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Character Naming?

Yusuke

Yusuke

Artist of Desires
Joined
Apr 14, 2021
Location
United States
I wanted to quickly ask others here, how do you go about naming your main characters? I usually tend to go off whatever is fresh on my mind, usually taking slight inspiration from TV, games, and comics/manga. This sometimes leads to me feeling like my characters have very... dorky names haha

And do you particularly care about a character's name?
 
I usually aim for a normal first name that fits with the characters background. (So if they're German, a German name. If they're American, an American name). Then I add a last name that sounds plausible for their culture, or plausibly represents the presence of a second culture (due to immigration or mixed parents). For English/American names, I usually go by natural features, colors, etc. for last names, usually two of them put together with perhaps one of the two words mangled up to emulate 'linguistic evolution'. Marshland, Greenstone, Riverwind(Kind of sounds fantasy? But I'd like it if it was fantasy story!), etc. Evolved forms might be, Marland, Grestoe, Riewin.

As you can probably tell, I'm decent at making English sounding names, especially last names. If I'm doing a name for a culture I don't know very well, I usually start to google for a good name. Top 100 baby names from X country. I'll usually choose something on those lists that also sounds good to my western biases, then google last names from a given country, mangle them a little to create a unique last name and bam, there's a last name.

If it's fantasy/sci-fi, I can of course just go nuts, hah. I usually use methods similar to the above, but with less restrictions. 'Evolving' names is usually super fun when doing fantasy/sci-fi, even when making first names.

Is it important? Nah, not really, though I do find it fun to come up with a name. I will say though, I don't like characters names that are super convoluted. So I usually stick to names that are shorter and more easy to 'figure out' even if they are unique. Tonkarr, could be example. 2-3 syllables, usually. Nothing wrong with just 1 syllable, it's just limited what you can do with that. 4 syllables is potentially too convoluted, though it can fit well with some cultures or with a lot of simple syllables (Japanese names, for example). 5+ and we're likely to have gone too far.
 
For me, if there is a clear heritage, I almost always sync the first name and the surname to that heritage. Example being if they're an Irish character or Russian or whatever, I'll search for baby names for the given name and then I'll search for surnames of the same background. Sometimes I'll pick a name based on it's meaning, but usually I just pick the name bc I like it. Searching baby names is my go-to for given names. I have spent more time than I care to admit on searching for names.

I do like the name to feel like my character, and if using a picture reference, then I like to have my character look like a ___ whatever name I pick. Like I said, I don't always go by the name meaning, because the sounding of the name matters just as much. I almost always have a full character in mind when I present them, even if we never get that deep with them, they still have a backstory. Where they grew up, unto rich or broke parents, a background that reflects their particular behaviors and outlooks. Even for the more basic characters, I still have some idea of who they are, so I tend to put thought into names.
 
I hate naming characters, locations, and items. Honestly, it is one of my least favorite aspects of character/world building. I'm far too indecisive, and I usually end up "settling", since spending too long stuck on it isn't productive.

I use name generators and baby name lists. I bet Google is confused why I don't have like 10 kids after my search results, lmao.

For fantasy, sometimes I'll take a name and change a few letters.

For modern, I have a light fear I might end up picking a name of someone's ex's or mom's name, so usually I try to lean at least slightly uncommon, but not always.
 
Passion said:
I hate naming characters, locations, and items. Honestly, it is one of my least favorite aspects of character/world building. I'm far too indecisive, and I usually end up "settling", since spending too long stuck on it isn't productive.

I use name generators and baby name lists. I bet Google is confused why I don't have like 10 kids after my search results, lmao.

For fantasy, sometimes I'll take a name and change a few letters.

For modern, I have a light fear I might end up picking a name of someone's ex's or mom's name, so usually I try to lean at least slightly uncommon, but not always.
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You've about summed up my own process xD I'm also worried I'm gonna like pick the least attractive name ever without knowing. Names suck, can I just be Citizen #57538?
 
I can sort of come up with names by mashing syllables together, Fantasy RPs make my life easier as it's :

1)Normal to have absurd-sounding names,

2)Name generators exist.

I have a lot of trouble with last names, in particular American ones which I always worry about because I'd hate to make them "stereotypical" and make a partner go "Huh." and break immersion as a result.

A good source of inspo I found is looking for words related to an OC in different languages and see what sticks. Made some bangers out of that.
 
I usually use one of 3 male names for my male characters.

When I play a female character I liked classic English names.
 
Ohhh, I obsess over making names work. I always think about the meanings of names, both in the context of what they say about the character and how they got the name. If it's normal to keep the name given at birth, what were their parents' motivations? Did they hate the kid or have particular hopes and aspirations? To that end I'll go through baby name lists, I've gone through archive.com to track down a single Dragon Magazine issue because it had words and meanings in draconic, I have two sites that specifically show how to build drow names because there's a thought process to it, and I write down names that I see or hear that sound interesting to look them up later to use for potential characters.

Sometimes I'll do something as simple as look up words translated into other languages and mess with that to turn them into fantasy names, sometimes even by portmanteau with other words in other languages. As long as in the end it "reads as a name."
 
Yusuke said:
Names suck, can I just be Citizen #57538?
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I once did a scene set in a dystopian robot-governed society where I played a girl named CC-1220. An unexpected convenience of the setting.
 
I get very picky with names. I really feel like a need needs to fit the character and as such I can spend a lot of time coming up with one. It becomes worst when I'm making a more fleshed out character in terms of having a backstory and all linked to them, then suddenly the significance of the name becomes more important where I need to have it so in some language the name means something that I feel is significant to the character. This often also shifts to involve their last name as well which then things become much more of a hassle. The name can end up taking me way longer to do then writing up a personality or even a backstory for them depending on how much significance I feel like putting on it.
 
I use Nameberry to help with finding names, though I have a few that are near and dear to my hearts and will reuse some of them across roleplays.
 
I typically think about the characteristics and background of the character and try to name them something that really fits them. Names are always the first thing I do when creating a character. I literally can not start a story until I have fully visualized who my character is.


Where they're from, what personality traits they have, and what they look like are, for the most part, the major deciding factor.
 
A lot of criteria goes into a name. I've done it so often, it feels natural to me, tho when described, it can sound complicated.
Context first and foremost is very important. And by context I mean the setting. Genre, time, place, and then you have to consider what impression does the sound of the name give you?
simple names like Bob, George, or Steve are simple, modern, and to me are names given to very derpy characters or to dad/uncle type characters. It really depends on wether or not you want the name to give away what kind of person the character is, or if you want to mislead the reader a bit.
Naming a character definitely takes some thought and it can either come after everything else in a characters base development or be what the character is based on. I've done both and can say it's fun either way.
 
I use my imagination and Behind the name. I need the name to be realistic to some extent and would rather go conservative than have a Britni in court...
 
I tend to draw from real-world references to things that I associate with the character to hard-sounding names or things that seem to make sense. I can't say I'm too out there though I do like names such as Aphodel for demonic/non-human characters, which isn't particularly drawn from any specific place. Whatever works really, though yes I can't say I'd be a fan of weird spelling just for the sake of it.
 
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If I am drawing blanks (as I often do) I try to look up historical names and just go from there. Whenever I made a Japanese character for Naruto RPs, for example, I'd look up historical Japanese figures.
 
It'd depend on the type of character.
Often, like if I'm writing an OC for some Fandom RP or a character like a vampire or an angel that has some established lore, I'll look at a list of notable ones and try to spot a pattern.

A lot of times for main characters I like to make their names start with "R," because that happens to be the first letter of my own name. Whether or not that character is anything like me doesn't matter, it's just a habit I kept from when I started creative writing years ago.
 
If I'm using an established setting I always try to go for something that is lore friendly. Playing dnd in the forgetting realms setting, you're going to get some obnoxiously silly fantasy last name and such.

Otherwise I try to go with something that semi matches that character based on what they might be or culture they are from
 
I try to let the process of building the character work the name out of it. For example if I'm going with a specific nationality or time period I try to go with something that fits that country or era. My fantasy characters can get a bit wacky at times because I'm trying to be original but sometimes they just get a little crazy. I'm definitely going to have to try some of the methods listed here, very cool thread!
 
Yusuke said:
I wanted to quickly ask others here, how do you go about naming your main characters? I usually tend to go off whatever is fresh on my mind, usually taking slight inspiration from TV, games, and comics/manga. This sometimes leads to me feeling like my characters have very... dorky names haha

And do you particularly care about a character's name?
Click to expand...
I usually use a name generator or whatever name sounds nice or depending on my mood
 
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