The Naming Guidebook

[Emmy-Chan-San]

I haven't written the story to go with it, but the main character's name is going to be "Lith" She's a girl.

[Amadyll]

Dev Kimiko

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.

I usually find myself advanced searching name meanings, specifying exactly which nationalities and origins I want. I've never found the perfect name through this method. Most recently, I was naming a character and I randomly hopped over to the Russian name section, and I immediately found the perfect name. I had been searching through the Celtic and Irish sections. This name also had the perfect meaning, too.

In short, I agree with this.

[I am The Compendium]

Many geographical names have come from explorers being far away from women for a long time, too. Such as, the Grand Tetons.

Also, many names, both real and by good fiction writers, mean very bland things, not spectacular things. Such as 'Man in wood hut' or 'Guy with farm in valley,' even in the ever-popular Japanese names.

[tasteslikecanadian]

heart heart heart heart Dev heart heart heart heart

My dream of a proper naming sticky, detailing what not to be doing "NAME MY CHARACTER PLEASE" and how to do it correctly has been fulfilled. I especially liked how you mention the necessity of a little research of other cultures... it drivees me insane when I read stories by people whose main character is obviously not east asian, but has an east asian sounding name. Good sticky, you get a Canadian stamp of approval.

*not vaild for actual postage, but can be displayed on sticky the same way the "government inspected" stickers are in store windows.

[Anonymous Legion]

Yami_no_Eyes

Many geographical names have come from explorers being far away from women for a long time, too. Such as, the Grand Tetons.

Also, many names, both real and by good fiction writers, mean very bland things, not spectacular things. Such as 'Man in wood hut' or 'Guy with farm in valley,' even in the ever-popular Japanese names.

Quite.

Especially old last names...

They generally were the name of your father with "Fitz-" or "-son" tacked on.

Or a defining characteristic, like in England, a person with black hair was named "Black."

Or Profession, like "Smith" or "Cooper."

[I am The Compendium]

Resistance Zealot 2.0

Yami_no_Eyes

Many geographical names have come from explorers being far away from women for a long time, too. Such as, the Grand Tetons.

Also, many names, both real and by good fiction writers, mean very bland things, not spectacular things. Such as 'Man in wood hut' or 'Guy with farm in valley,' even in the ever-popular Japanese names.

Quite.

Especially old last names...

They generally were the name of your father with "Fitz-" or "-son" tacked on.

Or a defining characteristic, like in England, a person with black hair was named "Black."

Or Profession, like "Smith" or "Cooper."

You don't REALLY get so many people with spiffy names like Hikari Kamui or Serenity Anathema.

[Anonymous Legion]

Yami_no_Eyes

Resistance Zealot 2.0

Yami_no_Eyes

Many geographical names have come from explorers being far away from women for a long time, too. Such as, the Grand Tetons.

Also, many names, both real and by good fiction writers, mean very bland things, not spectacular things. Such as 'Man in wood hut' or 'Guy with farm in valley,' even in the ever-popular Japanese names.

Quite.

Especially old last names...

They generally were the name of your father with "Fitz-" or "-son" tacked on.

Or a defining characteristic, like in England, a person with black hair was named "Black."

Or Profession, like "Smith" or "Cooper."

You don't REALLY get so many people with spiffy names like Hikari Kamui or Serenity Anathema.

Nope.

Faith and Hope are a bit more common, though. Charity less so.

[a heart of water]

Writing fantasy leads to many a silly name... Like Lenille. Lenille is the god of gods... and a woman XD. It's such a plain name... but her husaband is the Man of the Land, so they're an odd couple.

For my normal characters, I use behindthename.com, I love names with meanings, even if it's just "White" or "Hut". Meanings are fun.

[firegirl1151]

sweatdrop uhh... shouldnt you be writing this and incuging poeple to write? now im confused about what this writing thing is about lol

[pryncessgyrl]

wow u though hard about what to post biggrin

[Gutsy Taiyaki]

In one of my stories, one of the character's is named Olber.

The names of my characters are inspirations or parody of Movie character's names basically.

[MajKai Nis]

I saw no mention of the reasoning behind the name "Travis Bickle" in Taxi Driver. I'd like to see mention of the reasoning behind the name "Travis Bickle" in Taxi Driver.




I saw no mention of the use of telephone books when finding names. I'd like to see mention of the use of telephone books when finding names.

[Iphigenia Ismay]

Hey, name thread peoples.

I've got a couple of questions on names I've come up with for my characters.

Would it be appropriate for a second-generation Scandinavian couple who is very proud of their heritage to give their children typical American first names, but middle names that would be appropriate in their culture? What would have caused them to choose the particular American names that they picked?

Also, does anyone have any clue whether the surname Abel could appropriately be traced back to the Nordic Sami people?

And finally, how common is it for a child to take on the last name of her adoptive parents? If she were to be abandoned at an orphanage as a baby and not adopted until her teenage years, where would she have gotten her name?