Guide to Writing

Writing Tip 23: Naming characters

Chapter written by AliciaM21

Coming up with names can be the easiest thing you have ever done. It shouldn't be so hard to come up with. Just use your imagination. And yes, everyone has one.

You can create names with almost anything; objects, things, locations, stars, or planets! Someone can be named Moon, Cassiopeia, Simplicity, Buddy, and so on.

It doesn't end there, though. Think of your family or friend's names; you can take their names and use them, or twist them to make them a different name. For example, if you know someone who is named Cassandra, and a nickname would be Cassy – you can use the full name, but spell the nickname different, such as Cassie or Kassi. You can do the same with your own name.

You can also look at normal names and rewrite it to make it look unique; such as the name Errik – you'll usually see it spelled Eric, Erick, or Erik; adding in an extra "R" or letting it be spelled in a different way can make it stand out.

You can think of people who you know of, such as co-workers, peers, or other students in your school. If you're still trying to look, maybe think of celebrities? Or character names in other books, movies, and television shows?

If you're looking for something in particular, you're always able to pick one out a name from a name generator. This is especially useful if you're looking at foreign names, and can help give you more variety if you don't know many names from that country.

If that still doesn't meet your needs, you can also "ship" names. In many fandoms, people put two people together (in which they believe or wish could become a couple romantically) and put their names together as one. This is called "shipping" in terms of fandoms. So for example, if one character's name is Selena and the other is Jake, you could make a list of names: Selake, Jalena, Leke, and so on.

There is no such thing as someone having a bad boy's name or someone having a good boy's name and so on. A name doesn't define who you are; it's like naming your child – it can have meaning, but it doesn't mean it'll define who you are or your personality. Some people may have been named after someone who inspired their parents, or named after something that can give the family a meaning to move on in life, such as the name Hope or Faith.

What others have had to say

KatherineArlene "I also get names from movies, historical documents that come up in my research, or google baby names from whatever year the character was born."

sweetpotato- "Naming my characters is one of the hardest thing ever. I usually get my notebook and list my top 10 girl/ boy names. Then I start crossing the names that I dislike until I have 3 names left. I write down their hobbies , character traits and image how do they look before choosing the name."

Ammelia11 "Coming up with names has always been fairly easy for me. Typically the names of the main characters just sort of come to me as I'm writing them.

If I do have a problem (e.g. trying not to repeat using a name or surname that I really like) then I normally just look up lists of popular names online - it's really useful especially if your character is foreign, and you don't know a large range of names. It's also useful if the character you have is known by a nickname, and you want to give them a full name based around that.

The one thing I'd say is never to make the name of the character unique to the point of being ridiculous. Yes, people want the names to be memorable, but don't make it memorable for the wrong reasons - a character can have a name that's considered average, but if the character is interesting enough, they'll be remembered nonetheless."

Dan Schmidt "Names can't be overly weird or impossible to pronounce (science fiction and fantasy, I'm looking at you). They have to be believable without being boring, and woe betide the name that comes across as heavy-handed (a problem even among those not writing allegories). When in doubt, ask a friend to read the name out loud. Pay attention to feedback."

We hope this helps you all! Have fun picking out names for your characters!