Anyone else struggles with names?

[Fuzed]

Whenever I write something, I have the plot figured out in no time. But naming stuff. That's a real hassle.

For my current novel I usually just go with words from Latin since it really fits the topic. What do you think?

Also, how do you choose names for characters, moves, cities, etc.?

Occidendum | Tapas

[VibrantFox]

Naming is always tough especially for characters and locations. Usually my go to for people is those baby naming websites or name meaning websites that way i can just plug in a word, theme or whatever and it pops out a bunch of names that fit those things.

As for locations it's a bit tougher so I'll either make something random up by smashing a bunch of letters or random words together or dig though sites that generate names for fictional locations. (Note the trend of turning to name generators for things)

As for "moves" as you mentioned I'll only ever name them if it's going to be mentioned and makes sense to the setting. Their might be generators for those but way back when I was naming attacks I'd just kind of mess around with something simple that loosely described the move or just sounded cool. Sometimes "it sounds cool" is reason enough.

[sii]

I hate names. I'm bad at naming stuff. Like, really bad. My main characters names are just numbers, 'cause I'm bad at coming up with names.

My locations? I haven't named a single location. I keep everything vague so I don't have to give names and show people how bad I am at naming things. The only named location in my story is literally "The Island of...." in my mother tongue. lol

[Fuzed]

Yeah, I use generators a lot as well.

There's also this book called Gary Gygax's Extraordinary Book of Names if I'm not mistaken, which is amazing for anyone looking for Fantasy names for pretty much whatever. I would really take a look at that if you're a fantasy writer.

As for moves, I always struggle with trying to make them unique. For example, a dash. The only thing I could think of were things like Quickstep, Flashstep, etc. All of them have been used at least in 100 different books. And Latin didn't really save me there. All of the names sounded off.

But yeah, "sounding cool" is pretty much how I go with everything that's supposed to be cool.

[Hutch-Comics]

Ugh. Names, it's almost the last thing I do. Then it depends on the type of story genre, whether the name is just something I like or has to 'mean' something. Friggin' nightmare I tells ya. Latin and Greek are quite good I find.

Cities/locations on the other hand aren't too bad. I go by the breaking words apart and sticking them together into something I like the sound of. Then Google it to make sure someone else hasn't taken it.

[rumpenstiltzkin]

I really do like naming my characters, I get inspiration from alot of places and always write it down on my phone when something pop up in my head so I have a big list to chose from whenever I need it! (like I can see the registration letters on a car that resembles a name and I get an idea for something)
I also like to take normal names and switching out letters so they sound a little bit different, Like Camilla and I changed it to Camirra for one of my characters.

But naming cities, objects, special magic thingies, techs or whatever, now there's a struggle
And then i wont even talk about naming titles for comic/stories, ugh, thats the worse :S

[WOSTR]

My stories generally go through a load of names yet by luck I've always found the best one just before release.
My current one here use to be called 'Peep's in the mirror', the plot was a little different too, yet I rearranged and added a load.
I wanted to incorporate the leading characters in the title somehow, they're a pair of monsters, a sea monster that resembles an octopus and a land monster who's a queen bee, it was was 'seas bees' for a moment as a play on the word 'see', then 'bees seas' as it's a play on alphabetical order, then one day 'Seaing Beeing' just sounded perfect, as it incorporates them being monsters in the 'being's along with the sea/see pun.
The character AntBee, is a play on ant the insect, which she essentially is and aunt as in aunty, as she's supposed to come across as that jolly hyper aunty, along with Bee, as abbreviation of names is common, and she's a bee too.
The character Mr.Yates is named after another character, though nicknamed 'Luvette' (a.k.a Love it) as this was his mothers catchphrase (which he didn't understand).
Neither introduce themselves using their real names. The confusion is based on accounts of demons not wanting to reveal their identity.

[Fuzed]

That pretty much describes my process. Then, 5 chapters down the line, I start second-guessing my choice...

[Fuzed]

The worst ones are the ones that appear all the time. i.e. the title, MC's, etc. Whenever I name those, I start second-guessing my decision. But it's already too late to change them if I have 5 released chapters.

[Fuzed]

That's actually really clever! I love that. The bees seas one is definitely my favourite, even though I most likely wouldn't have realized the pun was there without an explanation.

Keep that up!.

[Freemints30]

names, I don't name I just get random name generators like the one below to name people
https://www.behindthename.com/random/?number=2&sets=1&gender=both&surname=&randomsurname=yes&usage_nor=1&usage_fntsy=1

For places I just i usually just translate a word vaguely related to the place and then mangle it beyond recognition.

For titles...Well I'm lost on that one.

[CommanderMarty]

I struggle with names, I usually just name things after stuff that's around me at that moment.

[LadyN]

Coming up with names it hard. You can find a name that matches the character but you don’t like how it sounds or it’s too complicated/simple. So you just look for the most unique names because you like suffering.

[Fuzed]

I really hate naming. Because I think of something I feel sound pretty cool and the next day I can't even look at it. And an endless cycle is born...

[Fuzed]

So you MC would be called Laptop and his love interest would be Ms Laptop Charger.

Sounds pretty cool honestly. As unique as it gets...

[Fuzed]

I can relate to this on a spiritual level...

[CommanderMarty]

A more accurate example would be Lap.

I also tend to name characters based on their role in the story.

For example the main character of my comic is Central.

[Fuzed]

So you're saying I should be on a lookout for a side-character called "Dies in Chapter 25"?

[Hutch-Comics]

Ha! Either that of it gets to the point where you think "I can't keep calling them 'Main Character', 'Villain'or 'Possible Doublecrosser'.

[foxnflames]

I think of what I want my character to represent then I look up that word in different languages and scramble the letters