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I don't know about the others here at BC, but even off-site I write A LOT. and one thing that always bugs me is finding good and decent sounding names for my characters. I HATE with a passion the boring names that, I am sorry, Lazy people like to slap on to some characters...
Tim, Tom, bob, Fred, George
these names are on my DO NOT USE. because well, they are bland, generic and above all else...BORING. I enjoy fancy names that I know are sometimes so off the wall that I know I would be hard pressed to find another person out there named the same. Names with different spellings, Darrian, Cael, Arric, Furst. They are all male names, but I doubt you would see them on a birth certificate anytime soon, unless my future wife is crazy enough to let me name our child.
However, with enjoying such off the wall names I have a hard time naming important characters that pop up between point A and point End. So if anyone could help other than recommending a good baby name website I would be endebted to you forever...or until I have a few decent names squirreled away for future use.
Comments
Names
I like to use The Baby Name Wizard.
That's the one I use, too.
I can get fascinated watching the historical developments of names. Want a name that would have been common for a girl born in Arkansas in the late 1940s. BNW tells you that would be "Joyce". Wait, thats my name....
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
phonebooks...
For years I've gone through phonebooks and picked a name at random. That's the last name, then I flip through and pick another as the first name. It works and usually comes up with realistic sounding names. Sometimes I'll open to a page and a character will name itself right then without me even thinking about it.
XXX,
Bri
XXX,
Bri
Names...and my hate for them.
Me, I look at names from the past that were popular or those that are unisex in nature as well as uncommon names a lot.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
Oh yes!
Names are a pain sometimes. If you're lucky, your story will have only two or three, and you can sort them out easily. Some tales have casts of thousands (at least, it seems like that sometimes) and you have to invent them all, and make them sound plausible for the time and place as well.
A big problem I find is keeping the names in each of my stories separate. I have enough problems stopping the plots leaking across without the characters wanting to come visit as well. To get round this problem I now keep a file with every name cross-referenced to the story that uses it, so I don't accidentally re-use one. This also helps to keep the names unique.
One good resource I've found for finding names is the credits for films: the bit that everyone stampedes out of the theatre to avoid. Freeze-frame the end of any DVD and you'll find a whole host of actual names ready for the borrowing. Of course, I don't take the whole name, but use the first and last names from different entries in the credits.
Penny
So that means
You can pull a Danny Shwarzenegger and Arnold De Vito from some movie? Must be fun!
Faraway
P.S. An official no-cookie for naming the film. ;)
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Twins?
By the way, did you know if you take the letters from "twins," twice, and rearrange them, you get:
Nnitwwitss? There's probably some extra letters there you don't need, though.
*Chuckle*
Got it in one!
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
D'oh!
Not the actors' names, the technicians' names. You know, that whole five minutes of medium-fast scroll right at the end, with music you never heard during the feature, and very often an Easter egg in the middle of it?
Best Boy? Hmm, not sure about him. Dolly Grip? Well, now, might be interesting... Dog Handler? Wrangler? Tea boy? Those motion-picture unions have a lot to answer for...
Penny
A Deep well
<If you're lucky, your story will have only two or three, and you can sort them out easily.> With me two or three names are needed just for a chapter break. I don't think there is a story I've written since 2002 that had that few a number.
Duty Honor Country Family has had the following Non-Japanese names- Tom, Gabrielle, Heidi, Grant, Ed, Andrew, Roger, Guy, Miriam, Yuri, Dimitri, Shannon, Alp, Kimo, Oscar, Cassie, Betty, Ruth, Stuart, Susan, Candace, Roxanne, Maurice, Lily, Sylvia, Simon, Radek, Chuck, Greta, Ilsa, Heinrich, Herman, Seamus, Omar, Scott, Tiffany, Daphne, Christine, Greg, Melissa, Sergei, and many more.
Getting Japanese names for the story was incredibly difficult. In the beginning, I resorted to taking the names of Japanese baseball players and rematching their names. That was rapidly running out when a reader suggested a Japanese name creator as a story helper. I been using that since Chapter 12 or so.
When I first started writing DHCF, I checked what were the most common Japanese family names. From that I got Sato and Watanabe for some of the story's most essential characters.
In some of my past stories, I've used the names of classmates, former co-workers, and chess club members. One of the last stumbled upon my Chess Prodigy story and wrote me.
"Writing is like walking in a deserted street. Out of the dust in the street you make a mud pie."- John le Carre
Daniel, author of maid, whore, bimbo, and sissy free TG fiction since 2000
What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.- Oscar Levant
Um, but....
There are a LOT of people with boring names. It's not their fault. And it makes characters more believable if they have names that are similar.
Tim - Not that boring. Makes me think of Al Borland's famous repeatable quote, "I don't think so, Tim."
Tom - I've only known one person named Tom so far in 35 years -- counting both first and middle names. How is that commonplace?
Bob - Well, I hate this one... but not because of the commonality. That's a rather nice normal sounding name to put in places to make them sound normal and average. I hate this name because it's the name my fathead (oops, father) had. Note, not my Dad... his name was John...
Fred and George - Okay... there are two things that these both bring to mind. Fred was the one uncle that was dear to me, that cared about me, and I loved with my entire heart. He shared my birthday, and he died just last year... George was my grandfather. My mother's father. He made dealing with my grandmother bearable. He would wake me up at 5am every Saturday morning. I'd get the Oreos and he'd get two gigantor glasses of milk. I'd snuggle into the crook of his arm in his easychair, holding my milk and he'd have his on the endtable next to us. We'd watch cartoons until noon, then we'd watch the afternoon specials. We'd go through the entire package of Oreos and drink our Oreo-chocolaty milk. I also think of the rascally Weasley twins from the Harry Potter books.
LAZY people like me just slap those names on, do we? I guess the sentimental reasons are all a sham. Why, who would name a character after a beloved uncle or a *snort* grandfather as tribute, after all?
Not trying to be rude.
Sorry If I came off as rude, its just I don't like average names, I wasn't pointing out those names in particular. Its just that those where names that jumped out at me as used a lot. In general I just don't like average names is all I was trying to say.
again I am sorry.
...uh my signature?
Culturally-based
Most names tend to reflect either the culture we grew up in, or the one we are trying to write about. Unique names are going to stand out if they don't fit your setting. A story about the wild West isn't going to have much of a place for names like K'shara or Chamiquie. A story set in West LA is an unlikly place to find a Cassius or Hiram. Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice are going to be right at home in Sixties suburbia, but not in the early 1700's colonial America.
As a reader, I find that names that are too unique tend to pull me out of a story. As an alternative to the phone book (which tends to get to be a boring read after awhile), look in the local newspaper. Writing about young people? Look at the school announcements, graduation lists, and wedding or engagement announcements.
As an aside, I saw several 'Mary Sue' tests linked from an anime site the other day. These include some questions on the character name which might be useful to look at. They are a bit dated, as they are biased against characters with alternate spellings, like Mari or Carin or Suri or such and those seem to be popular among certain sets these days. Still, they can be useful to help refine your character.
I went outside once. The graphics weren' that great.
With me, it depends...
(okay, I'm a consultant, and the two most common words out of a consultant's mouth are "it depends").
If I'm writing something that takes place in "modern" times in a "town next door" or some such, I'm likely to use names like you'd find there. And "Tom", "Dick" and "Harry" may well show up. My fantasy novel (okay, it's only about 3k words so far, so I have a long way to go), I use different type names - for different races of beings.
The name. How important is it? Good question. Does the name shape the person? Some think it does. My given name (the one I use at work anyway) could easily be put on your "booooring" list. And, perhaps that makes me boring. To be honest, I've felt sorry for kids with really strange spelled names. They get spelled wrong regularly. (My last name isn't all that common. At my last client, it took them five tries to get it right... And, as a result, since I had no ID with the wrong spelling, I never did get a long term ID that would have let me park in the parking garage away from the rain.)
So, I don't go out of the way avoiding any name. I first think about the character, and then try to come up with a name that I think "fits" for me. I don't generally worry about whether others get the link.
My 2 cents.
Annette
P.S. Please don't take this of criticism. It's intended to reflect how I use names. I expect others to be different.
The importance of names
Names are crucial. Get the right names for the major characters and the story writes itself. It is the first thing I decide on. The plot comes later. Indeed the plot often changes as I go along but I always remain faithful to the chosen names. How could it be otherwise? One gets so fond of them that it would be a sort of betrayal to call them something else half way through. It is essential otherwise they might not come when called. I mean it is bad enough as it is with the little blighters always running off and doing their own thing at crucial moments. God knows what would happen if they weren't even sure of their own names!
But they must be appropriate otherwise how can the character grow into them and develop in the requisite direction. You must absolutely resist any inclination to allot names at random. Tom, Bob, Fred etc. might be quite suitable for one character where a Darrian, Cael, Arric, etc., would be wildly inappropriate and lead to severely stunted development. And vice versa of course. Indeed there is a considerable nuanced difference even between Tom, Bob, and Fred and one can expect quite different behaviour from all three.
To give you an example from a tale I am currently wrestling with. In its hallowed pages one can encounter Professor Sir Hugh Dorrington-Gore and also Ugmor'n3, Miss Patricia Armitage and Er. The tale, such as it is would be collapse in complete disarray if you could not. They are certainly not interchangeable.
By far the best way to write is to establish some characters, get to know them, share your bed time hot chocolate with them and see what they get up to. Left to their own devices they will in all probability misbehave to a greater or lesser degree. All the writer has to do then is chronicle whatever happens, perhaps tidying up any coarse language. Indeed such is the importance of names on character that I cannot image any of my aforementioned characters indulging in such. Although Dorrigton-Gore is probably capable of the odd 'Bugger it' or 'Damn!'.
I hope that helps.
If it doesn't then I can only suggest that you don't give them any names at all. See my "Yellow the Leaves of the Rowan".
Hugs,
Ouch!
I guess I have been put on notice that I am a lazy, worthless, unimaginative sod for using names in most of my stories that are appropriate for their times and settings. Wow! I never knew how boring my pathetic efforts at writing were. I really appreciate you pointing this out to me.
Nancy Cole
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
Unisex names
I use www.mfnames.com quite often as it also has a section on Unisex names - quite useful for stories on this site.
Personally, I prefer names that most readers will be comfortable with and easily remember throughout the story - particularly important if you have a group of more than say half a dozen characters in a story. In one of my stories with 11 characters, I used the device of their names "accidentally" being in alphabetical order, to enable readers to better get a grip on them. (I know I had enough trouble keeping track, and it certainly made my life easier!)
The Naming of Parts
What we have here is the naming of parts.
You can't just make a list, because the names have to fit the character and the character's age and location, as well as reflect your use of the character in the story. Funny characters can have funny names, like they used Aloysius in the movie, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World:
http://www.aveleyman.com/FilmCredit.aspx?FilmID=9736
A lot of the names were somewhat droll all by themselves, as it was a comedy.
would have a certain piquancy, and it seems doubtful that any of us would be familiar with it if it were named Ferdinand and Hortense.
Nonsense. If roses were called "stinkworts," one would be unlikley to give or receive them on Valentine's Day.
It's much more likely that the florists would invent a new name, just as fishmongers don't sell "shark," but "butterfish," and "squid" usually winds up in the display case as "calimari."
Names are very important, and choosing them can make all the difference in a story.
There are many good online references, as well as specialised books:
http://www.writing-world.com/romance/names.shtml
http://www.fictionfactor.com/characters.html
http://www.literary-liaisons.com/article002.html
http://www.babynamewizard.com/ is good, but concentrates on US names.
The Writer’s Digest Character Naming Sourcebook (1994, Sherrilyn Kenyon with Hal Blythe and Charlie Sweet) adds information from many places around the world. There are *bunches* of similar books, including a few which are *very* specific.
http://author2author.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-i-write-charac...
Here's the US Social Security site, a wonderful resource for finding names for particular periods in the USA:
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/
Unfortunately, it only goes back as far as 1880.
Here's a wonderfully wry look at names from the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/mar/16/fantas...
Cheers,
Puddin'
Cheers,
Puddin'
-
Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Number 16 Bus Shelter
I was researching gender-ambiguous names for a story, and came upon this:
Oh no, you can't name your baby THAT!
Must be something strange in the water in New Zealand.
not as think as i smart i am
Names...
My wife and I had a few names (boy and girl) that we really liked, but decided we couldn't really use.
An example (using my pen-name Annette MacGregor to concoct a related example):
Patrick Allen MacGregor
Why did we think this would be a less than ideal name for a boy? Look at the initials: P.A.M. What does that spell? Pam, right... So, either a girl's name (sort for Pamela) or the name of a cooking spray. Neither really ideal. Far to much to think about when naming.
Also, just because the initials "spell" something and/or provide an easily recognizeable acronym don't auto reject. Sometimes you can come up with something that's exciting. Take this other name (again made up):
Lawrence Edward MacGregor
The initials are "LEM"... Which is also the acronym used for "Lunar Excursion Module" - the Moon lander.
Annette
I'm not overly fond of the
I'm not overly fond of the more common names myself, as I also like fancier names. But I also try to use names that fit the place and time in which they appear. So using Palanna or Draven in a modern times story set in the US would probably look a little odd. But I can get away with the more exotic ones in a fantasy setting or SciFi story. I do try to use different names and not re-use names too much. Mostly I just choose names based on the sound, though. If it sounds right when I think of the character, then it's all good! ;)
Beyond finding something you like the sound of, and which isn't too unusual for the setting, I don't know what else to suggest. When I'm not using a known name I just make them up on the spot. Unless it's from another country, then I look them up online and choose them either by sound or meaning. That's one approach you could use, choosing names by meaning. I know many people do that.
As for names you'd be hard pressed to find another of out there, that sounds an awful lot like my RL name (The one I chose, not the one I was given at birth). I Googled it a few years ago and only found one or two matches, and those were in Ugoslavia or thereabouts. :)
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
Weird names ...
... tend to turn me off a story. I want to follow the plot and trying to remember who's who gets in the way. Nothing wrong with using names that are commonly used by real people if you're trying to create a realistic background. At least Prachett tends to use memorable names that fit the characters of his Disc World just as Dickens did for Victorian England.
In fiction I've written in the past (not here) I often scan the books on the shelves surrounding my PC. There's 'Horowitz and Hill' (The Art of Electronics); Mahon and Abbot (National Certificate Maths) that IS old!; Jane's (Fighting Aircraft of WW1); Jobst Brandt (The Bicycle Wheel), if you feel like an off-centre name; Peter Dibble (OS9 Insights). And that's without leaving my chair - there's 100s more :)
Quite honestly I pity your children if you choose to give them a weird name. Imagine going through life having to spell it out every time anyone asks for it let alone the inevitable teasing. I suppose I'm lazy.
Robi
Know the feeling
I have an odd last name. People ask me to spell it all the time. My answer- put a J in front of the word...... Then some people still don't get it. Ahhhhhhhhhhh!
My oldest daughter would occasionally be teased because the first 3 letters of her first and last names are almost identical. She's adopted, my wife and I can only be faulted for not renaming her.
"Writing is like walking in a deserted street. Out of the dust in the street you make a mud pie."- John le Carre
Daniel, author of maid, whore, bimbo, and sissy free TG fiction since 2000
What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.- Oscar Levant
Names of my characters
Having learned not to name all characters with the same starting letter, my latest stories have an easier time; surnames are the names of roads in my town and forenames are, hopefully, names that might have been popular when that person was born.
So an early twenties transwoman is Jennifer Ellen Smith. Same initials as male name, same surname, but the middle name chosen to honour her mother. Simple innit?
Susie
Get the Fire hose, the Flames are roaring.
In all seriousness.
If anyone here feels like what I have said has hurt them in anyway, whether it was insulting the memory of your dear grandfather...or making you think your writing is worthless.
THAT WAS NOT MY INTENTION.
I was merely trying to say how much I hate naming my characters using names that I consider to be not the greatest. I write pure fantasy. Names that are average don't sit well... Like Tim the Necromancer.
SO I am now sitting in front of my keyboard (while not typing)with my head in my hands trying to figure out how to type up this apology with out making myself look like even more of an Ass.
Again, for those that feel Like it was a personal attack, I am sorry.
...uh my signature?
Words Do Have Meaning
I find it interesting that it comes as a surprise words used to denigrate and cast dispersions on other authors evokes a response. Words do have meaning. They can and are used to evoke responses as well.
Take the word ‘Hate.’ It is a most evocative word, one that conveys hostility and aversion of another person, idea or event. Its use alone is able to evoke a visceral response. Added to that is the word ‘Passion,’ a word that speaks of a feeling, an emotion rather than a reasoned thought. Thus, hating the use of people who use common names, sort of like the one I have, with a passion informs me the writer of this blog does not give a damn about what I say or think. Simply using the name ‘Bob,’ condemns me to the hell fires of literary purgatory.
But, it even gets better, for people who are foolish enough to use the name ‘Bob’ are also lazy. Wow! I am not only below contempt, I am lazy, a person who dislikes exertions, in this case mental exertion. Oh well, I guess not everyone is perfect.
All of this is, in of itself, rather a sad. Yet, to say insulting other writers here on TS/BC was not intended is a bit disingenuous, when the original blog reads;
“I HATE with a passion the boring names that, I am sorry, Lazy people like to slap on to some characters...â€
Since I do not know what is in the heart of this blogs author, I must base my judgment on the words she used describe the lazy, unimaginative, sorry sods such as me who write as we see fit.
Oh well, as I always say, some people just wouldn’t be happy even if you shot them with a clean bullet.
Nancy Cole
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
...Poor use of words.
I am sorry.
I admit. I used wrong words at the wrong time, about the wrong subjects. I think I will just go back and delete this blog entry.
I wrote it under frustration over my own lack of skill and the effects of a few drinks with my friends.
Nancy, specifically seeing you tell me this blog felt like a personal attack against you hurts me. I enjoy reading your work, I was happy when I got back from spring break to see two chapters for Alfhildr.
Because of this little firestorm I brewed I think I will be taking a short break away from BC/TS.
...uh my signature?
what's in a name?
I love to see and hear all sorts of names. Just don't name your characters after food..(uuggghh...who could forget APPLE Paltrow?)
I don't think anyone named Lasagne or Quiche would get very far. Although I have heard of some women who never changed the name on their baby's birth certificate because they thought the dr. named their baby. Have you ever heard of Female Jones? (feh-mahl-ay) or Babyboy Jones?
You can't get any stranger than that!
hee hee
Paula Young
A life lived in fear is a life half-lived
Choice of name is important
When I selected names for my RLT, I based them on what my mother would have chosen. Mum was named Catherine Claire and had chosen Linda Catherine if born female, looking through a baby book I came up with Lynette Katrina and have never looked back.