Coming up with names on the spur of the moment?

I check out baby names to find their meaning and origin. Sometimes I just pick a letter on the keyboard and start fiddling. Like Evilbeardguy might turn into Ebergi.

I usually just pick a normal name and change one or two of the letters. Like for instance, one of my characters (not sure how important yet) has the name Tormen, which is just a small change from the danish name Torben (male)

That's how I get on, but on the other hand, I haven't really met that many characters in my story yet.

I've compiled a list of possible names (drawing primarily from three different baby name books). Then I can just glance over the names and pick one.

"What you create doesn’t have to be perfect. So what if the eggs are greasy or the toast is burned? Don’t let fear of failure discourage you." - Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Mostly I just pick a letter and start fiddling with sounds that work in that language (if I know it); later I may change the name if a better one occurs to me.

This, btw., is how I ended up temporarily naming a minor character "Vordura." Then I realized that since the main character is named Viktory, I didn't want to overlap on "V" names. I didn't change it, however, until BattleJesus (the word war bot in NaNo IRC) randomly named a word war "teariza," which sounded to me like a nifty variation of "Theresa." So then I did find and replace and Vordura became Teariza :)

I made a few basic lexicons corresponding to the major cultures in my world, just using the kinds of sounds and letters I wanted to associate with them. I just try to come up with good-sounding and "meaningful" combos based on those most of the time. I did just pull the name "Poddo" out of my... hat... last night just because I thought it fit. If I can't come up with a name (or I am writing away from my home computer and don't have my lexicon handy) I just put something in square brackets [LIKE THIS] and fix it up later.

I have website of "20,000 names by country of origin" and whenever I'm stuck for a name, I scroll through there. I'm not worried too much about making them very unique, since my world is mostly a reinvention of Medieval Europe. I do have an aweful problem with deciding on names sometimes though, especially for any character I think might be important later on!

Haha, that is brilliant!

I don't have much of my story planned out completely, especially not a lot of the names (I only had two for sure before I started to write), so I pretty much make them up as I go along. I totally understand about hitting that brick wall, though! I've hit it quite a few times already. I've gotten to the point where I chose a letter and then let my fingers float to whatever keys they want. I know that I can always change the names later, but most of them so far, I like a lot.

I usually create a spreadsheet based upon names taken primarily from name generators and just pick one that seems appropriate when I get to a new character. My favorite one is here: http://ebon.pyorre.net/ (Shareware software). You can also find plenty of name generators online, especially at Seventh Sanctum (http://www.seventhsanctum.com/).

This won't work for novels with names that aren't from our world, but in any kind of Anglo-saxon sounding-like seeting, here's a trick I used in a RPG chronicle: I had to quickly give names to soldiers from a specific battalion, and I didn't have time to consult a lot of names generators and the likes... so, since I was studying the USA at the time, I gave all these guys family names from the Supreme Court decisions (like Marbury vs. Madison, Roe vs. Wade, etc.) ^^;

http://yzabel-writings.livejournal.com

2005: Unsung Heroes | 2006: Over Yonder | 2007: Oraison d'Être | 2009: Was

I've tried out a few fantasy name generators, but it's hard wading through the "XLKHHY"'s to find the good ones. I'll look at the ones linked above, though; I'm up for anything :)

I was going to write a good signature, but I got writer's block :(

I'm writing urban fantasy, so I just need normal world names. I generally will look around my room and take names from book spines, prescription pill bottles, magazine articles, anything near at hand. Or I'll just use whatever name pops to mind.

I named all the major players in my book but I hadn't named any of the minor characters (mostly 'cause I didn't know they'd exist until they showed up) and I've so far named:

- MC's best friend who owns the coffee shop next door
- MC's landlady
- Vampire's first victim
- Mother of said victim
- Two police detectives

Honestly, I don't worry about it until the rewrite. For now they're the blacksmith, the knight, so-and-so's father, etc.

http://dragcave.net/user/Unicornsky2982

I didn't read all the replies (really oughta be writing...) but my favorite source for names is a street map. :) I have a whole slew of them picked out from studying the map of the area near my house (I have Google Maps open while I'm writing). One whole group of characters in my novel is named after streets I pass every day as I drive my husband to work:

Or I use the fiddling with the keyboard methord...that gets me a lot of other names.

I was going to forego it this year, but now that I realized it's here, it's sort of like picking a scab or a bugbite or poking a bruise: you know it's there and you just can't resist even though you know that it'll hurt and you'll probably regret it later

Usually when I run across a nameless character, I pick a random name. For instance, I had to name five or six characters today, so I just nabbed names out of thin air. I was reading a fanfiction starring a lady named Denise, so one of my characters became Denise. My sister was talking about her favorite singing group, and a character became Sharon Brown, who produces said singing group. I was thinking about The Dark Night, and another character became Harvey Walker. My cat Snow White was annoying me, and another character became Gemma White. Someone was talking about an old retired school teacher named Mrs. Breer, and Mrs. Greer was created. I try to use as many random associations as possible in my books, as it means I waste less time sifting through baby name sites for a character I'm never going to mention again. So if I see anything around me or hear any names, at some point in time, they will be used in my books.

Also, as creepy as it sounds, I keep a notebook with me when I have to go to cemeteries and I collect names from tombstones. That list really, really comes in handy when I need a spur-of-the-moment name.

That's brilliant. I'm so visiting some graveyards.

I have a terrible time with names. I usually just end up trolling through baby name generators, but I really like the idea of street names, too.

I've also found the U.S. census data pretty useful. It lists a whole slew of names across ethnicities, along with how common they are:

http://www.census.gov/genealogy/names/names_files.html

Ian
http://beckism.com/

Like some others, I made up a list before NaNo started and I'm working from that. Doesn't help you now though! :(

The Random Renamer from Behind the Name.com is pretty useful, though. It can come up with the strangest combinations. Keeva Saulé? Irish and Lithuanian? OK!

“Women desire six things: They want their husbands to be brave, wise, rich, generous, obedient to wife, and lively in bed.” -- Geoffrey Chaucer

“There's no workman, whatsoever he be, That may both work well and hastily.” -- Geoffrey Chaucer

I haven't been able to make use of this trick yet (it's mostly "uh...uh... oh those letters could be strung together!") but I have a habit of writing down names that stand out to me in a small notebook. One time I was working on a huge mailing and wrote down a list of first and last names I like, I have about 15 just waiting for appropriate characters to glom on to. Credits at the end of shows or movies can be a good source too. And text book authors. And the phone book. (And of course the usual baby name sites. But the other sources can find you last names that work as first names.)

With all the planning I'd done, I didn't expect to hit this problem, but I actually hit it day one, in the second chapter. I had Ottokar staying at the manor of some random lord, and realised Some Random Lord didn't have a name. Fortunately I keep a list of interesting names (in my other life I am a name nerd), so I called him Vasily…but I think I need to change it, because a) Vasily sounds too much like Vladislav and b) it's a little too Polish.

Then I got to chapter five and realised that if Gertrude was leading a train of seven knights, I needed seven names. I already had a Sir Roland and Sir Theodoric, who were her friends, but I needed five more. Sir Adalbert and Sir Oddmund are perfect, but Sir Sven, Sir Clemens and Sir Henrik…meh.

Burly: I am Burly the troll, feared throughout the Nine Kingdoms!
Blabberwort: I am Blabberwort the troll, dreaded throughout the Nine Kingdoms!
Bluebell: And I am Bluebell the troll, terrified throughout the Nine Kingdoms!

I have several methods. Often times, I'll just change around the letters in a real name. From hence came Carin (though that may actually be a real name), the beautiful mother of my MC (who is thus fated to die). I'll also sometimes use real world names that I've associated with a particular person type, but that only works for characters that are like that connotation I've made. That was the case with Alec, my main character. I'll also take names based on roots of words: That was how the evil nation in my story, Herpydria, came into being. It's easy enough to guess what animal is their symbol. Roots are easy to use and really fun to play around with, or combine. Finally, I'll have a vague idea of a name and I'll just mess around with it and see what I get. That was the origin of Isadthi, my MC's sister.
Hope anything helped!

I never liked the fiddling with the keyboard method,because sometimes I find out that I subconsciously name characters after other characters in books I've read but then forgotten. Or there's a chance that the name turns out to be a real word in another language, and I just find that awkward. Oddly, the keyboard method is how I've gotten all of my names for my novel so far, besides my MC's, who are named after numbers (no, really, it's cool because 1 is Mona, 2 is Diane, 3 is Trent...etc.). I have a list of interesting real names, but I never look at it. I also like theme names. Numbers, and I have a list of names based off the months, which I have no idea what I'm going to do with, and kings (Not Henry and Alexander, but Gligamesh, Constantine, Ozymandias...yeah. I like names). Cemetaries are good, except you have to dig though a lot of Johns and Andersons in order to find the Wickorens and Mattimores.