Welcome to Gaia! ::

I'm sorry if this has been made before but it is important. I just write and something will come to me. I like the idea of going to babynames.com but some are better if you make them up. Where do you get your names? How much do the characters you name become a part of you? If yours mean anything what do they mean or do they reflect someones personality?

I suppose it depends very very much.
Sometimes, characters come to me "fully formed", like Harry Potter to JK Rowling XD. Sometimes I imagine them iwth their name and without it, it wouldn't be them.

Other times, I have everything except for the name, which is extremely frustrating since the name is so important. I found this really good site in which you put the trait and they search for the name which means that trait, so it can be really useful if there's a characteristic you want to emphasize. (I'll look for the site and post it here when I find it XD)

I don't usually write fantasy so I don't have the problem of inventing names. But even then it can be fun XD. Though, once I made a story set in Mars, and I got so enthusiastic about it I started reading books on Mars geograpy and ended up twisting the names of the mountains into the names of the characters. Sadly, I never really wrote down the names or the story, so I lost the idea. Which is terrible, since it was a really fun one XD.

But yeah, I do like making names reflect something about my characters. At least most of the time.

With my character names, I generally stick to Final Fantasy XI and onward nomenclature styles (weird sounding names). What I do is take an existing name, then just distort the letters around and when I'm done I end up with a name for a character. It helps if you can connect the character to its basis for easier naming. (Like I have a character based on one of my oldest friends, I just twisted his name around a bit to create the character name)

It's not just names of the people they're based on I do. Sometimes I like to distort the adjectives of their personality, or use their profession (i.e., one of my characters in a previous draft was named Oracle due to me being lazy in finding a name and also since she's the story's resident seer. ^^

For names, try using this website for some really nice ones ^^

my stories are usually placed based (i chose the names according to where the story takes place) so i go to baby naming sites that will let you chose by entering a meaning to a name, then an origin. i like choosing names that suit the character by meaning. for example: in my current story, the main female character is the one that holds everything together, and her name Cadwyn (in welsh) means "bright chain".

i find it makes my characters more meaningful (no pun intended there) to me and the story. i can't speak for the readers on that one because, well, i'm not them! XD

good luck!

i am hopless with names, i admit it, i am GREAT at storylines, and the name of the first main character i think of, but after that, i'm lost, i have to think really hard to find a name that clicks with a character sweatdrop
i'm writing a story that's sort of based in Japan, and i need a few Japanese names, send me a pm if you have any ideas heart

Coming up with names can be hard, I usually make names from people I know. like for this one person I know who is called Ken, i add some letters or what I want and I came up with Kelon. Most of the characters I make are based on people's personalities though sadly.

As with everyone else here, it depends what I'm writing.

For stories where the characters are based on models (part of them are taken from real human people) I like to picture that person in my mind and think of what I would have named them if it were my decision. This is what I usually do for "real-life" type screenplays. Then, I'll usually thing of what I want their ethnic background to be and go to a geneology site to decide their last name. Last names I choose generally tend to be occupation or decent based.

For fantasy characters, there are two options. Most of my fantasy stories have a ltitle bit of sci-fi in them, so different names work. Sometimes I try to think of elements or things that have the same characteristics as the people. For example, the two main characters in one of my stories are Cobalt and Neon.

Othertimes, it's harder and easier. Many of my fantasy stories are based on legends from my (vero obscure) religion. In that case I either choose the heroes names as they have always existed, or meditate with the personality in mind to find a name. My own religious name was found that way (Baytianna).

Ayeka Aurora was a combination of an original name that came to me in meditation and the aurora borialis. It was what I used to want to name my first born daughter, now it is both a character and a screen name.

Babynames is always good when I have a sound in mind but no concreate name. I also use it when I want a name to be suited to both genders, be more conventional, and the names I'm thinking of don't work.

I don't see this being helpful at all, but it was fun to explain it all.