How did you come up with the name of your protagonist?

ThunderChicken 2025-04-22 20:47:38 UTC #21

Daecon came about his name in a roundabout way: The first draft of the story I had him called "Hunter", and the story was called "Finding Hunter's Way". For some reason I decided that I didn't like the name, though, and sought a new one. I remembered a tertiary character from the final season of the TV show "Reboot", which was groundbreaking at the time (first CGI animated TV show, mid 1990's). The show was set inside a computer, and the characters were referred to "sprites" (the characters that looked most realistic), "Binomes" (more primitive characters, ones and zeroes), and, of course, viruses (names Megabyte, Hexadecimal, Killabyte, Gigabyte, and, in the last season, Daemon and her lieutenant Daecon). While Daecon played a very small part in the show, only showing up in a few episodes, I've always liked the name, and so I applied it to my character.

simplykit 2025-04-24 23:54:53 UTC #22

was thinking of one of my favorite porn stars...

but i just changed the last letter huhu

NGChloe 2025-04-25 00:06:50 UTC #23

I was writing another story and found a character I was writing was more interesting than the protag, who I found more on the bland side. I then rewrote the story around this character, but throughout the multiple changes, they themselves ended being rather bland. I then wrote an Fe3H fanfic, and one of my fav charas to write was Mercedes, so when i got back to Glassflower, I added more Mercedes elements to the character of Setsune

ArtGremlin 2025-04-25 18:38:19 UTC #24

The protagonist of the novel I accidentally started writing, Felix, is named that partially because it means lucky (which he is. It’s kinda his whole thing), but the in-universe reason he was named that was because it was his grandfather’s name (before he got brainwashed into being a secret police and his name was changed to Flower) which is ironic, because his grandfather has terrible luck. Coincidentally, he has the same name as my little brother (It’s a coincidence because I would’ve given him the same name even if my brother didn’t exist) So now I’ve given random slightly relevant characters the names of each of my family members because I think it’s funny. Most of them are in the previously mentioned story, but two are in this other one that I’ll never get around to making but I thought it would be cool if it was an animated musical.

Algae 2025-07-14 00:22:54 UTC #25

At the time I was watching slam dunk, and I really liked this side character, Yohei Mito, who didn't get enough screen time imo, and it happened to have a meaning and ring to it that really suited my character, so I just went with it :]

shriraa.sha 2025-07-14 03:58:02 UTC #26

For my characters, it was based on their future pathways in the plot as well as their true selves.

simonitropunk 2025-07-14 04:17:38 UTC #27

Lyza - I think the name Lyza is a strong name for a strong female character... when I saw her in a dream, I can't help but to sketch her. She looked fierce and strong and asked some friends like name suggestion and a friend gave out "Lyza, Samantha, Monica...) but Lyza stuck to me... it's a strong name. Not Leeza!!!... it's LYZA (La-i-i-za). It's still very feminine but had an edge to it.

Solaris - Also suggested by a friend... formerly in 2007, when this idea came about, she used to be called "Sarah"... Sarah and Owen. At work in 2011/2012, I was sketching her on my break at work and an English friend, she said "Solaris" and BOOM!!! Solaris and Owen.

Both came friends' suggestions.

faisalhussein394 2025-07-14 05:08:29 UTC #28

For me, I picked the Main Protagonist's name as Mukhtar Mohammad A'noor. Which means "Chosen Praise worthy of the light".

My second comic called Abbasia has no Main Protagonist Character, for the empire called "Abbasia" is the Main Protagonist. A tale about the rise and fall of an empire in SCI-FI.

The word Abbasia is inspired by the Abbasid Caliphate:

Trish 2025-07-14 05:43:12 UTC #29

I have protagonists named Megan and Melvin.

Honestly just wanted girl-boy twin names that were similar to each other, and it was good enough for me.

Genre: Supernatural-horror, Drama, Thriller

mccoyamandamarie 2025-07-14 22:46:47 UTC #30

For any character I consider the nationality of the character and what kind of story they are in then look at lists of names from that culture for inspiration. Like my main character in my novel Dead Body Girl, the story has a lot of traditional horror themes so my main character is from Romania. I was going to make her from Transylvania, but I thought that would be too on the nose. Being from Eastern Europe, she would have a Slavic sounding name. I noticed that a lot of Slavic female names had "ina" at the end so I gave her the name, Yukarina, Kari for short.

AAVI 2025-07-26 05:36:55 UTC #31

I actually have a duo. The first is Mokash, I can't reveal his name's meaning yet, as it's related to the plot. The second is his brother Grahn, whose name is inspired by the Hindi word for eclipse.
Both of their names are related to their destinies.

thecamrendutha 2025-07-26 05:56:28 UTC #32

I really love astronomy, so most of my protagonists have names inspired by stars!

My first protagonist is Alioth, named after the star in the Ursa Major constellation. He’s the classic golden-haired hero—noble, radiant, and a little emotionally constipated.

The second one is literally named Star. Yeah. I wasn’t even subtle with that one She’s kind of the mirror to Alioth: where he’s all optimistic and chosen-one-y, she’s like “why is the universe my problem??”

Then we have Siegfried, based on the legendary German dragon-slayer. In my story, he’s a gentle knight who would rather protect his friends than fight—but he can throw hands when needed.

Friedrich was named after a famous German poet and novelist (shoutout to Novalis), but I turned him into the chaotic funny guy who somehow always ends up in danger on purpose.

And Klara… her name comes from Clara Zetkin, a badass German activist. she’s an advocate for women’s rights and equality in the late 1900s. I reimagined her as the smart one in the party who probably has a hundred conspiracy boards in her room and gives the group all the Big Brain energy.

Aeonyn_Art 2025-07-26 06:59:29 UTC #33

I'm part of a three person (formerly four person) team with my brothers, so deciding on each name was a big battle. I think it came down to what sounded "right'" along with the meanings. I also happen to have a fantasy name generator app. The main protagonist, Kira, was relatively easy because her name literally means "ruler" or "princess," which pretty much sums up her character. My youngest brothers were 11 at the time, and for whatever reason their young minds thought it'd be fitting for every frog person's name to start with "gh," which I couldn't disagree with: hence, Ghlimbyrt, a deuteragonist (most of the name is made up, but "Bert" means "light," which made sense for our lil' ball o' sunshine ). Another deuteragonist recently introduced is Mae. Since she's a young mage, it seemed right that her name be related to nature-ish. It means "young maiden," and is short and sweet, like her. The one that was hardest to win was our first deuteragonist, Gideon. We always knew he'd be a serious warrior, so something with a related meaning was what we were looking for. However, my other brother was very particular about how it sounded. Eventually, he gave up, and I got to pick Gideon (meaning "one who cuts down"). Sorry bro, but I think he's come to agree with it. Anyway, I apologize for the rant!

dimsum_y 2025-07-26 11:12:46 UTC #34

In Celestial Promise, my protagonist's name usually reflects their national/ethnic origin and their personality. Sometimes, for background characters, their names would be simple or just reflect their small role in the story. For example, Mei Ying was a combination of Chinese and Hmong/Miao. Mei 美 means "beautiful" in Chinese. Ying means "luster/shine of gems" in Hmong. Another example is a background character's name, Yong Yi, which means "easy/not difficult" in Hmong; also a name for Hmong boys. Although, he had boasted to be among the best fighters, he was then defeated by the main love interest.

drbwp4 2025-07-30 19:33:15 UTC #35

I have a problem where the first name that pops into my head is the characters name. Occasionally if I can't think of a name I go to google, but most of the time a name pops into my head and sometimes I get something stupid like N lol.

annuskabriar 2025-07-30 21:38:52 UTC #36

It mostly popped into my head, and I kept it because it fit her vibes and the vibe of the story (her name being Gray). For her last name... thats Silker, and I don't remember how I came up with the -silk part but -er is a common last name ending in their culture (sort of like Mc/Mac in say Irish last names) which is why that's there. I think I just liked the sound of Silker?

One of the two deuteragonists, Soleil, was named that because her palette is full of warm colours (unlike Gray's subdued cool palette) and it fits her vibes and personality. Though Soleil isn't the word for sun in their world, as French doesn't exist there aha

Astrid, the other deuteragonist, just had her name pop into my head and I couldn't argue with it. Stefan Siris and Steffan (two different characters) were both named that in the dreams they came from, and I didn't want to change it.

MrVandrin 2025-07-31 01:20:10 UTC #37

For Justin, I just wanted him to have a very simple first name. It's a simple, common 6-letter name. But it also fits him. Justin means "just", "fair" or "righteous". And Justin is a kid with a strong righteous mind to him.

Vivian is based on "vivus", the Latin word for "alive". It fits Vivian's element of nature and her plantlike biology and abilities. There's also another reason, but that's a spoiler

remiquise 2025-07-31 13:37:01 UTC #38

Mayme was popular more in the 1800s. Associated with the meaning "bitter" and also "beloved" which encapsulates the antag's feelings about her well. Plus it's pronounced "Maim" which is quaint for a vampiric monster, even if she's really quite docile and kind.

Percival was named such because giving a knightly name to an absolute monster of a human being was funny to me, and contrasted the leading lady's name being a word generally horrific, like, ya know, Maim pretty well. He's more of the antagonist, but his name feeds into the themes well and bounces off Mayme's so... eh.

Most the characters in this story have pretty bog standard names for the time period and general locations they're from, and given the cast is pretty sizeable I'll just focus on the merman, the only one with a rarer name, Esmerlin: I named him that because it sounded like "Esmeralda". The pirate captain's attraction to him feels forbidden and sinful, though she doesn't act as weird about it as Judge Claude Frollo does in The Hunchback of Notre Dame lol. It was more to evoke that feeling and thought. Esmerlin was also chosen because it sounds "exotic"-- having been captured and named by a circus, of course the impresarios would name the merman something they deem as "exotic". It would make for better posters and a more mystical sale's pitch, ya know?

toonben 2025-08-02 00:19:44 UTC #39

Well, I looked up the meaning of the name to see if matches their personality.

Caiden Clanwing is the protagonist of my story. Caden means "fighter" and "strength" in old English. I felt it fits the character as he's defender of the elves against the behemoths.

Lisanne Ambrose is the secondary protagonist. The name combination of Elizabeth and Anne which I thought would be a good name.

doitlikeomar69 2025-09-01 23:51:08 UTC #40

When I thought about Riki as a character I was trying to think power or someone who screams magic and growth