Names?

I don't even think any of my characters are going to have names this year, though I'm not sure about the amount of pronouns I'm going to be using...
As for making names up, in previous pieces I've written the names have just come along as I've been writing. Like, sometimes they don't even have names until the end, I just leave a blank where their names should be. I just basically wait until one day it clicks and the right name appears in my head!

I'm usually pathetic at coming up with names for my main characters, but for some reason this year the name of the villain of my murder myster popped into my head, perfect in every way. The two other main characters are only known as MC1 and MC2 at the moment.

In the past, I've used names from spam emails that hide in my trash bins.

I've also used names from the credits list at the end of TV programs - the first name from one, and the surname from another.

There's a load of character name generators here: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-char.php

Gerald

Essex Writers Support group

I'm usually quite good with names, whether they're made-up ones or real names that I think fit the character. Usually I just 'feel around' in my mental stock of names, trying each one out against my image of the character. Or, I use baby name websites. Naming characters after my friends is also a fun thing to do - I've named a few of my characters in one story that way. And they're always really honoured to have a character named after them! xD I've never yet used an online name generator.

I don't make up names as often as I used to - making them up used to be my default, which led to some really interesting ones like Xynnia, Anoran, Tomara, Kirikozou, Llaya, Dakko, Liona, Kaeme... and so on. The two main characters for the novel that I'm writing for NaNo have made up names, because it's an old story idea, but now the names seem a little too 'high fantasy' in amongst the ordinary names of the other characters. (Their names are Koel and Lenaya, whereas other characters have names like Mike, Jackie, Callum, Sean, Ray, Katie, etc.) Oh, and while we're on the topic, I started writing a story when I was about 10 or so in which all of the characters - for no real reason whatsoever - had place names. xD The four main characters were called Jamaica, Kenya, Lisbon and Tasmania; other character names included Egypt, Sudan, Africa, London and pretty much anywhere in the world you could think of. The story was as improbable as all of my ideas when I was younger, but the names were fun!

I have names for my main charaters..but I'm sure that will change..just can't think of anything that maks them stand out..lol

I tend to write fantasy, and some of my favourite names are ones that sound the same or similar to common names, but are spelt differently, e.g. Jayd or Konner.
Even if my names don't sound similar in the end they tend to stem from common names, e.g. Michael becomes Mital.

I also tend to think of names on the fly, as I introduce characters.

NaNoWriMo 2009 Untitled:
NaNoWriMo 2008 Chosen: 66354 WON

I normally find it pretty easy to think of names. For example one of my characters in a story, I gave the name Doyle to. I named him that, because Doyle sounded a bit like Boil and it was regionally and culturally correct as well. I then had to think of a first name that also fit and this was my thought process. Doyle is a bit of a Brute. Brute reminds me of Brutus. Brutus is not the right time period. What sounds like Brutus? Bruce. Thus the name Bruce Doyle was created

It also helps to have a basic understanding of how names are formed. For example, if it has'ton' or 'ham' in the name, it probably refers to a town or settlement in some way. If it has 'Wine' or Wyn' then depending on country of origin, it can probably mean either white or friend. 'Ford' will probably refer to river in some way, and 'Cliff' refers to a cliff as well. So if you want to name someone who lives on a cliff by a river, you have a name 'Clifford'. If you follow these basic rules you can also make up your own realistic sounding names. Just a note, I only started working out basic rules a while ago, so some of them that I have laid out could be incorrect.

It is also important to know what you want the name to sound like. Going back to the Bruce Doyle example. Bruce and Doyle are both quite rough sounding, being made with a 'D' and a 'B'. However if I were to replace those letters with and 'F' and an 'L', to make Luce Foyle. The name is both softer, (and actually sounds a lot more feminine). Foyle still rhymes with Boil, but you would never think of that association.

The most important thing, is for readers to actually be able to read the names and remember them. Naming your characters to similiarly to each other can be a problem, but the most common failing is in the Sci Fi and fantasy genres. Where people try and make up 'foreign' sounding names and come up with things like XZenmogn, or Ghlomb, or something like that. Sometimes there is no need to make up names to have them sound mystical, if you take old english, gaelic or welsh names for example. However if you do want to make up something futuristic, then it is easy enough to do so, without it coming out weird. You can do things like mix two common names together e.g. Katy and Annabelle - Kabelle, Katelle, Annaby etc. All can be made, and sound both natural and are easy to read.

I've recently started a database, where I sort Names by meaning, origin and alphabetically. I'm only up to the letter G in male names so far, and only from Welsh, Gaelic, Latin and English origin but it has allowed me to search for the right name more easily, instead of just using baby names websites. When I am finished with those origins I will start adding names from more interesting places to get a wider variety of names.

Wow! What an essay. I didn't mean to write that much or lecture, but hopefully this will help those people who struggle with naming characters. I don't get it right all the time, but this method certainly helps.

Cap ;)

There are some ideas so wrong that only a very intelligent person could believe in them. (George Orwell)