Creating good character names

[dscross]

Have any of you created character names before? I don't want the names just to be random. I want them to mean something relevant to their characters or for al least the name to sound a bit different and not boring - but at the same time believable. I'm really struggling with it. Do you have any tips to create one?

Edit: this is for a story.

 

[Hawki]

It really depends on the context.

Like, when I'm writing, and what the name of a background character, I usually use Wikipedia as a pseudo name generator. Ergo, I get a variety of names from various places in the world. Like, I wouldn't do this if the setting is fantasy, but in a real-world setting, or a setting that takes place in the future of our world and has a clear link to it, I use this method.

If we're talking about main characters, then I'll usually put more thought behind it, and have attempts at deeper meaning. For instance, when I wrote Seven Deadly Sins, I took heavy reference from The Divine Comedy, in that each chapter's epigraph is a quote from the work. The protagonist was named Dante Lodovico - Dante, as a reference to Dante Alighieri (who authored the work), and Lodovico, as a reference to Lodovico Dolce, who wrote the edition that used the name Divina Comedia. Some people picked up on it. Conversely, when I wrote All the World's a Stage (whose epigraphs are all quotes from Shakespeare plays), there's the worlds of Priam and Ithaca, and one of the characters on those worlds is named Troy. It's intended as a double reference, to not only the city of Troy (keeping in with Ithaca and Priam), but also a reference to the idea of the Trojan horse, since Troy is later revealed to be a pseudonym. Conversely, hardly anyone's given a damn about World, and no-one's apparently spotted the link, but that's par for the course (as in lack of feedback).

Of course, this is all fanfic, and I can take reference from the context of the setting as well. For instance, I named the main character of Anthem as "Coda," and you shouldn't have any problems guessing as to why. That said, turns out the world of Anthem is named "Coda" as well, so Bioware obviously hates me. On the other hand, I named Null Sector's leader in Overwatch as "Zero," but that's in the anticipation of him being called that as well, because, y'know...

And if we're talking about player characters with default names, I'll almost always use them - John Shepard, Sara Ryder, etc.

Basically, the TL, DR version is that if you need side characters, use a random name generator. If you're talking about major characters, try and give the names some meaning behind them. That's generally my view, though again, depends what type of setting we're talking about.

 

[Kae]

Well my process is very inconsistent and it varies heavily depending on each character, my most common method is that I've collected a list of over 4000 names that I like over the years and I sometimes just scroll through it and see if there's one that speaks to me, like this character is definitely an Eliza or whatever.

Another thing that I do is that once I decide from which kind of cultures the character hails from, I just do a deep dive and start researching everything I can about the naming conventions of the cultures, then once I have the patterns down I decide what relationship I want the character to have with their name and go from there, like why were they name that, do they like it, does it mean something in the meta-narrative? Things of the sort, I mean the possibilities are endless.
To be honest I also draw a lot of inspiration for the character from their given name because I know it can be relevant, in fact how relevant it is says a lot about the character, though my characters tend to go by many names so it's always a mess, but I guess that's what happens when I enjoy writing, scammers, spies, fugitives and so on, in which cases the fake or assumed names are just as important as their birth names and also say a lot about the character, like if they pretend to be someone important, someone insignificant, is it something that has emotional value, is it purely practical, is something they aspire to and so on.

Like for example a fugitive that assumes the name of Justin Case is probably a completely different character from someone that assumes the name of Joe Parker, right, the choices in names tell you a lot about them.

 

[Terminal Blue]

My feeling on meaningful/reference based names is that it's very hard to pull off, and what you think sounds clever probably doesn't.

I think it's important to remember that people can read Tolkien or Ian M. Banks and know what's going on despite the fact all the character names sound like anti-depressant brands and cats walking on keyboards respectively, all that matters is that the names are different enough from every other character so as not to get them confused.

 

[SupahEwok]

Names are hard. Most people names are re-used from older generations of the family. Most places are either named after people ("Pittsburgh", for instance, was named after an Earl Pitt, and Burg is a German suffix for castle that has come to mean city; most European languages I know of have suffix's like that), after things (I've found town street plans named entirely after different kinds of trees), or out of some property of the place itself (such as the Red River in Texas; the local dirt makes it look reddish).

I just use name generators until I find a name I like, or that I would like with a little modification. Names aren't easy for anybody, yet there's not any point in sweating them. If you spend a lot of time trying to make a "meaningful" name, it's time wasted because somewhere between 99.9999% and 100% of your audience won't understand it anyway. Just pick one and move on.

 

[Kyrian007]

Names can be difficult, the only real easy ones... are the jokes. Like a player in a gaming campaign I was running who turned in a character sheet without a name, and I asked him his character's name... and he told me Wayne Gibbous. Or an old GM who would ask our group to create characters in group with everyone there. He asked the first player his character's name and he replied "Luke." Asked the next guy who said after a little thought, "Bo." The next player in line, "Daisy," was followed by my character "Uncle Jesse," and our party was rounded out with "Cooter" and "Enis."

But coming up with a serious one... that takes time for me. Even just in a videogame where no one but me is going to see it... you hang the whole thing on the name.

 

[happyninja42]

Have any of you created character names before? I don't want the names just to be random I want them to mean something relevant to their characters or for al least the name to sound a bit different and not boring - but at the same time believable. I'm really struggling with it. Do you have any tips to create one?

Depending on the gameline, a Name might be highly important. Specifically the World of Darkness game lines often have great significance to the Name you use. It's very often not your birth name, but a Deed Name, or some variant, it's basically the Name you give yourself, based on the new life you are taking in the supernatural community. In the game Mage: The Awakening, my personal favorite, was a mage that took the mage name Frequency. He would usually answer to Quincy if they were in public, so it wouldn't seem as strange if someone overheard them talking, but the origin of the name was very significant.

Ok so, basically, to Awaken in Mage, you have to literally have some crazy out of body/mind trip out type scene, that ties you to one of the 5 Watchtowers of Reality. It's more detailed than that, but that's the general layout. He was having a vision that would make him an Obrimos, which is the name for the mages tied to the Prime and Force magic spheres. His vision/concept was basically a hybrid of a few things that I was fond of at the time, and still are in concept. First, a line from Bill Hicks, where he talks about how you never hear about good acid trips on the news


The Weirding Way from the David Lynch Dune film


And I think one of the magical concepts from The Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

But he basically saw reality as Bill Hicks described it, and was able to actually alter the rules of reality, by tuning into the correct "frequency" for the reality he wanted to accompish. So thus, he saw the forces of chaos and destruction as discord in that great song, and worked to try and harmonize with reality, and bring the fallen world more in tune with the higher realm. Thus, he called himself Frequency.

There was also Snaps at Fireflies, a name I've used for a few werewolf concepts I've made. Having the character be dubbed that by an elder werewolf, when they saw him as a newly Changed werewolf, in wolf form, just playing in their new wolf body, reveling in the freedom of shapeshifting. Thus, Snaps at Fireflies.

There are others I'm sure, but those are the two to come to mind currently.

 

[SckizoBoy]

For me, there needs to be justification for the character's name to have meaning.

Thus, a more pertinent question to ask is: why should the name have meaning? Rather than: how do I give a name meaning? Or: how do I give this meaning to a name? Even if it's a main character, why should the name have a particular meaning (beyond 'because I, as the author, want it to')? Once you can answer that, you can look to given their name a suitable meaning.

For myself, I usually translate the intended meaning into a plethora of other languages and see which has phonology/meter that fits the setting most (or mix and match more often than not). Alternatively, I look at the structure of the name of a historic personality and use that pattern with different components with obvious equivalence and apply it to the in-world analogue.

As a general note, I hate the use of real world references (i.e. calling a talented physicist Albert because Einstein, or a talented pianist Frederic because Chopin) because they're either invariably shallow and project a great deal or they're obtuse to the extent no-one gets it. Despite this, I'll still do it (namely the latter, typically by translation and false etymology because that aspect is fun for me) (hell, I think the second method above is basically just slightly less obtuse referencing, at that).

 

[Palindromemordnilap]

I tend to work out what I want from the character, and go from there. A one off, NPC or jokey character might just have a name taken from wikipedia that hints at what they are or do. If they're supposed to be a loyal companion then give them a name that hints at dogs, as an example.

If the character has more meaning then go with a name that is more elaborate. Work out where their name would have come from, what it might mean, why it would be important to them

 

[happyninja42]

I tend to work out what I want from the character, and go from there. A one off, NPC or jokey character might just have a name taken from wikipedia that hints at what they are or do. If they're supposed to be a loyal companion then give them a name that hints at dogs, as an example.

If the character has more meaning then go with a name that is more elaborate. Work out where their name would have come from, what it might mean, why it would be important to them

Yeah I usually just try and have a name that sounds like a regular name for the setting. Also inspiration for them can come from some very weird places. Like, a common name I use for most rogue style characters I play in video games, originally was named for a D&D character I made, and his name was a combination of the name of a brand of old modem (Altimar) and a star that I really liked the name of from the Lyon's Pride series of books by Anne McCaffery (Deneb). I was sitting at a computer writing up the stats, and glanced over at the name of the modem at my dad's office and was like "Huh, Altimar...that sounds cool. Sounds kind of Elven." *yoink!*

Another I use for Paladin/Cleric types is Leo Fallstar, which just felt like the kind of name someone from a Paladin family line would probably have. I can't really think of others offhand, because I usually just pick a name that sounds fitting for the setting. It's not important in itself, it's just the sounds that are his name. But then most games don't really have an importance tied to the names of a character, so it's not really a big issue in my mind.

 

[Palindromemordnilap]

Yeah I usually just try and have a name that sounds like a regular name for the setting. Also inspiration for them can come from some very weird places. Like, a common name I use for most rogue style characters I play in video games, originally was named for a D&D character I made, and his name was a combination of the name of a brand of old modem (Altimar) and a star that I really liked the name of from the Lyon's Pride series of books by Anne McCaffery (Deneb). I was sitting at a computer writing up the stats, and glanced over at the name of the modem at my dad's office and was like "Huh, Altimar...that sounds cool. Sounds kind of Elven." *yoink!*

Another I use for Paladin/Cleric types is Leo Fallstar, which just felt like the kind of name someone from a Paladin family line would probably have. I can't really think of others offhand, because I usually just pick a name that sounds fitting for the setting. It's not important in itself, it's just the sounds that are his name. But then most games don't really have an importance tied to the names of a character, so it's not really a big issue in my mind.

In a DnD campaign I was DMing for my friends the party was in a city trying to reacquire stolen goods from a crime lord. I just named all his henchmen after spells from the Player's Handbook. Easy for me to come up with, easy for them to keep track of. They might forget running into a Relznar or Poltrix or whatever fantasy name I might devise, but you're damn straight they could remember Scorching Ray and Preston Digitation

 

[happyninja42]

In a DnD campaign I was DMing for my friends the party was in a city trying to reacquire stolen goods from a crime lord. I just named all his henchmen after spells from the Player's Handbook. Easy for me to come up with, easy for them to keep track of. They might forget running into a Relznar or Poltrix or whatever fantasy name I might devise, but you're damn straight they could remember Scorching Ray and Preston Digitation

Hehe, yeah well I found out I was pretty good at naming the NPC's of a particular Storyteller in our Werewolf setting on a website. I found it much easier to pick a single identifying feature that they used to describe them in text, and just dub them that. like "I use my Gift against Green Eyes, and ensnare him in roots!" or "I shoot at Foam Mouth or Bloodshot" and I found that it would stick with the other players, as it was really easy to say "oh ok I know which one he's going after." The Storyteller would even adopt the terms for them for the rest of the fight. Assuming they didn't actually give them names when they were introduced.

 

[Asita]

I like to take the idea that people 'grow into' their names, so my philosophy is to think of the core traits of a character (abilities, virtues, vices, philosophies, things that speak to who they are as a character) and I look for names that reflect on that. "Asita", for instance, was the name I chose for my dervish in Guild Wars because it has a meaning of "tranquil", which I liked in light of the class's "whirlwind of destruction" description. I envisioned Asita as the calm eye of the storm contrasting with the carnage he was dispassionately causing. He was a soldier who was honestly at peace with himself and his cause, so I felt the name suited him. Similarly, when I was looking for a name for a unique race I was building for fun, I decide to name them off the virtue their culture most prized: "generosity", and so I plopped the word into the translator and called then "Bujari" (the Albanian term for...well, generosity).

With that being said, I'm also quite fond of being indirect. I've named innocent, good-natured children after death gods because they had an undiscovered affinity for death magic. I've named villains after the (heavily warped) virtue that guides them.

And then there's my "Zaccone" character for Shadowrun. The character was made as a Face specializing in impersonation/infiltration, and I gave him my own proclivity for 'meaningful' names when it came to his identities. The guy was a literature/"old" media geek, and all of his aliases (including his runner name) were chosen to reference characters he felt reflected in. For instance, the name "Zaccone" itself was a false name given by a disguised Edmond Dantes, which he claimed to be the actual name of the Count of Monte Cristo. Suffice it to say that my runner chose it in acknowledging that there's a bit of resonance between his backstory and that of the Count...the same reason he introduces himself as Andrew Dufresne when he's pissed and wants to make his cohorts sweat with a more obvious reference. Less obviously, he also uses the names of several Clayfaces, and a variation on the name of silver screen legend Lon Chaney as a flex of his disguise/impersonation abilities. You get the idea. It's a quirk I gave him. Amusingly enough, however, I also threw a curveball into this tendency in that his real name was "Logan Williams", which has no greater meaning to him as a character outside of the fact that the given name and surname are both very common in Canada, his country of origin.

 

[Agema]

Basically, the TL, DR version is that if you need side characters, use a random name generator. If you're talking about major characters, try and give the names some meaning behind them. That's generally my view, though again, depends what type of setting we're talking about.

Mm. Depending on what you mean by this, I think this it is potentially dangerous territory - it can come off very clunky if the names have some sort of allegory or allusion.

I think you probably just need to ensure that the names are credible for the character - there are names with popularities by nation, class etc. that need to be considered. For instance, if you've got a working class cockney called Tristram Winthorpe-Smythe then you're asking for credibility problem.

 

[Fieldy409]

It's very hard and I haven't tried to write stories in a long time but I do write DND notes for dungeon mastering and the fucking names are hell. I can suggest something. If you are stuck on it don't think you need to establish a name before you write a story. You can simply use placeholders until you think of a name later.

For example when writing your story you could go "And then [MALE HERO 1] unsheathed his sword and gave out a warcry before charging headfirst at [EVIL DEMON]." While you still have energy and inspiration, and fill in the details later. Just have a go and sort it out later.

I believe Microsoft word even has a feature allowing you to automatically replace all instances of a word/words with another word, so that even in a very large novel you could quickly fix the names.


And for inspiration, mythology is always good. And don't worry if somebody can turn your name into a joke. Its fine, I named a city 'Relax' and everyone started singing the song immediately like I knew they would. Then theres the endless sex jokes of course. Heck It'll just help people remember if a joke is attached to it.

 

[Agema]

It's very hard and I haven't tried to write stories in a long time but I do write DND notes for dungeon mastering and the fucking names are hell. I can suggest something. If you are stuck on it don't think you need to establish a name before you write a story. You can simply use placeholders until you think of a name later.

For example when writing your story you could go "And then [MALE HERO 1] unsheathed his sword and gave out a warcry before charging headfirst at [EVIL DEMON]." While you still have energy and inspiration, and fill in the details later. Just have a go and sort it out later.

Back in the 80s I played a computer game called Doomdark's Revenge. It was made with a name generator algorithm, such that every square on the map had an associated name. The names were formed of 3 segments each consisting of different letter cominations 1-4 long; each segment ends in a consonant, and segments 2 & 3 start with a vowel, so they all fit together. Names ended up 5-10 characters long. This allowed all the characters to be named, because they took the name associated from the square their home is in, and all that needed to be done was that the names for many terrain squares were "overridden", so that a contiguous series of mountain or forest squares all got the same name chosen from one of their constituent squares. It's a brilliant solution to the author having to think up hundreds, if not thousands, of names. Although there's still a lot of similarity in names where they share common segments (for instance there's an Imgormand and an Imgorthand).

There's no reason a similar system can't be run up together for a fantasy RPG: could do it via a simple bit of programming cells with Excel.

 

[Gordon_4]

In one of the Dilbert books I have, Scott Adams recounts how the character Dilbert got his name. Essentially it was a contest at work among his colleagues (where most of his early material came from before he went full time) and apparently when the name 'Dilbert' was written next to the illustration he declared that person the winner. He described the feeling as less naming Dilbert but rather finding out what his name was.

I think that's an approach you can take: sketch out all the other details that are important to the setting. Flesh out backstory, profession (and what drew them to it) and sundry details like that I reckon at one point a name is just gonna pop into your head.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

One method I have is to pick a theme for characters and then name them all after things within that theme. Not things that are obvious that would pull someone out of the story with how there's so many people named after plants meeting up or something.

For instance, in the story I'm working on, there are various leaders of these giant city states and I named all of them after famous influential people, things, and places. So one of them is named Ot, the name of a fire goddess from Steppe mythology, another is Kamelot, the castle from Arthurian legend, another is Psalm after the psalms from the bible, Abraham, after the American president, and so on.

This overarching theme covers a wide enough range of things that it won't stand out too much to most people unless they think about it a bit but also gives me some guidelines to follow that makes it both fun and easier for me to find potential names.

 

[happyninja42]

One method I have is to pick a theme for characters and then name them all after things within that theme. Not things that are obvious that would pull someone out of the story with how there's so many people named after plants meeting up or something.

For instance, in the story I'm working on, there are various leaders of these giant city states and I named all of them after famous influential people, things, and places. So one of them is named Ot, the name of a fire goddess from Steppe mythology, another is Kamelot, the castle from Arthurian legend, another is Psalm after the psalms from the bible, Abraham, after the American president, and so on.

This overarching theme covers a wide enough range of things that it won't stand out too much to most people unless they think about it a bit but also gives me some guidelines to follow that makes it both fun and easier for me to find potential names.

Yeah clan/culture names based around a person or concept that they feel represents them is a naming convention with a long tradition in fiction. And it's got some roots in reality too, since a lot of people would be named after their professions, especially fosters and foundlings.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Yeah clan/culture names based around a person or concept that they feel represents them is a naming convention with a long tradition in fiction. And it's got some roots in reality too, since a lot of people would be named after their professions, especially fosters and foundlings.

An example of this practice is from Inti Creates. In their Azure Striker Gunvolt games they designed their bosses around a theme then gave them names based around a different theme. As an example, here's the themes from Luminous Avenger iX.

Astrological Sign - Order of Angels - Science Fiction Movie

The astrological sign relates to their appearance and abilities, their order relates to their general character, and their names (With one exception) are based on the titles of science fiction movies.

As one example, Dystnine

Is based on the astrological sign Taurus, his weaponized form resembles both a bull and a matador and his ability is called Vector Cloth, which allows him to change the direction and inertia of things that come in contact with it and he holds it like a matador's cloth.

The order of angels he is inspired by is Cherubim, if I were to guess as to how they inspired him, cherubs often have a theme of being protectors in their depictions and Dystnine is the butler robot to another character and thus could be seen as a protector or guarder of them.

And finally, his name is based on the film District Nine. Though the themes and story of the film don't relate to Dystnine.