good time with it.

I used to put way too much thought into name meanings, but now I typically choose names based on what would have been popular at the time of their birth (for real world characters) or I have fun with creating names that fit within the made up world I'm writing in. Some names are punny (an incubus named Fa'bey-o, for instance), and at times they are seridipitously meaningful (character I casually named Donna ends up being in the virgin mother role, allowing me to make her full name Madonna). And occasionally I'll name them after people I know, including one character I named after our good friend Dwayne here (or at least after the title he had back when he was a mod).

Most of my main characters have names with some meaning. Some obvious, some more subtle. I tend to do a lot of investigation with names that are important. I'm not always keeping the original form though. Especially with old characters, names related to myths, legends etc.

Occasionally, I pay homage to people or characters as well. These may not be obvious and only a few will spot them.

I think it's important that character names stick in the reader's mind, and help the reader keep the characters separate. That's why my baddies tend to have relatively harsh sounds to their names like Keller, Kelso and Garrett. The solid professional space fleet types have short, sensible names like Wright and Spence. The delightful, if somewhat adventurous lady who is the chief spaceship designer (59, brings three dogs to the office, makes jam, does her own test flying) is Heloise. It's not quite real life, but it does make things easier for the readers.

I actually start with my characters having a symbol and wait until something in the story gives me a name.

Naming places is a bit different. If it's a modern thriller have no choice but to use the proper names of places. In fantasy stuff I generally chose a mythology or underlying language and do place names and other suchlike based on that...

Jane wrote: "I actually start with my characters having a symbol and wait until something in the story gives me a name.

Naming places is a bit different. If it's a modern thriller have no choice but to use th..."

I sometimes get place names by translating into a classical language, for example I have Astropolis (Star City in Greek). I also assume that humans bring place names from Earth to colonised planet.

Michael wrote: "I'm currently working on a near-future sci-fi series, so I put a lot of thoughts into names. I want them to sound familiar, but be completely unique to anything currently known. That way they appea..."

I've got to confess that I've used a more trivial random method. This list of planets:

Yanisse, Wateni, Kammim, Loskethel and Nengon

was constructed by shutting my eyes, tapping randomly on the keyboard, and editing until they could all be pronounced.

R. wrote: "... I've got to confess that I've used a more trivial random method. This list of planets:

Yanisse, Wateni, Kammim, Loskethel and Nengon

was constructed by shutting my eyes, tapping randomly on the keyboard, and editing until they could all be pronounced..."

That's both hilarious and awesome, R! (And probably more efficient in the long run than wading through 100s of names like I've done in the past.) :->

Depends on the book: how serious it is, whether it's making some kind of serious or joking commentary, the tone of the book, what time frame the book is set in, etc.

If I'm writing in more of a real-world kind of setting I just grab names out of my head, and then adjust them later if need be. And I do tend to come up with too many English sounding names because I'm a bit of an anglophile and love all the silly names in P.G. Wodehouse books (which means I end up altering a lot of names).

I try not to overthink it and err on the side of short user-friendly names because they don't get in the way of the read.

I especially try not to make the names too exotic even when--extra-especially when--the books are set in exotic settings because that becomes very self-conscious and obvious to readers. Sci-Fi stories where all the race names and character names are filled to the brim with hyphens, apostrophes, double and triple consonants, loads of X's and Z's ... just looks really forced. (Exceptions may apply.)

Whereas if you have a character who's a blue bug-eyed alien with 116 legs, three of which end in wheels and the rest in scythes, who has the personality of Kanye West mixed with Gilbert Godfrey and you call them Peter P. Peterson ... well, contrast, you know? No? Just me?

I'm working on a kind of pan-dimensional pseudo-detective story right now where the MC comes from a dimension in which North America is predominately African of descent. South America was colonized by North African cultures, while the eastern United States was colonized by the English but a slave revolt early in its history gave control to former Central and South African slaves.

I didn't think much about it when I came up with the idea but now find that I've got to alter a bunch of city names ... Los Angeles has no right using a Spanish name, so I've had to try and blend indigenous names with North African Berber names. Basically anything West of the Mississippi has to drop the Spanish influence.

Wrote myself into a corner there!

One of the catches I have had for foreign names I seem to end up with prominent names. Thus I have a "Natasha Kotchekova" and a General Timoshenko. Leaving aside the General, both those names became prominent after I published. Complete accident.

Micah wrote: "I especially try not to make the names too exotic even when--extra-especially when--the books are set in exotic settings because that becomes very self-conscious and obvious to readers..."

I constantly use and get a tremendous amount out of The Art of Language Construction by David Peterson, on this front. Not just names, obviously, but more generally creating constructed language that looks and feels on the page like it could be a real language that real people actually speak.

Somehow I seem to come up with the main character already with a name and build the rest of the book around them. I'm not much into odd names so I have a Jillian, Abilene, Montana, Nevada, Mariah, Rachel, Savannah, Kathleen (Kate), Wade, Thomas, Steve, Phil, Paul, Clive, Niels, Ed, etc. Like others, I'll use the names of people I have met with certain characteristics (or ones I wish they had...lol). I'm getting ready to do a Fantasy type book which will be using names from the realms of the Gods. I will check out baby names if I get stuck on a name, especially if I'm looking for an ethnic name such as Scottish, Italian, Greek, French, etc.

I don't quite do the hit-keybaoard-and-make-it-pronounceable strategy (good for you, R!), but I don't scour baby names, either. I tend to pick sounds and letters I like together (or a mixmash of common names, names that are almost familiar like Honna or Bynni or Jhessi).

I guess I'm closer to the "Eh, that sounds about right," like Chris.

Lesro was the hardest name to come up with. Nothing else fit his character.

B.A. wrote: "I'm not much into odd names so I have a Jillian, Abilene, Montana, Nevada, Mariah, Rachel, Savannah, Kathleen (Kate), Wade, Thomas, Steve, Phil, Paul, Clive, Niels, Ed, etc..."

Which are all pretty much biblical, Anglo, European, or American style names. I think it's easy to fall into that and I'm not criticizing you (I don't know what genre or time period you're writing about) but--for example--when I look around me at work I see a lot of other names which aren't "odd" really, but aren't typical European names: Aura, Toniae, Nila, Roopesh, Kosal, Fay (a man's name), Adnan, Padma, Wasim ... along with all the Steves and Roberts and Carlas and Scotts and Brians, etc.

I think it's good for us to be aware of the names we use and try to make them appropriate to the "reality" presented in our books. If I'm writing about a small town in 19th century Wisconsin then there's a more limited set of names which are appropriate. If, however, I'm writing about suburban Washington DC in the 1990s, well, that's a whole different thing.

Hey everyone, this has strayed away from sharing our own personal methods and into telling others what they should or shouldn't do. Let's stick to personal anecdotes, please.

Sometimes it seems a name just pop into my head like it was meant to be. Other times, I sweat over a name for hours or days. I do Google baby names and surnames of particular ethnicities when I need one; I find it useful to peruse a list of names and see what jumps out at me. I also keep a spreadsheet of names I've used and in what book so I don't find myself repeating. It's helped on many occasions.

Oh, I'm really tragic;
I do have names given to me by my characters sometimes, but even then I run them through a checker.

If you look up the meaning of at least my main character's names you will discover a big clue as to their role in the story. :-)
It's a thing I do.

Also; author me's initials are TLC. You will find this or the full 'tender loving care' version in every one of my books ;-)

I have to find little ways to amuse myself!?

For minor characters, I use pretty much the first name that pops into my head. But I've also named characters after my mother (who insisted I write the story), my cats, my closest friend, and a supportive coworker. I keep lists of names I like. Sometimes I go through names and their meanings on the internet. For places, something usually comes to me. I also had to come up with song titles in my book trilogy. That took some cogitating.

I plan names out.

For important characters I make sure to not use the same letter to start a name as another main character, and try to make them all look and feel different when read. I want them all to be unique names that don't rhyme or anything.

Some have meanings, some don't. Some are thought out, some just happened. Some are revised five times, some have never changed.

I 'try' to choose names according on the origins of my characters, their nationalities and year of birth. Aside from my protagonist whom I wanted to have a name formed with his alien initials, the rest were pretty much straight forward.

LX's people for instance don't have the vowel 'o' sound so I have to avoid it. I believe Zhendar, Emmika, Kheldarren, Zacheeri, Tash, and Keesha are distinct enough though, and (I hope) easy to remember and pronounce.

The Daxons are dog shifters from a planet called Dax. They got their name from my dogs, which are Dachshunds. My hubby bugged me to find a way to insert them in my story, so I did. :P Their names always have three letters only. So yeah, they might be a bit harder to keep track of. In the prequel I have Lop, her father Pop, and her two brothers Pol and Lol.

Once a character gets a name, it rarely changes, but it happened with the Daxons. For instance, in a sequel, one of my Daxons, Lun, has a daughter, Dih, and a son, Wil. I had called him Ril, but then realized that Lun couldn't pronounce the letter 'R' so the name had to change.

(If you read all the way through to here, I hope you didn't fall asleep. :P But just in case *snaps fingers*. There...all awaken now. :P )

Am I the only one who uses name generators? I am just horrible at coming up with names for everything.

I recently did a whole feature on my blog about naming characters (I think I may have even put it on my GR blog, if anyone's interested), and the basic gist from where I sit is that, first and foremost, I need names to sound natural when spoken aloud. That's king for me.

Beyond that, for main and major characters, I like for the name to also say something about the character. The more important the character, the more depth I'll give their name. Meaning that, for smaller, more side characters, I tend to just think up sort of random names that I think would fit their character type.

This is something I spent a lot of time agonizing over. The right names can speak to you. I thought about one of my favorite books and how difficult it was for me as a youth when two of the major antagonists had similar sounding names, Sauron, and Saruman. Both names started with an S and ended with and N, like my name, Steven, but no one ever confused Sauron and Steven. These two names were too much alike for my young mind. Because of this, I spent a long time looking at the character names in my book.

I broke up the names by alphabet for the first letter and made sure that no two important characters used the same letter. I even changed some names only weeks before I published. Apart from that I didn't spend any time on meanings behind their names. When I was named my parents had no idea what I would become. Why should characters in books be any different?

But locations and towns I named very carefully. The name of a town often has something to do with the physical environment of that town. A name begins as a descriptive tool used to help someone understand what area you were talking about. For instance, I have a fishing village called Hooksett. I have a western seaport called Westmost and a city where all of the roofs are made from red clay named Red Helm.

I tend to split it; sometimes I spend way too long agonizing over a "special" sort of character name that has some deeper meaning that's relevant to the character or story, other times the most generic possible name just pops into my head as I'm coming up with the character and ends up sticking because I just start associating the name with the character. It's hard for me to put naming a character on hold because of that.
For the more "meaning" oriented character names there's a couple websites I like to visit that gives the meaning and cultural origins behind first and last names (and Scrivener has a name generator that you can use to generate names at random, or look up by nationality/meaning, which I never remember to use for some reason.)

For non-ordinary names, like for non-human characters and the like, I either find some obscure word from really old or dead languages, or I'll literally just slam syllables together until I have a name that seems sufficiently "fantasy." For example, I have a character named Tomordred. I think it started off in my head as "Tomo" and then eventually "Tomor" and I decided that didn't sound evil enough so I just added "Dred" to the end because it sounds like "Dread."

I generally try to avoid having major characters whose names start with the same letter if I can help it. But sometimes I just do it anyways, as long as both names are different enough. I also try not to reuse names from one story in another because then I just get confused, since I already associate the name with a different character.

For place names a lot of the time I'll look up what region the place is set in and look at what other cities nearby are named, and try to come up with a fitting name that's unique-ish, but sounds ordinary enough that it could be a legitimate town name.

I've hit the same problem with initials. I once wrote a chapter in which Annette and Alison were arguing and it got very confusing. I changed Alison to Moira.

I once heard a talk by (IIRC) Billy Connolly in which he explained how the sharp, plosive sounds like B and P sound more aggressive, and the z sound is vaguely threatening. He then shouted "You Bazzer!", a word he had made up, and everyone got the intention, even though they had no idea what the word meant.

That's why I have villains called Kelso and Garrett.

I've also raided classical languages. Astropolis, roughly "Star City" in greek is the capital city of a multi-planet confederation, psychothyresis (mind gateway) is direct computer to brain hookup and so on.

My main characters are usually born with names. Minor characters might not, so I either pick the first name that comes to mind or use baby name books. My friends find it hilarious that I own baby name books when I have no plans to start a family... The books are also where I check for the name's background, in case it's completely incorrect for the character or setting.
Last names I either google or pick from the phone book if the story is set in Ireland.