I have name books, which include where the name comes from and what it means. I make a list of name whose definition speaks to the personality of the character and then play the elimination game.
Behind the Name Random Name Generator! I use it all the time, it's been so helpful with my new book. This site has ethnic names as well as fantasy and Biblical etc. It's good when you have lots of different races represented in your story. http://www.behindthename.com/random/
Same with me. I'm working on a fantasy novel. I only have a few names at the moment, and a couple came to me rather quickly, but others took me a while to figure out, and there's still a TON more names I have yet to come up with!
I'm not that good at choosing real-world names, but if I find one I like, I go with it. But I haven't written a novel with real-world names in it except an idea I'm tinkering with, and even that's fantasy. Fantasy is my forte. Which is why I invent my characters' names. If you have a feel for the language your characters speak, you can come up with some fairly good names for them. If you're not writing fantasy, though, I may not be much help. But if you give me a character's information I can generate (from my mind) a list of fairly good names, real-world or fantasy. Another thing that might help: look for someone similar to your character, and find a name that's halfway (the halfway part is important) similar to them. For example, I had a character who resembled Owen Lars. The name that popped into my head for him was Aaron, which is a completely different name and fits my character better too.
I either go for names that have been on my mind (perhaps because of some reading I've been doing, or a song I've heard) or I base names on appropriate or otherwise words in other languages. I've named a briefly appearing character Barbatus and given them a beard because barbatus means beardy!
I'm actually Catholic, but my grand father was Mormon, and I always enjoyed listening to the stories of Porter Rockwell, Young and Smith and the Mormon search for a home. its the essential American story wrapped up with a fascinating religion. the culture the people, even the architecture of the temples. They're like American Cathedrals. That's probably one of the reasons I'm Catholic. The stories, history and culture!
I was thinking about the etymology of my son's name, which is originally Frankish, so I looked up variants that have spread to of course Germany, England, France, Ireland, Finland, etc. All over the place. Then I looked up Finnish names. I took note of some Finnish names that I liked. Then I looked up Egyptian names and took note of some those. Greek, Irish, etc. I also made note of what each name means. I didn't use most popular names. Actually, I tried to avoid the popular names. I may have altered a name or combined a couple. Also, does anyone have any advice on how to subtly tell your reader how to pronounce your character's name if it isn't pronounced how it is spelled? In American English, anyway. Ex: Viljami Veel-yah-me
I love Behind the Name! I use it most often to pick names for characters in my fanfic, which is for a show with an Asian-based setting. I know enough European names to pick them out of my head. I mostly write stuff set in England, so it's just age I need to check. I tend to pick quite flowery names for more important characters (I once wrote a story about quadruplets called Muriella, Constantia, Philanthea, and Allegra) but try not to overdo it. Since most of my stories have the same kind of setting, I have a list of "stock" names, which I pull out when necessary, sometimes for quite important characters. I then have a face that goes with each name. I suppose picking names isn't that much of a priority, although I don't bother infusing too much meaning into names (How would Storm's parents know that she was headstrong and quick to anger at birth?), and I could never change a name, as they become inextricably linked with the character.
I keep a running file on my laptop. Anytime I hear or see or dream up a name that resonates with me I add it to the list. And then it's there when I need it.
Pfft, I don't even bother. Supporting character A, henchman #1, guard #2. It's easier than you think.
I can finally answer this! I go through lists of names from different countries, and pick ones that don't aren't particularly common, but that I like the sound of. I write Science Fiction, so a lot of my names need to be a bit 'different'.
It is always a process for me. I'll use name generators, search through sites with name lists, but 90% of the time I try and make sure that the name I settle on means something that fits the character. The only times I don't is if I simply love the name and can't see using another, who cares what it means at that point. I usually try to use either short or very memorable names for main characters. If you pay attention to the books, movies, tv shows, video games and such that become insanely popular, every one of them features a usually short name. Harry Potter, Bilbo Baggins, Ash Ketchum, Moby Dick, Sherlock Holmes, Hannibal Lecter. I could go on, these are just the ones that come to mind is all. Doesn't matter if you're a fan or not, there's no debating whether these names are famous. They're easy to remember, roll of the tongue, and easy to pronounce without ever hearing it spoken. There's a constant theme with any popular media, the name is always memorable. This is something I always try to emulate, I'm not always great at it, but picking a name that will pop to the reader is vital in my opinion.
Names shouldn't be of much concern to the writer, names just exist to put a word to a character who possesses a variety of nuances beyond what his or her name indicates his or her identity to be. Characters should be distinguished by their names but not defined by them! Regarding how I choose names... Well I make sure the name is appropriate for the ethnicity and cultural background of the character. And choosing a thoroughly elongated and pretentious name for British characters of elevated societal status is a universally adhered to rule!
Personally, I don't like to take names for granted. You don't have to be deeply interested in them, but they're one more element of your writing that you can potentially use to communicate character, setting and theme. So it's frustrating when people completely dismiss names as irrelevant, especially people who otherwise acknowledge the importance of language and word choice more generally. I love names, so I'm happy to spend more time than necessary considering them, though it doesn't tend to take me long to settle. I think about three main things when I'm trying to find the right one. 1. Realism based on setting. (Not just "people from this country mostly use names from this language", but I try to consider what kind of names are generally used in a given time and place, what kind of people choose rarer names and why, and what the parents are likely to select in general based on their particular personalities and backgrounds. There are lots of other aspects of realism, obviously.) 2. Feel. (To me, this can be the most important thing, but I don't hear people talk about it as much. Syllables "feel" like things, sound like certain words, carry associations. Clearly these will vary, but you can't honestly tell me that "Gretel", "Paula" and "Marianne" sound like they describe the same girl/woman when you first hear them. One example of what I'm talking about is the "bouba/kiki effect": if you show someone from anywhere and any language background a sharp spiky shape and a rounded splatter shape and ask them which they'd call "kiki" and which "bouba", the spiky sound of kiki and the long round sound of bouba apparently suggest themselves to everyone. Sounds are very suggestive. You can consider all kinds of things here: the friendliness of names that end in -y, the cold formality of some Latin root words, the fact that reading "Calvin" puts one in mind of "calve", etc. etc.) 3. Meaning and associations. (This is generally the least important, but it can be an interesting exercise. Calling a messianic figure "Shepherd" is a bit on the nose, but sometimes there'll be a more subtle symbolic meaning to a name, or it'll be associated with a historical figure or some other aspect of culture which fits the character.)
Whew. I usually have ideas for the characters before I name them. So, they are almost given the luxury to name themselves in a way... I love to look at the names in film/television credits, phone books, and I Google baby names based on origin, etc. frequently.
I often hear a nice name - whether someone at school, a shout-out on the radio, or maybe a name on a gravestone or family tree - and think "oh, that's nice, I'll have to use it at some point". I think of it like filing away a card.
Just something that grabs me. It's not really a scientific process. TBH, I can't really remember the thought process of picking a name for an MC. All the characters I've named recently have been "extras", so I just look on Behind the Name until I find one that I like. Sometimes, though, I find I subconsciously want one that begins with a certain letter.
I use baby name websites. Sometimes I'll change a letter or two to make it into a new name, not just a different spelling.
I s'pose I posted about a process and philosophy for choosing names, which I do think is more important than the resources you use, but I should actually talk about the resources that've been great for finding names. So: Behind the Name (very favourite) Great etymological info, especially the name root families which show the different iterations names have gone through over time and through different languages. If you like a specific sound or meaning, it's great for finding variations of it and understanding the differences. Great popularity rankings for different countries and decades, which give you an idea of naming styles for different settings. Extensive sections on root name elements, so if you want to invent names that make some sense in terms of a specific language, you've got a place to start. The advanced search is brilliant, allowing you to specify and then further pare down details like letter patterns, gender, usage, number of syllables, etc. The name generator is about as good as name generators get, plus the results are linked to all this useful information about them. Name Doctor Also great information about etymology that I use to cross-reference Behind the Name when that stuff really matters to me. (Although I think BtN is a slightly more reliable source, since ND tends to declare etymologies definitively even when they're disputed or uncertain, without mentioning or explaining this; there're lots more notes on BtN, including user-submitted notes from people who also know their stuff.) Nameberry Kind of hipster-mom site style, but the database is huge and it's a lot more elegantly laid out and thoughtfully curated than other baby name sites. Great advanced search features for finding names with certain letters, syllables or origins. Plenty of themed lists to peruse, which is a useful starting point, especially since they're often compiled by people who know a lot about names rather than people who don't have a clue. "Similar Names" links give some good suggestions of names that fit a particular style, according to the data from people who like that style. (Meanings and origins are less reliable, some are flatly inaccurate or give one-word summaries of names that are more complex and interesting than their database entries would suggest.) Every name has information about popularity trends illustrated in straightforward graphs. Also gives you a good sense of a name's familiarity or obscurity, besides its immediate popularity. It's a great place to search up names that will feel familiar even if they're not popular. The Internet Surname Database Most in-depth information is for surnames with any British roots (it's always harder to find surname information for other languages) but it's still a huge database to explore. If you want to know the root, meaning and history of a particular surname that has or sounds like it might have some British roots, odds are there's a page on it. Surnames.Behind the Name Obviously very incomplete, and you shouldn't limit yourself to its database, but every entry has useful information, so it's another way to find out what a surname means or where it came from. Also a good starting point for getting a feel for the surnames of a particular language/region. If the name you're looking up is very common, especially in English-speaking countries, they're likely to have lots of good information about it. My favourite resource has become my own Excel sheet, with a page for first names, a page for surnames, and miscellaneous pages of other lists that take my fancy: stylish European names that aren't popular elsewhere, odd names for pets, common medieval names, a list of painfully hipster name ideas for funsies. On the two main lists, I record the best origin and meaning info I can find and have columns for usability and interestingness, so that I can re-sort the list to bring up all the ones that have a particularly interesting feel, or just the ones that aren't too obscure for everyday use. Other databases and lists are great, but there's nothing like building your own.
For names I generally find myself diving in mythologies, using common (old) names with a letter or two different and anagrams of names, words or places.
