Writers: Choosing names for characters in your stories can be really challenging, amirite?

oh my god YES!

by Anonymous 12 years ago

its like...well idk, was that name popular in that time period? does it sound good with the last name (if youve even bothered with a surname lol)? will my readers like it, do i like it? am i being creepy and naming this character after someone by accident? its so frustrating!!!

by Anonymous 12 years ago

that is EXACTLY what i always have to think of! its sooo annoying! and like at the same time you dont want a name that is too common because its what everyone expects. like you want it to be different but not too different...!

by Anonymous 12 years ago

yeah like well thats too common but if i do that its wayy to weird, and idk does it sound good in my "brain-voice" when i say-think it? what about the personailty, do the name and personality fit? will people think i was tired and just chose the first thing i thought of if i use that one, and will they think i spent way too long thinking up a name if i go with that one? its so annoying lol!!! but i love writing :D

by Anonymous 12 years ago

its very frustrating! but i also LOVE writing :)

by Anonymous 12 years ago

yeah i just finished writing a story, and the names i finally chose for characters i made up are pretty good if i do say so myself lol...but i just started a new story and im asking all my friends to choose from some names i picked to get other people's thoughts!

by Anonymous 12 years ago

thats what i always do! :D

by Anonymous 12 years ago

yeah but eventually i came up with good ones that fit the characters i had to name, and im so excited because other people loved the names too!

by Anonymous 12 years ago

thats cool :D

by Anonymous 12 years ago

yeah i posted it online and i was kinda nervous to hear people's thoguhts, but they really like it :)

by Anonymous 12 years ago

what i do is i look up the least common first, middle, and last names, then see what goes well together. this ends up with a good sounding name that nearly nobody will have, making it unique.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

for an example, that name

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Assuming that you're 13 or 14, I doubt that you're a writer. Also, you're avatar's Gir, even though that show ended when you were like 5.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

You can be a writer at any age. I've been writin since I was ten. I'm fourteen and I'm a published author.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

yeah, anyone can be a writer...i know first graders who are already published and i am too...you just gotta set your mind to it

by Anonymous 12 years ago

You guys are seriously published? What did you write? Geez, I feel behind now xD

by Anonymous 12 years ago

the middle school i went to does poetry anthologies every year and has them published like other-people-can-buy-it published, and there you know various writing competitions here and there...and theres of course the easy publish-it-online method lol

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Half the time I come up with a name I actually like, then think, "Wait. This will sound ridiculous to everyone else."

by Anonymous 12 years ago

exactly! you think it'll be really cool, but then youre like wait this is only cool to me...

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Whenever I'm unsure about a name, I (this is weird, I know) say the character's name like I'm angry at them. You know how moms pull the middle name card when you get in trouble? It's kind of like that. If it sounds okay all together, then I keep it.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Well thank you for the strategy!

by Anonymous 12 years ago

That's actually a really good idea.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Thank you!

by Anonymous 12 years ago

sometimes it is easier to not put a middle name

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Challenging...but fun. I actually do research on name origins, meanings, etc. Then I have to see if it has a suitable nickname (if needed for particular story). I once had a character named Ian, and there was no nickname for him, so that was kind of annoying. I try to use names that are not that common, so I can have an interesting cast of characters, but I also try to use names that are not too out there or confusing for readers. If I think a name is weird, I ask my friends or family if it is TOO weird.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

me too, a lot of the time i do background research and i always look for a nickname, unless i think its better without. ive done gemma (gem), samuel (sam) and in the story im currently writing i have jennie (no nickname), oliver (ollie), and everett (no nickname...i like it on its own) ....i love names lol

by Anonymous 12 years ago

John Smith or Sarah Smith

by Anonymous 12 years ago

So creative

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I don't find it too difficult :p It's more fun than it is hard. But what I don't like, someone mentioned, is accidentally naming a character after someone you know.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

sometimes it can work and still be okay, but sometimes its like oh crap what if that person reads this?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Right!? I hate it when I already have a character named for a long-term project, but then I suddenly make a friend with that same name. I never know if I should change it.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

yeah its so annoying haha...that happened to me once but i was like i dont care, im keeping the name lol

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I accidentally named an evil doctor off of my band director...and he heard me talking about the antagonist once too. It was kinda funny though.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

It's just as bad when you're writing fantasy or any other genre that uses abnormal names. You kinda have to delve into Latin or other languages to get root words for meaning, or try to come up with sounds that make sense together. For example, Ilesha and Namos. Then there's the whole thing of making up meanings for your character for the world. (Ilesha = leader of the Ile'k, Ile'k = chosen people; Namos = war god, "mos" meaning god.)

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Sometimes I come up with a first/last name combo, and I think "Wow! That really flows well! I'm an awesome namer!" and then I realized that the reason it sounds so good is because it's REALLY close to the name of a celebrity or something.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I've done that before. I wrote a story with a character who was named Jaelyn Alexandra (first + middle), and didn't realize how similar it sounded to the actor Jason Alexander's name.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

@1324974 (ihatesocks): London Tipton. :D

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I'm such a perfectionist when it comes to names! I swear I spend more time trying to find ones that aren't too common or too 'out-there,' making sure the meaning is 100% perfect, and coming up with suitable nicknames (and sometime middle names), than I do actually writing their character.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I ALWAYS have middle names for my characters, even if they're never used. IDK why, but it's a part of the process of naming them for me!

by Anonymous 12 years ago

For the most part, I only have middle names if someone has a baby during the story (it only comes up when they pick out the name), for younger characters (usually annoying siblings) or if it's part of a nickname (I just started a story with an Anabelle Raelyn, who everyone calls Ellie Rae). Though I'll occasionally pick them out anyways.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I just name them all Scrotie McBoogerBalls

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I usually go with John/Jane Doe until I get a real sense of who the character is, and then choose names.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I like to use very generic names, and then just replace them once I'm further into my story.. Although I guess that's pretty much what you're saying, isn't it?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Haha that's exactly what I'm saying.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

But its exciting at the same time, almost like choosing a name for your baby. I mean, I don't have kids, so I don't really know what thats like, but characters ARE your creations.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

yeah i had one of the characters in one of my stories have a baby and it was really hard but also fun choosing a name

by Anonymous 12 years ago

It sucks when you have the perfect first name but can't think of a last name to go with it.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

There're more writers on amirite than I thought. But yeah, I do a lot of research on names.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

i agree, there are way more writers than i thought there would be.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

My stories usually start as a dream or a picture. If it's a picture I usually pick a name that suits the character before I make up a background story, but names I make up in dreams are usually really weird. Then I have to find one that still suits the character but doesn't sound like an elfish curse.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I wish mine came to me in dreams. I had a dream that can potentially be a plot, but it's a bit bizarre and plotless at the moment...the dream just gave me the basis. Normally, though, I get random inspiration in a place where it would never be expected. Like on a road trip that I spend describing my new plot to my friends :P

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Mine are extremely detailed. With back stories and everything. My most recent one took over two pages to just write down the dream. Aaah, I like my weird brain. =)

by Anonymous 12 years ago

That's kind of awesome! But then, mine randomly come to me too, so I guess it's no change in effort :P

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Like a lot of people wrote, I delve into the meanings and origins of names. For example, one story was about a girl whose mother died and her dad was a drunkard, so I named her 'Hattie' or keeper of the house.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I usually end up using words from different languages that I think describe them then going over and changing those once I've found a decent "real" name... backfired for me twice, I can't think of the characters as anything besides Karei (beauty) and Soen (silence).

by Anonymous 12 years ago

First names for me can be anything from easy to downright murder to just find one. But for last names I usually watch the end credits of a movie or TV show (or even the acknowledgements in any sort of book or CD) and find a somewhat obscure name, research it (to check the ethnicity of the name) and use it.

by Anonymous 12 years ago