I could use some help with character names!

[BellaBoo0077]

Hello all! I'm new to this forum, and need some help coming up with names for a few of my characters. The plot of my story is still a bit in development, but I sorta had an idea for a story and am writing it at the moment. I have about 3 "chapters" (if you even wanna call them that), and I just can't stand not having good names for my characters. Usually when I write the names just come out automatically, but this time i'm really at a loss. So far the female lead is "Eve" and the male is "Adam" just because I can't think of anything that fits them just right. I'm sorry if you get a lot of these type questions or something, but i could really use some advice or just a fresh look at things!

Main Male Character: 22 years old, 6 feet 2 inches, shaggy wavy dark brown hair, green eyes. Crooked bottom teeth. Muscular, but not ripped. Skin tanned from being outside most his life. Moved around a lot as a kid and is new to the area. Shy and quiet. He is strikingly good looking, but not in the male model sort of way, in the kind of way where you don't notice it until you've seen him a few times and all the sudden it hits you. Has a scar above his left eyebrow that he tries to hide with his hair. Only child. Lives with his father. Drives a beat up old green pickup and works for his dad at a garage. I think I would like a bit of an old fashioned name. Nothing trendy or popular, something that seems like it would have been passed down generations, but maybe a little unique.

Main Female Character: 19 years old, 5 foot 3, slender but definately not muscular, breasts and hips that are a little bit too big for her frame. Extremely self concious. Brown curly hair that goes to her shoulders, big bright blue eyes. Pale skin, blushes easily. Girl next door cute, not sexy at all. Oval face. Bookworm. Straight A student attending a local community college. Got accepted to an Ivy league school with scholarships but didnt go and no one really can figure out why. Very funny, uses humor to hide her insecurites. Works part time at a hardware store. Loves science. Little kids scare her. Very picky eater and is a huge animal lover. Always carries her ipod with her. Youngest of 7 brothers. I want something very feminine. Maybe ending in an A? Like Lila or Bella, something short that maybe has a longer full name?

Male's Father: Mid to Late 50's. 6'6, looks like he was once very strong and powerul but has gotten a little pudgy with age. Jokester, brown hair starting to get grey. Brown eyes. Dark tanned skin, like he has spent his whole life outside. Dimples. Everyone calls him by his first name, even his son. Widower. Huge flirt. Has a lot of money, but no one really knows how or why and he won't talk about it. Doesn't spend it on much. Recently purchased a garage and works there 7 days a week. Rough around the edges but easy to love. Doesn't have a lot of tact or grace, says whatever comes to his mind. Eats oreos for breakfast everyday. Owns antique cars and trucks. I was thinking maybe something like charlie or billy. A formal name that has a childish nickname, because he is trying to keep his youth forever.

Female's best friend: 20 years old, 5'4, slim, huge brown eyes, long straight light brown hair. very sexy. Kinda slow, but charming. Lives and works on her father's dairy farm. Attracts all the wrong boys and never understands why. Huge Flirt. Party animal. Relies on female for everything. Lives off of subway and arby's. Is currently juggling 3 guys. I was thinking something a little bit trendier, but not boring or over used.

Any help at all would be amazing! I've looked at a ton of baby name sites etc, but i think maybe someone with a fresh pair of eyes could help me find something that really works well! Thank you so muuuuch!

[CommonGoods]

Firstly, welcome to the forums.

Secondly, where exactly do you want to go with these names? Do you need symbolic names? Do you want typical names for a certain country? We can't really name your characters, since we hardly know them, even though you introduced them to us.

In my experience, there are several ways to name characters. I use three ways, depending on what I'm writing;

With Fantasy, stick with impressive names for impressive characters, simple names for simple characters, mysterious names for mysterious characters.

For more complex and more serious stories, I tend to use symbolic names; in one of the RPG's on this forum, I play a character named Joshua Pastor, who'se constantly repeating "Oh god oh god"; Pastor is obvious, Joshua mean "God is salvation". Names can be funny that way. (Greek names also tend to work well; Artemis is very popular).

Lastly, for most of my short stories I use the names of people I know/knew. After all, most of these characters are based on actual people I know.

These are the best ways, except for all the ways I haven't tried before.

[Cogito]

Please don't ask us to name them for you. That is really your job as the writer. But asking how members come up with character names in general is ok. I suggest you also browse the other threads in this forum, because the question has been raised many, many(, many...) times.

[Agent Moskau]

That many huh?

Bella: A lot of factors go into why we name our characters the way we do. One that I think is somewhat important is the age group you're trying to attract or the genre you're writing for. It's not crucial, but if you were say, writing a horror novel, you might not choose Sir Poncy Swizzlebottom as your fearless demon hunter unless the story overlaps the humor genre.

You sound like you're writing for a younger audience, so choose names that might fit the generation. Except the older characters, and then all you have to do is page through an older family member's yearbooks.

[lordofhats]

Behind the Name (http://www.behindthename.com): Pretty good place where you can search for names by gender, ethnicity, and meaning. Always a good place to look for whatever kind of naming convention you use.

[Kratos]

First off, listen to the others. A character's name is an important part of them. You wouldn't ask someone else to name your baby, right?

But, we can give suggestions, I guess. I like Adam for the male lead.

[marina]

You want names? I'll give you names.

Main Male Character: Frederick

Main Female Character: Cami (short for Camilla)

Male's Father: Dennie (or Dennis)

Female's best friend: Brandy