Freak Thoughts

I don’t really have a problem with name lists, unless I try to do that before making the character.
If I’m really that stuck, I’ll sit down and draw up a character sketch. I will figure out what the basic essence is, and I will come up with a last name that conveys that. Then, I move on to the first name. If I’m using a list, it makes it pretty easy to find because I know the character is. I will know that his name shouldn’t be “Jace” because it just doesn’t fit who he is. It is a pretty severe act where I shoot down all names I come across, but I will eventually find that perfect name. If I don’t, then I just don’t name the character. :p

I sometimes have trouble with finding that perfect name that suits the character, as well. As a writer, I also don’t want my main characters to possess common names that don’t make the characters at all special to the readers. What I do is look up unique names on the internet, or try and remember names that I liked in previously read books that stuck out at me. Searching for baby names isn’t what I would recommend. They are typically popular names that parents name their children now, and are therefore not unique. Try looking up contemporary English names that are somewhat unused and not abused in today’s society.

@NateW a lot of the baby names sites, they separate the names by ethnicity or region and you’ll see a ton of names that aren’t used very much, and names that are tied to certain eras in time that you generally don’t see used anymore.

The only problem I ever have with names is having too many! I suggest cycling through all your favorite names, but not using any you might potentially use for your future kids, because I think I’d be afarid if I wrote a really cool character named Emma, I’d kinda have a preformed notion of what I expected that person to be. Weird? Yes, I am well aware, haha, but there are so many awesome names out there, from June [which could be a sweet old lady to a hip young woman, to a bratty little 7 year old] There aer so many possibilities! I would say using a baby name finder isn’t bad, so long as you have a first letter you like the idea of? The list of the top 10 are usually kinda boring, because they’re so common. But one of my favorite characters to write with is named Emma, and her name is like… number 7 on the baby name list now? So really it’s whatever you want!!

I have trouble with names too. I have a tendancy to “tag” my characters with the names of similar people I know, or have known, in real life until I come up with the name I want to use.

I like your baby name book idea. For me though, I usually just assume that a name will develop as the character does. The more I try to force it, the more trouble I have.

A baby name book really helps. Try to think of your character’s personality and apperance before you think of names. Come up with a list of names you like and try them out. What sounds the most appropriate?

One of the things that i used to do, was randomly select a letter on my keyboard and then try to play with sounds and letters to come up with names. It can be kinda fun, it works well for fantasy stories and things like that, but i don’t know if it has much application in a more realistic setting.

When I am trying to think up names for my characters, I ALWAYS look up the meaning of the name. I like to directly link the meaning of the character’s name to his or her place in my story. You could just type “name meanings” into google and get a lot of name search engines.

I use a babynames website to at least look for names too. But before I go there, I usually have a good idea of who the character is and what kind of situation they’re in or where they are (such as region). And yes, that’s true, names are usually divided up by religion and meaning, so have a good idea of the character and the name will come.

I also look on baby name websites, but not for everything I write. Most of the time the names just come to me, or I kind of just make up a unique name. Otherwise, if you have a character with a particular ethnicity, I try to make sure that the name I choose for them makes sense with their heritage. I also agree with ameliabedilia that you shouldn’t pick names you really like enough that that will be your future child’s name!

I can clearly recall my first ever story with substance. I created all these ridiculous names, the weirder the name the more normal the character was. I then put a “John” into the story just to confuse people, incidentally, he was the strangest of all and killed everyone…how original.

Regardless, my early name choices were unique because I wanted the reader to start with a clean slate on my character. If someone reading knew a Joe or a Cassie, they would get a mental image of my character before I had even started a description. Then one day I realized that no one cares about the names, as long as they fit and come naturally. Of course, never neglect the possible meaning names can have, but even that can be over-done.

Sites like the one that you use are good.

Names are just like any other detail in a story. Do they have to have some great significance? No. Should they? Well, it doesn’t hurt. It’s one of those details that the literary reader might catch, but not many others will. Even if a few of them do, and it underscores some quality of the character that you are trying to convey, it adds depth to the story.

Exactly what Dean said. My characters name was Emma Sanar, and although I expected no one in the class to understand it, one of my other Spanish major friends, or a native speaker would have caught that “sanar” means “to cure” or “to heal” and she was a traumatized little girl. So it didn’t hurt my story to have it in, but the few people who caught it would feel smart and probably like that little extra knowledge. =]

@ameliabedelia

That’s true! Readers do like to feel smart. Even if it’s just something for you, like an inside joke, that’s fun too.

I didn’t catch Emma’s last name in your story, but I’m not advanced enough to know “sanar” anyway… =)