Character Names
Character names are an important part of writing. The names of your most prominent characters will show up many times over the pages of your work, so picking appropriate names is critical.
The Perfect Name?
It is tempting to spend hours finding
the perfect name for a character. You can look up the meaning of names to find one that fits precisely with the personality of your character or their purpose in the story. But think about this for a moment. People are named when they are born, before their parents know anything about them or what sort of person they will grow up to be.
Thus, in real life, you'll discover people are often given names with meanings that that are very contrary to their personality. Is every woman named Athena blessed with a goddess-like wisdom and intelligence? No. It is more important to find a name that the character is likely to have, rather than finding a name that's a perfect 'personality' fit.
If you are thinking of giving your character an unusual name, it's also important to consider
why. It may be as trivial as their parents liking the sound of it, but you should still give a bit of thought to the culture, context and impact of that name.
Name Context
A large part of whether a character name sticks out like a sore thumb, or meshes perfectly with your story will have to do with whether or not the name is in the right cultural context. Frodo Baggins is an excellent name for a hobbit, but a poor name for a lawyer from New York City.
As fun as it might be to have a U.S. high school character with a Japanese name, it's probably best to avoid this unless the character actually is from Japan. Also, someone who's half Japanese won't necessarily have an all Japanese name.
There are many nuances to naming conventions in other cultures; it's important to respect them, and a bit of research never hurt. You might think Akira is a really cool name for your Japanese female character, but you might not know that it's more commonly a boy's name. Similarly, do you know that 'n' is the only stand alone consonant in Japanese? Or that a Russian man might have the last name of Safin, but his sister is Safin
a?
If your character is from a culture other than your own, you will probably want to check with someone who is from that culture to make sure that you're not giving that character a ridiculous name. Jouten means "giant" in Norse, but while your character may be very large, it might be a bad idea to name your Scandanavian character this. The Jouten are a race of divininties that cause mischief for humans.
Enough is Enough
There
are lots of Americans with five names, but you should probably stick to two or three. Your character may secretly have five, six, fifteen, or a million names, but your readers will have difficulty taking your character seriously if you don't pare it down to the minimum. Overloading a reader with multiple names for one character will only cause unnecessary confusion.
Raven Darkheart, Marie-Suezette
Don't be tempted by the dark side, Luke. A name comprised in part or whole by stereotypical "goth" or dark romantic words, pastries, candies, "power" words, etc. is likely to elicit laughter. If you're writing seriously, avoid using words in names.
Made-up names still have rules
There's a temptation in fiction -especially fantasy and sci-fi- to go wild with made-up names that normal everyday people would never have. But remember, no name exists in a vacuum. Names are shaped by culture and language, and your made-up world is no different. If your world is comprised of many different cultures, it makes sense you might have many different naming conventions. Class can also be a distinction. Is some lowly slave going to have as many names as an elite noble? Probably not.
Similarly, try to avoid going over the top with outlandish names. Mashing keys or giving your character a name like Magdln'iavra might
look cool, but can you even pronounce it? Making up names can be fun, but a little restraint and respect for your cultures will benefit your story in the long run. If in doubt, take a look at the cultures of today and see what makes their names distinctive from each other.
Also keep in mind the relationship between the language of people's names, and the language of place names. Characters with Anglo Saxon names aren't going to fit so well in a world that has Asiatic sounding towns.
Exceptions
There are exceptions to every rule. If you're parodying something, then giving a bizarre or unlikely name is often a good idea. No one in their right mind would name a child Dirk Gently ('knife me gently'), but the name works perfectly for Douglas Adam's absurd holistic investigator.
Yossarian is a very peculiar name, but it works well in the satirical context of
Catch-22.
Even this exception has an exception, though. Just because you have a good reason to have an absurd name, doesn't mean you need to go out of your way to find the most absurd name possible. If the name is completely outrageous, your readers are going to have a problem with it. Your character may be a parody of a promiscuous, vain, young lumbermill heiress, but it's probably a little much to name her Francesca "Snookums" Eleonore Lumberbunny.
Try to strike a balance.
Don't stress
"
What's in a name? That which we call a rose,
By any other word would smell as sweet"
It is important that we feel comfortable with our character's names. But you shouldn't agonise over character names. Consider them, ponder them, question whether they fit the context of your character and story; but keep in mind that a name is ultimately a small part of your work. Unless your plot revolves around Character A having name B, you shouldn't get hung up over names. Names can be altered later. A story isn't going to write itself while you stress over Mr. Smith's first name.
Name Searches
Behind the Name - Found my obscure Greek test name, but linked to another name to give the meaning instead of saying what it meant and saying it was a relative of the other name. Also says that the name is English instead of Greek. The name it links to is correctly identified as Greek. 50% success rate on my Arabic TNs.
www.BabyNames.com - Curiously states that my Greek TN is Portuguese, but correctly states the meaning. Doesn't find either of my Arabic TNs.
BabyNamesWorld.com - People can rate the names here. Huzzah. Apparently, 51% of all the people who saw my Greek TN hated it. biggrin Correctly states the origin of my Greek TN, but doesn't list its meaning. Doesn't find either of my Arabic TNs.
Think Baby Names - Correctly states the origin of my Greek TN, but gives it a bizarre meaning not substantiated by any other source I've come across yet. Doesn't find either of my Arabic TNs.
Name Lists and Generators
Social Security Administration - Popular Baby Names - Popularity rankings for the top 1000 of SS-registered names.
Kate Monk’s Onomastikon - Smallish selection of names organized by things like culture, region, and times. One of the cool things about this is that you can look up the names of gods from different areas and eras.
Baby Names by Indastro.com -
Selection of names organized by language. Found both of my Arabic TNs!
The Baby Name Inventor - Invents names! It's kind of scary, but if you take it with a grain of salt or three, it should be cool. Correctly identifies my Greek TN. 50% success rate on my Arabic TNs.
Serendipity - Name generators. Lots and lots of them.
