I usually just think of what I want my character's name meaning. So for example my protagonist, Juvia, she can wield the power of water so her name literally means "rain woman". Side characters I would try to think of the same thing and if not sometimes I use a name generator lol. 
Several of my ocs are demons, so i chose names that caught my eye like Abaddon, Leviathan, Nemesis, etc.
I'm using modified versions of old languages. Most of the names have a cheeky reference to their role in the story or to their personality. I also have other reasons for this nomenclature. I always love to have rules for nomenclature of characters, locations and lore elements.
@powerplantanimations Yeah, alliterations are the best (Maybe because my name is alliterative)
So I had a few original ideas of what names I liked. Such as Anastasia and Evangeline, however, with Evangeline and her amnesia, I wanted her to have her real name. One that she learns eventually as she grew older.
One friend of mine, her natural tongue was maybe Sindarin and wanted to help me with elf stuff. We eventually decided on the name of Tara-nu-fuin. Or, for short, Tarnua. It is as made up as it gets, and I truly love it. I think it is incredibly unique, and it is the name I am most proud of.
The rest of my names are randomly generated if I have no idea what to do: i.e. Vance, Ragnar, and Philip. Another name I am proud of is Leona, I think it is incredibly pretty, and I like it.
A lot of my character names has self-made names with an eastern flair, and in some case they have other meanings in other languages.
Maor: I base it on Chinese sounding of 'fur child'. (Maor also means 'light' in Hebrew)
Amin: a common Arabic/Islamic male name. I base it on Chinese sounding of 'fellow/people'.
Sanariya: I want something exotic about this name, like 'Kurapika' in HxH. So this name is base on Indian/Arabian meaning of 'spendid singer' (a very feminine name)
Tery: As a bear man,he has a baby brother named 'Tedy'. (teddy-bear, see?) So I name him similar to 'Tedy'.
Bounder: First I thought I self-made this name but coinsidentally it also means 'dishonorable man' in dated English. 
I still think it suits him.
Tudo & Sanwi: This turtle sibling names are a pun. It comes from 'X-tudo Sandwich'.
Jen: I just think her design with ponytail feels like a "jenny/penny" name to me.
It also depends for me! Sometimes I choose names that just simply fit the setting and other times they have deeper meaning. (ie "Stellar" is a nod to her job studying celestial objects and "Suli Lux" is a reference to the light she brings into the story.)
I do all of the above, for a lot of main characters I will choose names that have some meaning behind them while secondary characters mostly have meaning while others are more generic. And while I do try to have names fit the setting like Rookie or Hudson which could be names still used in a future setting, I like to bedazzle in some more unique names like Kiorif and spoon to show a little variety.
His english pronounciation & the Chinese one are slightly different (has 2 separate words). Just call him ‘mah-or’ is fine 
('r' is very lightly sounded)
I pretty much just go with my gut on names, there's not a ton of reasoning.
Sometimes I'll go with a name that represents/means what they are to the story. But mostly I just rip names right out of mythology, as my work deconstructs and rebuilds various mythologies to work with my story ideas.
As someone who delivers the post it's easy for me to collect names I like during the day. In the UK countryside there are a lot of unusually named houses and houses whose names relate to their historic function e.g. The Old Smithy or The Farriers House. A lot of place names in West are quite literal for that same reason.
As for 'people' names they all have a certain vibe but, really, I don't think about them too hard. That bit me in the arse though because it turns out one of the fundamental character's names means 'worm' in a different common language which is kind of unfortunate 
A lot of the names for my characters are just random and weird.
Crow Worth - I like crows and his sister name is Raven. And there is a place called Ravensworth. Their dad’s name is Rook which is also in the crow family. Sometimes I will give family members a theme, I think I was inspired to do this because of Akira Toriyama.
Sugar Land, Brad Bail and Mr. Blueberry were also named after places.
Ken Kumo - because I like spiders. I don’t remember why I named him Ken maybe because it was an uncommon name.
I have some characters who used to have another name which was sort of weird or stupid and I gave them a new one.
Examples
Tong - Tony
Cloud - Claus
Rah - Rahm
Enaj - Elijah
I also have characters who’s names are weird spellings to words. This is mostly done to avoid confusion.
“Look it’s Day” vs “Look it’s Dai”
“I am Taboo” vs “I am Tabu”
Oooh have I got a website for you!
This site is a random name generator and I def use it when I get stuck. It also says what the name means so you can keep spamming random until you get a good one (there’s also a gender neutral option!)
You can also reference real life things, such as slightly changing names of your friends or TV characters. For example, in my comic I have a dog character, and because my comic is about demons I called him Dante.
You can also do what Rick Riordan did with Annabeth and just mash two names together to create a new one. Or you can just change the names of certain words, for example the Nomai species in Outer Wilds are based on the word Nomad.
Good luck!
Almost every character( excluding random characters that are just there like classmate or some teacher and also three of important characters) has name that has something to do with either their personality or their role in the story, i used names from different places, i just googled "names that mean _____" and i pick the name i like
I always try to pick a name that fits the person. Sometimes this means it has a specific meaning, but many times it just sounds like them, (if that makes any sense).
it depends on how important the character is to me.
I have large casts in my novels. impossibly large casts.
For the main characters I took great time with their names.
For Confessions, Sir Aldir Aldrich required a name that was fitting for the time, but unique enough to remember. His character existed long before the story but his name was constructed with it.
His friends had names that were built off of his and were similarly old fashioned.
Neon, the main character from A Galactic Star, is a pop star and began the novel with neon blue hair. the romantic lead Chrome, is opposite them in every way, including his grey colouring. Many of the other characters were named after people from pop culture. James, Neon's grandfather was named for James Dean. Lucy for Lucille Ball, and Anne, for Annie Lennox.
if the characters only have one appearance, usually i give them names randomly. I've rolled dice, and have a magic 8ball that I ask sometimes XD
Oooh, this one is fun !
For JUDAS SIGHED and other comics I have planned in the same universe, I've got a conlang (sort of) going. It's derived from Latin and Hebrew with nods to Enochian - another conlang - pronounciation.
Lan - named after his mother. Lan is actually a nickname. The beginning of his name has the "eh" sound, which is more masculine in their language.
Hain - cut from "Samhain," the origination of Halloween as we know it.
Iloehamil - derived from "glory" and "creation."
Karion - more obviously related to "carrion," like the kind of meat that scavenging animals eat.
For other projects, especially those set in present day, I try to give relatively normal names that still nod to the character's personality.
Ahriel Othello, Hazel Desdemona, and Hart Agape are all named for their place in the story. Hazel is a witch, witch hazel, funny joke. Othello and Desdemona, well, a lot of people have read Othello by Shakespeare. Hart Agape is named for love-like things because her patron goddess is Aphrodite Areia.
My characters have aliases and I have to make sure they tie in or represent them in some way. As for their own names, sometimes I choose what merely sounded good (or 'fits' them in a sense, it's pure gut feeling 
) but I do lean more towards celestial names, often relating to stars or constellations.
closed Apr 27, '22
