How do you know that your character name is right?

I think the best thing to do is to choose a name and then stick with it.

I know a lot of people struggle with naming and such, but at the end, it will probably just steal time from actually writing.

 

I agree and disagree with you on this. It does detract from writing, just not as much as having to do research for things (that always takes awhile until you find the info that you need). Sometimes you need to find the right names for your characters, otherwise it could be weird or just not quite what you were hoping. Though you can usually just write in blank until you have a name fitting for the character (unless you have a title that can stand in for them until then, if they happen to have one). So technically it takes far too much time away from your writing to go off and research the things that you wish to be fairly accurate with. So a name is not as detracting unless you happen to have a dialogue chunk where somebody calls them by their name. In this instance you might get stuck for a bit.

 

Something I like to do to help with naming is to first write out a list of possible names for a character. Don't even think too much, just make a long list of names. As you go along, there should be some that start to pop out at you, and once you really think about who your character is, and you go through your names listed, there ought to be at least one that just feels right.

The other names left over you can keep and use for new characters later down the line

 

Usually, I go through name generators or baby name sites until I find a name that sticks. It's very much a gut feeling thing. I've only changed a character name once, and that was only a surname.

 

Sometimes I don't, sometimes I do. There's been plenty of times where characters will go from Blank - Blank9. I use to pause and spend too much time trying to figure out what I wanted to name a character. I started to forget what I even wanted to write about. It's just a name and I can always plug it in later.

 

Hmm, I've never had that problem. Some characters are easier to name than others, but I think once I had written so much about a character there's no way I could change their name because by that point it would be part of their identity.

 

One time I put 54k into a novel before deciding to change almost everyone's names (seven out of a nine-person cast) and can confirm it was a pain in the ass, hahah. Honestly though I surprised myself by how quickly I adapted to the new names, so it might be easier than it seems.

 

I know I have chosen right names not only because they feel 'right' but when a critique points it out without any hint from me

 

I just started a new book and have named four characters already. I can't tell you why, but the MC's daughter had to be named Eva. I have no particular like for the name Eva (other than it is only a few keystrokes each time I use it!). It is just...right.

 

I thought it would be easy to get the name of my main character, I ended up choosing his surname 'Butter' but when I read it back it sounded to much like 'Potter' to me and so I changed it completely but for my other characters it seemed to come easy for me, I had to look up some names Japanese but I knew what I wanted them to represent.
I also like names that rhyme like Lulu Lefude, or Monty Tonty, hehe!

 

What I've noticed is that a name can make the character and a character can make the name.

Whether you call your character Sandra or Thurman or Glebor. The names are just names, and the more invested we get into a character, the more a name means less of a nuisance, and more of tag for us to identify with. Some names are really common like Jack and some are names you never really hear more than once; like Ripley or Stankman or Billy-Thurman.

I guess I just find names that link to my character's nationality and that's good enough for me. Sometimes I'll think hard about where they grew up, or why their name is different but only occasionally will I spend hours on a name alone.

 

I personally subscribe to the random name selection school of thought, if such a thing exists. Few people choose their given name, and unless you are writing a historical piece, or trying to convey a nationality or place in time to your piece, then names should simply make sense within your setting. Nicknames or titles are different, but a character named Bob Smith should be no less interesting that one name Murdock Vladimirsonton.

I DO believe in making sure a name doesn't carry a lot of obvious meaning, like Tom Cruise or Charles Darwin.

 

That makes sense.

There's an old trick for singing into a microphone. If the singer is close to the mic, a 'P' sounds like a short, sharp gust of wind hitting the mic, so the trick is to pronounce a 'B' instead. No one in the audience ever notices.

 

Mine tend to stick pretty hard once I pick them initially. My main character's name wasn't the name I wanted for her but it just stuck in my head, so I couldn't really change her name because that's who she was. The co-protagonists name was actually a typo - I picked the name "Vidya" out of a list of names used in Jainism - then misremembered it as "Vinya" and wrote like three more scenes without checking. Then when I discovered the error, I felt like I couldn't change it back because the character had developed to the point where I really couldn't see her as a Vidya - thank goodness Vinya actually turned out to be rare Hindi name used occasionally for Jains. The worst one is that I have a character who I hadn't named but mentally referred to as "Truganini" during development - then when I went to name her I couldn't make anything else stick because she was Truganini. That's hugely problematic because the real-life Truganini was a major figure in Indigenous Australian history (one of that last living Tasmanian Aborigines), but Truganini was a Tasmanian whereas the character was from an entirely different Indigenous culture in North Australia and people don't exactly name their kids Truganini because that would be messed up. So I had to actually go back and explain how she got that name, the ramifications of her having that name, and built her character partially around that (her name is Truganini Akemarr Ballantyne - she goes by "T.A." because she doesn't like dealing with the name, and then later after some traumatic events she actually makes a decision to start using "Truganini" professionally).

 

I just pick a random name. Sometimes I don't even pick names (Short stories don't always demand them).
I take the first one that comes to mind.

 

I know the character name is just right when it won't escape my head. That's when you know you've got the name. Some people have a harder time than others to be honest. For me, i think it might be easier.

 

I think what's important for me is that it "sounds" like the character. It needs to be able to bring them to mind and I have to able to imagine other characters calling them by their name. I'm not sure if there's any logical way to explain that, though - it's largely my emotional response and whether it fits the kind of character the name belongs to. Beyond that, there's a lot of leeway for me and I don't usually change a name later on if I originally found it suitable enough to use it in the first place.

(That's for my serious writing, at least. In a more humorous context, I like if the name is also some kind of pun, reference or at least meaningful, which is something I strictly avoid elsewhere unless there's a good reason for the name to have any deeper meaning.)

 

Honestly, I believe the best thing you can do is not name your characters or use a placeholder name until the story is finished. You, as the author, and all of your readers have pre-existing notions about certain names. If you've encountered a "Tom" or a "Jenny" that broke your heart then you are subconciously going to have feelings about that name. Maybe you then, conciously or subconciously, decide that that character you just named is going to share some of those qualities of that person you know from your real life. Perhaps "Tom" ended up being a real jerk after all and he's currently in jail, and you let those feelings come out in your writing. But what if your reader is named Tom? They are going to perceive that character differently. They are going to filter that character's experiences through their own eyes. And you are going to filter that character's actions through your perception of the "real Tom."

So, if you wait to name your characters and let their actions and dialogue determine the story arc and their development, then you will have a "truer" version of that character. Does that make sense? I teach College-level Creative Writing and always start my classes with an exercise. I have my students write 3 first & last names then fill out a bunch of other information such as cities, jobs, vehicles, items in the characters garbage, etc, etc -- but the last thing I have them do at the very end of the exercise is go back to the top and circle 1 first name and 1 last name from 2 different lines (ex. 2 of your 3 names are Tom Johnson and Jenny Cole so you end up with Jenny Johnson). The point of doing this is so the name from the beginning of the exercise does not subconciously influence everything else you write.

Once your story is different you have a person who has certain qualities and has done certain things through the narrative.... now you pick the name that "feels" right. Pick the name last so it doesn't influence the narrative. Just like the characters actions come to you and "seem to feel right" so will the name when all is said and done.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Joe

 

After reading your thesis, it sounds like the best way to do things, so as not to influence the reader, is to not name characters at all, let the reader decide the names as they're reading. If you think about it, this is the logical conclusion of your thesis and would work very well in the world of electronic books. Reader apps would have to be updated, but I'm sure some coder out there is itching to do something besides build yet-another just-like-the-other.

Readers could then be given a list of character placeholders at the beginning and they could fill in the names. Those names would then be propagated throughout the book and they begin to read.

It would get a bit knarly trying to discuss a novel with a friend, though.

"I really liked Jake," said A.
"Who the hell's Jake?" asked B.
"You know, that guy who did the thing," said A.
"Oh! No, that was Bob. Bob did that thing," said B.
"You're daft! It was Jake," said A and took the first swing.

I don't think removing the subconscious from the equation is a great idea, to be honest. That's where all the really good stuff comes from. If we take that away, stories would become dull and lifeless.

 

For my protagonist, I've never felt the urge or need to change her name - for my antagonist, I felt her name originally (Kristin Salenna) wasn't nearly as threatening, or timely sounding enough (since she's over a thousand years old), so I eventually changed that.

Kathryn Blake - Protag (Name never changed)
Marceline Salenna - Antag (Previous name: Kristin Salenna)
Faith Bara - Main side Char (Name never changed)
Jen Valeh - Side Char (Previous name: Jill Valente)
Emery Sage - Side Char (Name never changed)
Nikolai Salenna - Side Char (Previous name: Dimitri Salenna)
Elyanor Salenna - Side Char (Name never changed)
Elena Robinson - Side Char (Name almost changed, but stayed the same)
Charlotte Nyra - Side Char (Name never changed)
Darren Hoffman - Side Char (Name never changed)
...And the list goes on of course.
For me, the name of the character has to feel right when I say it outloud and visual them in my head. I also do art and draw my characters often, so that helps me determine whether their name fits or not. But, when I started writing my novel (over six years ago now) I always knew I wanted my protagonist to be called Kathryn and nicknamed Kat. Her personality fell into her name so quickly I could never dream of changing it. As for my antagonist, Salenna (which she's referred to by her last name more anyway), will always have Salenna as her last name - sounding snakelike yet smooth too.
As for my side characters, a lot of their names feel very right already, like Faith (Kat's best friend), Elena, Darren, and Charlotte - but I feel like the less developed my side characters are, the more I want to change their names because they haven't become a real person yet to me. Developing personality really helps me determine what name is right or wrong.

 

For me, it's when I feel it's right. For example a detective MC of mine is called Forseti, which is a name for a god of justice. His first name isn't important so long as Forseti is how he's referred to in the story.

 

For my first writing project I really fussed over the names. Almost each character had two or three name changes. Now, I usually just pick the first name that comes into my mind. I pick names I like, and names that don't have too close an association to me that I can't separate the two.

For my WIP I picked Finlay because I liked the fact that when he is later nicknamed Fey - it's like an echo - his own name begins with an F and ends with a Y. It also helps with the metaphor that fans can't distinguish between character and person. I had a harder time with Javier Kavado. The original name that came to mind was Derek van somethingorother. But I really wanted a feisty Hispanic character so I looked up Spanish names and liked the two I found. For the other characters in the book I decided to name a dimwitted rock singer - Koogie ( hints of dumb star names like Miley, Snooki and the Kardashian K's ), Finlay's love interest is Violet Haze but is nicknamed Sodapop almost exclusively - because she stared in a Soda commercial, and another character, a movie star, I still don't have a name for him yet, but he's inspired by C. Thomas Howell - so I'm thinking same pattern.
I try not to let names slow me down anymore. As long as I have a certain personality in mind it's pretty easy - gentle names for gentle characters, usual names for unusual characters, dramatic names for tough characters.

 

I can usually see the character in my head and by that see if the name fits.

 

I've found it's a hell of a lot easier to name characters when their names don't have to mean anything.
One thing I'm working on is based on regular old planet Earth, and I pick names at random. They don't have to fit because they're for regular old people.
But for the works set in fantasy lands, full of fate and foreshadowing, choosing names is a real pain. I want them to have a certain sound (a repeating T sound, the chunk "Roy," must begin with N and end with A), but I also want them to have a specific meaning, because foreshadowing. So for those, I have to sort through lists and lists of names (with meanings) from the cultures the fantasy is based off of.
It just depends. Sometimes I settle on something I don't love, because sometimes people don't have perfect names, and characters are supposed to be people.