I'm doing okay with first names, but I need last names, names of schools, names of favorite coffee shops and restaurants, etc. to give some life to my fictional world. I have a modern day setting, probably in Seattle or elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest, and I don't really have any ethnicity written into the story. I just want to make it feel like people and places that the reader can relate to. Do you just pull things out of your imagination? Do you use Google searches or baby naming web sites or phone book listings? Any other tips for this novice novelist?
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38,773 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 16 28
To be truthful, I go to my e-mail and check the names that are the 'senders' of spam e-mail. I often use these names as town names (Penbury, Lentgen) and first/middle/last names (Herriot, Jolania, Karol).
----------A Terryfic Life - 2006
The Summerland Caravan - 2007
Saints and Demons - 2008
Come Back to Alaska - 2009
CB2A's death count: 4
Days behind: 2
2,530 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 16 30
Look at your old high school year book. Got facebook? Type in the 1st 3 letters of a person's name - it will generate people's names for you. There is also a online yellow & white pages....somewhere. you could type in seattle, coffe shops & have real life places. That's my ideas
40,174 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 16 31
Names just come to me. If I feel like its fits the character/whatever I use it and almost never change it.
----------2009-The test subject.
Pages: 63
Sanity: Half lost it.
Hours spent writing then sleeping: I'm kind of losing count.
50,019 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 16 52
There are lots of random generators on the internet. Just google "shop name generator" or "common surnames" and I'm sure you'll find some great resources.
I sometimes use a translator. For instance, once I decided my character would be called Sarah, I translated the word "peach" into different languages until I found "Pressec" so that her name could be Princess Peach. Or I'll pick a name that sounds good with their first names, like the family I've written in whose names are Watson, Eleanor, and Owen. I decided that Carver would be a good last name because it fits each of the three names. In another instance, I needed to ask a Welsh friend for help pronouncing certain Welsh words, and he told me he would only help me if his name made it in the book. So I gave my character Lilah the last name of Fearns.
I also might steal the name of my niece's best friend at school, because I think Hallie Mallard is quite possibly the most awesome name I've ever heard.
-----------Sydney
41,322 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 17 02
In the X Wing Series, Stackpole named a pilot Tycho Celchu. Tycho, one of the most awesome first names ever, quite probably was taken from the astronomer Tycho Brahe. So when I wanted a pilot name, I looked on Wikipedia at a list of astronomers.
Kepler, Newcomb, Oterma, Sabine, Vogel, Dyson, Cellarius, Rabe, Copernicus, Axon, Resnik, Huygens... Some names are just too well-known, like Galileo. But many of them don't have that instant recognition factor for the average reader, meaning that it can serve as almost an in-joke to those who get it.
If you want relatively unusual names it's not a bad idea to find a profession that is in some way, close or distant, related to the character, find a name on a list, and go with that.
----------"One can concentrate so closely on the words of a sentence that one thereby misses the meaning. As can happen in any area of life. You must never lose focus on the larger landscape."
―Thrawn
133,748 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 17 08
i agree google is your friend when it comes to finding random generators for everything from character names to imaginary kama sutra positions.
29,311 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 17 17
For a more turn, you could try the D&D name generator (found on google). It'll give you fantasy style names, but you can put in different characteristics to make it seem more interesting.
Can definitely help if you want some more unique names.
----------This will be my third year doing WriMo. My first year predates this account though. Bah. I need some tea.
25,661 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 17 52
Sometimes my names just come to me. When they don't, sometimes I make a list of all the names that I think "sounds like" my character, and then choose from that list. I have also used family names (or variants thereof) and baby name books. Another good source for names is character names from tv programs or movies that you've seen, then modify it in some way. (I took my MC's first name from a soap opera I watch.) Place names also work well, too, especially as last names.
Sometimes I will want to give a character a name with a meaning that reflects certain traits in the character if doing so is pertinent to the story. A baby name book is best for that.
----------Raven Blooming-Rose
Nano 2009 "Mirror People" in progress
27,529 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 17 55
When I don't have any inspiration I always study the ending credits of a film or tv-show. Those are real people with evidently real surnames. So somehow, it never sounds awkward.
With my novel this year I just came up with all of them myself, however.
----------I also ramble on Twitter (though sometimes in Dutch).
2008: Junior Boys (won)
2009: Guilt (...?)
4,764 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 18 17
I love knowing that someone else watches the credits of movies / tv shows for names :-) I also go to graveyards and get names, especially off older tombstones. I'm finally using one of my favorites that I found years ago: Treamie. He's a farmer in my novel. Doesn't that just sound like a great old farmer's name?
Anyway, another thing to do is to google the state in the region your setting your story in, find some towns that are approximately the size you need, and go to their web pages. They'll have businesses, and you can find names in the other sections, especially the obituaries.
4,764 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 18 17
I love knowing that someone else watches the credits of movies / tv shows for names :-) I also go to graveyards and get names, especially off older tombstones. I'm finally using one of my favorites that I found years ago: Treamie. He's a farmer in my novel. Doesn't that just sound like a great old farmer's name?
Anyway, another thing to do is to google the state in the region your setting your story in, find some towns that are approximately the size you need, and go to their web pages. They'll have businesses, and you can find names in the other sections, especially the obituaries.
42,165 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 20 52
Moved from Character & Plot Realism.
-----------Janna
Moderator, Character & Plot Realism Q&A
ML, Saskatoon
Canadian Overlord
The Book of Tim
35,988 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 22 06
Howdy!
I've used name searches and have a few sites I prefer. If I find a really great name somewhere, I'll make a note and stick it in a file for future use.
I've pulled names from TV and movies, from name searches, random magazines, place names and the local phone book. Right now, I have a list of some twenty or so different names, both first and sur, to work with as I come across people who need them in my writing. And I'm still adding more. It never hurts to have a few extra names because you never know where your characters will end up. I just had to name a nurse, doctor and phlebotomist. We may never see them again, but they are important for the scene.
You'll find a system that works. I have a stack on my desk of a baby name book, two phone books, my note pad and a world atlas. I use them all at random. Keeps my brain working.
----------Cassandra Starrswife
