Naming Characters

[Stargazer31]

Most of my characters are from norse mythology, so I use their traditional names. Original characters have names that are either based around Norse names (Gunhild, Sigrun, Ingrid, Greta, etc), or are simple names (Luke, Trollarella, Alva.) Luke Eli Smith is homogenous to Loki Liesmith.

[Puck]

I sometimes use names of tv characters when the characters have similiar character trades because
I connect the name with those character types. Ashley for example is a good female villain name
for me in a slice of life kind of story, the name sounds a bit arrogant, evil but also good looking to me
because of a character called Ashley in one of the series I looked as a kid.
There are lists of names that many people connect with attractive people and some of those
names really work well.

Medieval story name finding is easy and there are good lists for that

[domisotto]

I think I just go with the story’s setting to chose characters’ names.

I guess my most questionable venture is Volya Wolkov (Will of the Wolves), but usually I don’t go that crazy.

For contemporary stories, I prefer simple names, and I usually look to figure skaters to see how names combine with surnames & ask for people from those countries to help me to avoid unusual or bad combinations.

For fantasy names, I look at historic lists of names. Yes, some of them are unusual in modern times, but they are also gorgeous and often sounds good to the ear. Names lost to times or simplified with use usually are complicated or come from the dead tongues, failing to adapt to the new hosts. Or, on the contrary, was nothing wrong with them, but they got destroyed by baptismal names after the country’s conversion.... sometimes they even got brought back or reinvented in search for national identity as an alternative to Greek, Hebrew and Latin roots.

Lol, anyway, I love names!

[cookieroach]

Naming characters is so hard for me. I’ve just accepted that I suck at it and can never come up with cool names. Instead, I scroll through a mile worth of name lists and pick a name that “feels right”. I try to not be too serious about it. I really look up to people that have a good sense for naming!

[cherrystark]

My given name is one that embodies a certain trait. I have a list of similar names that I try to avoid using for characters because the trait might be too much: Dilligence, Deliverance, etc.

[Cyena]

I like names that have a meaning behind them. When I create a character, I'll first think of their personality, appearance and background. The name comes last for me.

There are a lot of lists on the internet with countless of names and their meaning or origin. So I'll go through these lists and pick the ones that fit my character. Maybe the meaning of the name refers to a certain personality trait, or something that is important to them. When I have a few potentional names, I pick the one which I think fits the character the most or looks the most unique. It's always nice if it's a name that you can shorten, this could serve as a nickname

I'm currently planning a story in which the main character is constantly lying to herself and others. I gave her the name "Vera" which actually means "truth"