# Naming Characters



## DragonOfTheAerie (Jan 22, 2017)

I know we're naming characters, not babies...but I just found this site aland it has some pretty awesome stuff for finding names. (Seriously. It's REALLY COOL.) You can search by origin, number of syllables, letters, etc...It also seems to have a pretty big database. A lot of these are otherworldly enough to belong in a fantasy novel. 

Baby Names | BabyCenter

I use a baby name book to name my characters often. This might be even more helpful. Since I'm in a huge character-naming session, I'm already liking it.


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## Insolent Lad (Jan 23, 2017)

Although it is a disappearing item in today's world, I still go old school sometimes and use a phone book to find character names.


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Jan 23, 2017)

Insolent Lad said:


> Although it is a disappearing item in today's world, I still go old school sometimes and use a phone book to find character names.



I don't even know if I own a phone book...


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## Ronald T. (Jan 23, 2017)

By far, the best 'Names" resource I've found is this:  "The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook", by Sherrilyn Kenyon, with Hal Blythe and Charlie Sweet.  It was first published in 1994.  And it has more than 20,000 first and last names.  

I love this book.  I can't tell you how unendingly helpful this book has been over the years.  Do yourself a favor and check it out.


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## Ireth (Jan 23, 2017)

My go-to for names has always been Behind the Name: Meaning of Names, Baby Name Meanings. Been using it for years and it's rarely failed me yet.


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## Svrtnsse (Jan 23, 2017)

Ireth said:


> My go-to for names has always been Behind the Name: Meaning of Names, Baby Name Meanings. Been using it for years and it's rarely failed me yet.



I used this a lot for my NaNo project. Almost all of the names, except the few ones I'd already come up with and decided on my own are from there.


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## SergeiMeranov (Jan 23, 2017)

Ireth said:


> My go-to for names has always been Behind the Name: Meaning of Names, Baby Name Meanings. Been using it for years and it's rarely failed me yet.



I'll second (third?) this option.  It's what I use most frequently.  Additionally, if I have a "type" of name I'm looking for like "medieval russian boy name" or "contemporary english girl name" I will also just google that phrase and view some of the sites that come up.


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## Russ (Jan 23, 2017)

If you are really into the naming thing (I am) you can get books about specific cultural names to allow you to really pick some rocking names.  For instance I  have books that focus on Italian and German names only.


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Jan 23, 2017)

These too are all cool suggestions! 

Often I'll be looking for a specific sound, length and feel to a name, so the site I linked is one of my favorite resources so far. Having the history and meaning of names is super helpful for historical novels, though...


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## Peat (Jan 23, 2017)

Fourthing Behind the Name. Not that I don't go looking for other resources too, but it gets me a lot of the way.


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## TheKillerBs (Jan 23, 2017)

Behind the Name is great for meaningful names. Fantasy Name Generators is also good for random stuff. The Real Names section in particular is an excellent resource for some more obscure cultures.


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Jan 23, 2017)

TheKillerBs said:


> Behind the Name is great for meaningful names. Fantasy Name Generators is also good for random stuff. The Real Names section in particular is an excellent resource for some more obscure cultures.



Personally Ive found random name generators to be unhelpful in many circumstances. Seventh Sanctum has a few generators I occasionally use, but when I'm looking for a name I'm often looking for something more specific than a generator can provide. But I'm reeeeeally picky about names (I put off naming for a long time, and I end up changing my characters names most of the time!) 

Fantasy Name Generators has a HUGE selection of generators though, if it's the same site I remember using a couple years ago...I waste time on generators for fun, lol. 

I've never really thought about name meanings when naming characters. Perhaps it would be cool to do so...but then I'd be tempted to sneak symbolism into EVERY NAME. Like id name the character who dies after what kills him or something.


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Jan 23, 2017)

^Wow, that site has really expanded since last I visited!! 

Hillbilly names??? Ha!  And names for like 30 Star Wars aliens. Wow. 

Is there a such thing as too many generators...?


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## skip.knox (Jan 24, 2017)

The SCA does good work along these lines as well. Sara Uckelman deserves a special medal for her work in compiling names from historical documents.
Miscellaneous Medieval Name Articles 

(but the admin seriously needs to turn off directory listing on their server)


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## SeverinR (Jan 25, 2017)

I always turn to the SCA name list for human "period" names.
Sadly they don't have a list of non-human names...lol


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Jan 29, 2017)

All of my characters have meaningful names. Often, I come up with a name, and then discover what that character is like based on the name [Tolkien-style].


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## Peat (Jan 30, 2017)

Also, I'm a big fan of simply stealing a name from things that influenced me/the character in question. Its a nice easter egg. Think things like Lord Jordayne of the Tor in SoIaF


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## Miseo (Feb 2, 2017)

Well I like giving characters meaningful names, and behindthename.com is great for that. For example, my MC is named Sorin which means sun, and the 9 primary antagonists of the first half of the story are all named after lunar deities (except Phrike who is named after the spirit of horror).


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Feb 2, 2017)

^That's neat!


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Feb 2, 2017)

Miseo said:


> Well I like giving characters meaningful names, and behindthename.com is great for that. For example, my MC is named Sorin which means sun, and the 9 primary antagonists of the first half of the story are all named after lunar deities (except Phrike who is named after the spirit of horror).



I hardly ever think about meaning when I name characters. I did give my MC the unfortunately apt (and unapologetically weird) name of Temerity, though.


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## Thomas Laszlo (Feb 3, 2017)

DragonOfTheAerie said:


> I hardly ever think about meaning when I name characters. I did give my MC the unfortunately apt (and unapologetically weird) name of Temerity, though.



I think it'd be cool to use names as a... a thought by a character, like name them abda and make sure them a servant 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Feb 3, 2017)

^Oeuyia is a much weirder name.


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Feb 3, 2017)

TheCrystallineEntity said:


> ^Oeuyia is a much weirder name.



At least it's not an SAT vocabulary word.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Feb 6, 2017)

I decided, based on Oeuyia, that all Sereners would have unusual names [they are, after all, guardian spirits]. Enter Yinxi and Na-ah.


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## Alyssa (Feb 7, 2017)

If any of you have Scrivener, go to Tools>Writing Tools>Name Generator.
There are thousands of names, all with their origins and meanings (although check them online as well to be sure). If you choose a specific language of origin for the names of certain groups of characters (I chose Hebrew/Jewish) you can really develop their arcs around themes central to that culture, giving it a greater amount of depth. The just scroll through the 4000 or so for each gender and pick the ones you like or the ones who have a translation similar to their role.


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## Mike Chara (Feb 8, 2017)

Alyssa said:


> If any of you have Scrivener, go to Tools>Writing Tools>Name Generator.
> There are thousands of names, all with their origins and meanings (although check them online as well to be sure). If you choose a specific language of origin for the names of certain groups of characters (I chose Hebrew/Jewish) you can really develop their arcs around themes central to that culture, giving it a greater amount of depth. The just scroll through the 4000 or so for each gender and pick the ones you like or the ones who have a translation similar to their role.




This is exactly how I name my characters, if I can't find something off the top of my head.


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## Christopher Michael (Feb 8, 2017)

Behind The Name and Behind The Name- Surnames


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## LuxMyalis (Feb 24, 2017)

Ireth said:


> My go-to for names has always been Behind the Name: Meaning of Names, Baby Name Meanings. Been using it for years and it's rarely failed me yet.



This is neat. I'll definitely check it out when looking for names. Thanks!


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Feb 26, 2017)

Am I the only one who pays literally no attention to meanings when I name characters?  

In my next book, none of the characters are named. It's just "the boy," "the girl," "the grandmother..." I think it creates the kind of distance from the characters I want. As if this is some old story from in the past being told instead of an event you're experiencing. (Also why I chose 3rd omniscient as the POV, which is unusual for me.) 

So, I don't have to worry about this.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Feb 26, 2017)

^I'm the opposite. All of my characters have incredibly complex names and name meanings. Although in my next book, my main character might not have a name...Maybe. I've got two story ideas that I don't know how to fuse together.


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## Mythopoet (Feb 27, 2017)

Alyssa said:


> If any of you have Scrivener, go to Tools>Writing Tools>Name Generator.
> There are thousands of names, all with their origins and meanings (although check them online as well to be sure). If you choose a specific language of origin for the names of certain groups of characters (I chose Hebrew/Jewish) you can really develop their arcs around themes central to that culture, giving it a greater amount of depth. The just scroll through the 4000 or so for each gender and pick the ones you like or the ones who have a translation similar to their role.



Woah, I use Scrivener but I never noticed this. Nice.


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## Draconianwriting (Apr 3, 2017)

honestly, these are all really good websites. i have even looked through a couple, but you really cant deny the effectiveness of putting a word that describes your character into google translate and messing with it. that is how i have gotten quite a few names for both magic items and several characters.


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## pmmg (Apr 4, 2017)

I’ll take good names wherever I can find them. I have scoured baby name lists before, but not for specific names, mostly to get an idea of how a name may sound in a certain culture. I like to base things on cultures but not really be replicas of them, and part of me feels like, if the world is not exactly Earth, the names are not likely to be the same (minus of course simple names like Sam and Joe, I can see how some sounds might come up again). It is somewhat important to me to have unique names to go with the world I am trying to build, but then, I don’t want to spend forever dwelling on it either.

I was unaware there was such a book as “The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook.” I will look for that.

I find, however, that just as I am trying to create names that bring life to a culture, I am often confounded by many other aspects, such as the names they might give to their currency, or the names of the land and landmarks, or objects I might take granted here on the world in which I live. For example, there cannot be Greek fire, if there is no Greece.

I do get jazzed though when the right name appears and fits well the character I want to create, and I do hate finding that I must change a name I have already lived with for a long time. Hitting Baby name web sites certainly brings a lot of nice sounding, and perhaps not very much used, names to light.


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## RedAngel (Apr 16, 2017)

A while back I was searching for naming lists in google. I came across a decent site dedicated to dog names. It had tons of lists which included many ancient cultures broken down by male / female. That was like 10 years back but it might still exist.


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## fiera43 (Jun 18, 2017)

I've spent as much time looking up names as I have for anything else in the writing process. Have 2 notebooks set up for me to add new names in whenever I find some I like.


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## fiera43 (Jun 19, 2017)

I use pininterest surprisingly has a good variety of stuff on names as well.


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## bestellen (Nov 1, 2017)

Although it is a disappearing item in today's world, I still go old school sometimes and use a phone book to find character names.


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