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I looking for names for my characters I often go to BabyNames.com for names. I noticed something today that I noticed before but had nearly forgotten about. Tips for Writers
Below is some great things to think about when naming characters.
Character Names - Tips for Writers
There are many literary and movie characters that become everlasting brands in our culture—Atticus Finch, 'Ratso' Rizzo, Holden Caulfield and Scarlett O'Hara, for example. If you name your character right, you will choose a name that is unique to your character and memorable to your story. The names you choose should reveal something about your characters: who they are, where they come from or where they are going. Here are several tips we compiled for writers of stories, novels, TV and movies to help you choose the perfect name for your characters.
Tip 1: Make the name age-appropriate
The biggest mistake we see writers make is choosing a character name that is not age-appropriate. Many authors make the mistake of choosing a name that is popular now for an adult character--a name that would have rarely been used around the time of that character's birth. Decide the age of your character and then calculate the year your character was born. If your character was born in the U.S., browse the Social Security Name Popularity List for that year. You will also want to take into account the character's ethnic background and the ethnic background of his/her parents.
Tip 2: Choose a name by meaning
Many writers give their characters names that have significance in the story. It could reflect major personality traits, or the character's role in the story. You may want to use our advanced search to search by literal meaning, or think of ways to incorporate other meanings into your character's name. For example, if your character is a botanist, you may not want to name her Flower (too literal), but you may want to consider the names Linnea or Sage. Even if you choose not to name a character by meaning, you should look up the meaning of all your characters' names—there may be something that inspires you or, on the other hand, conflicts with your message.
Tip 3: Exotic names are for romance novels, soap operas and strippers
Romance novels and soap operas and strippers all have one thing in common—they evoke a fantasy of romance and/or sex. Characters in these genres tend to have names that are more exotic, like Chesapeake Divine or Rod Remington. If you are not writing a romance or soap opera, however, this kind of name can sound silly and out of place.
Tip 4: Science fiction names don't have to sound alien
It's difficult to predict what names will be popular in the year 3000, however you don't have to make your science fiction characters sound like they are from Mars (unless they are). When a person reads (or watches) your story, you don't want them to stumble over a name. The name Zyxnrid, for example, would be difficult to read or listen to every time the character is referenced—and may detract from your overall story. If you do choose to create your sci-fi name, you may want to:
Combine two common names to make a less common, but pronounceable name. Example: Donica (Donna and Veronica).
Use ancient mythological names, or combine two of them. Example: Ceres or Evadne.
Make it easy to pronounce and spell. Example: Bilbo Baggins from Lord of the Rings.
Tip 5: Terms of Endearment
When writing your story, be aware that people who are close rarely use each other's full names. Couples will use nicknames, terms of endearment (honey, dear, boo). What nickname have your characters come up with for each other? Also, parents rarely call their children by their full names--unless they are admonishing them for bad behavior or testifying in court. If you have loving parent characters that are addressing their kids, use a nick name or term of endearment (sweetie, baby, D.J.). An exception to this would be if you want to show the parent character being cold and distant to their child.
Tip 6: Overused Names
For some reason, every writer loves to name his hero JACK. I know it's a tough-sounding, honest-working name, but naming your hero Jack is like naming your son AIDAN. It's overdone. Be a little more creative, so your reader will remember your particular protagonist as opposed to the umpteen-million other books they've read about Jack. Also, do not give your protagonist the initials J.C. as an allusion to Jesus Christ. That tactic was overused in 60's/70's fiction and is almost laughable by today's standards.
Tip 7: Loaded Names
Watch out for what we call "loaded" names--names that have a popular association. These could be names associated with celebrities, historical or infamous people like Adolf, Oprah, or Kobe. They could also be names of famous literary, TV, or movie characters: Hannibal, Scarlett, Romeo, Bart. If you do choose to use "loaded" names, then you really should make it part of the story, part of the character. Your character's mother was obsessed with Gone With the Wind, so she was named Scarlett--how has it affected her throughout her life? How does it affect her in the story?
Tip 8: Have Fun With Names
Have fun with naming your characters and take time to see what "fits." What was your character's childhood nickname? Is that an embarrassment when his parents address him in front of his friends? Did your character change his name at any point in his/her life? If so, why? Does your female character want to change her surname when she gets married? Why or why not? Names are such an important part of one's identity, don't take it lightly with your story!
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Name Tips
Tip 8 is the best. As for the others, well, rules are meant to be broken -- defied even. :-P
Be leery of reusing names. It could bite you, even in the very long run. I managed to blunder into it, somehow. I view "Bruce" as the name of a tough boy, a mean bully, or the like. I used that connotation in John's Living Nightmare. About 15 years later, I defied that connotation in A Bikini Beach Summer, and it worked out okay. The problem occurred with "Alice", which I view as a nice girly name. I used Alice, in both stories, unrelated -- Alice was John's bestowed (by Bruce, unwanted, involuntary) name in "John's Living Nightmare". That wouldn't have been a problem either, except...
I decided to shout out to "John's Living Nightmare" in a Wednesday-evening testimonial in "A Bikini Beach Summer" -- Alice who thought she was a boy named John, being cured of her delusion. I didn't notice. Elrod didn't notice. A fellow writer friend didn't notice. It went unnoticed until I posted it on Fictionmania. It generated this comment: "what the fudge happened with Alice? OMG just how fucked up is this whole community? How many boys did they give lifetime memberships?"
A name like Ethyl, to me is a granny name or a 19th-Century elderly name. I don't view it as the name of a female chemist, despite the ethyl radical, CH3CH2. Nobody would bestow the name upon a baby in the early 2000s, nor in the late 1940s. It was low in popularity in the early 20th Century, going under the SSA Baby Name radar after 1921. Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure I got away with using it in The Blind Date twice -- the young Ethyl was named after Grandma.
"Madison" should be a "loaded" name, the name of a mermaid who briefly became human in Splash, and named herself after "Madison Av." Instead, it became very popular for about a quarter century. So I'm not going to have trouble reusing her name, nor various other highly popular names such as Emily and Emma -- even together. :-P
Science Fiction names? I probably shouldn't make a whole story of the book in the opening and the twist epilogue of "Naughty Outdoor Adventures". Names like Tagrey Xandu, Lady ZogMyrf, Major Itbmpt, and Administrator Skrug would probably be difficult on the brain of the reader.
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
Naming rules
These are good rules and should be used, but don't let the rules use you. Know when to break the rules and why.
I pretty much know the name meanings of all of my characters, even incidental ones. I choose names for meaning, flavor, connotation and sound. If there is a name change with a transformation or transition, I try to make it meaningful. I use BabyNameWizard and BabyNameVoyager a lot and several other name webpages.
Enjoy looking up the names of some of your favorite characters, ones you wrote or ones you've just read. :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Clarence
One children's-literature textbook once said, as an example of using names, that Clarence could be a popular high-school football player in real life, but never in stories. I thumb my nose at that text in one of my stalled stories, naming a (good-guy) jock "Clarence". My father off-and-on mentioned "Clarence Mul-----" as some kind of tough western-genre guy.
I don't really like meaningful names. It seems to give a supernatural element to a realistic story. I did name someone "Dick" as a meaningful name, but don't like it. In the much-longer story surrounding it, I've renamed him. Any elderly, granny type given an elderly, granny name was at one point a young kid.
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
Clarence Sale
My dad and one of my brothers shared the name Clarence.
My brother played football.
One day he looked around and noticed he really didn't like playing football and didn't care for the attitudes of his teammates. He quit.
Football players think everyone should love them and want to play with them. If you upset this myth they feel they have to do something to set the world straight.
My brother found himself in a fight with the school bully. He knew it would not end up good. He had been a starting lineman but knew nothing about fighting. He would later star in college musicals. That was more to his liking.
The bully knocked him down with a vicious punch. Clarence spent a few moments in the ground wondering what his new face would look like. Then divine inspiration hit him. His right hand felt a perfectly sized rock that he closed his fist around.
He stood. The bully taunted him, suggesting that Clarence take his best punch. Clarence swung away with his rock aided fist and Goliath went down . . . Out cold. Clarence surreptitiously dropped the rock and became . . . A legend.
All the debate about my brother playing football ceased.
Now . . . Feel free to use the name Clarence any way you want for a character.
My brother worked for one of my companies for many years. He's retired but remains very much a character.
***
One unrelated note of caution. Try to avoid using character names starting with the same letter. It confuses readers.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Same Letter
Indeed. I've been on the receiving end of that confusion. I think, though, it's okay if the first vowels are completely different, or if they are siblings or gender-swapped versions of themselves.
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
Names by epoch
But it may have been a popular name for girls when she was born.
In Germany, there was an era when "Jürgen" was a popular name for boys, you can find a lot of people with that name in a certain age range. Later on it was "Boris" (yes, because of Bum-Bum-Becker), then came "Kevin" (before that movie it was popular in certain circles because of Kevin Keegan, but there is at least a decade between those periods, IIRC).
So, a "granny name" may well have appropriate for a young girl in that era, but seem completely old-fashioned nowadays. Finding which names were popular in a certain period in a specific stratum of society, maybe even in a specific region can be quite difficult. But if you make a mistake, you can be sure that there will be reader immediately pouncing on that mistake/anachronism/whatever - hard to find for an outsider, glaringly obvious for an insider. ;-)
Random Name Generators
I have way too many stories and I need so many names!
I just use one of several random name generators out there, although some of them come up with some weird ones.
Today's search: Rhys Lister, Zachary Aguirre, Kobie Bourne, Yehuda Holcomb, Zion Farrell, Ismael Fitzgerald, Sila Washington, Zaid McCann, Haydon Baxter and Dennis McCallum
Maryanne Peters
that last one
is certainly way out left field - I mean Maryanne Peters, who the hell would use that?
LOL
Madeline Anafrid Bell
Some very useful tips there
Coming up with a plausible name for a new character can be a nightmare! And when they are from different nations it becomes ever more difficult.
I try to use names that are not too obscure, have some longevity and whilst some may be unfamiliar to some readers there is usually some sort of link to the persons origins. As my readers are well aware, most of my characters have some sort of nickname or used contraction much as in real life. There are a few instances of multi characters with the same given name - hey it happens in the real world and I don't think any of them have interacted with each other.
Age appropriate names can be a problem, for inspiration I try to look about for people I know, in the media, sports, of the appropriate age but even that can have its pitfalls, usage can change gender for example and a name popular in one country may be granny material in another. Using an out of sync name is fine but it needs to be backed up by social class/influence - an example might be Hermione, popular because of HP but only really used for offspring in one social group.
Up to now I've not been called out on a name so I presume I'm getting it right!
Madeline Anafrid Bell