My favourite name that I came up with was standing in a kebab shop years ago. The menu read 'Donner on Nan' and as I read it in my head I came out as Donneron Na'an. Brilliant! Donneron Na'an - I'll use that as a name for an evil fantasy priest.
That's a great name and love the story. If you ever get translated into Turkish your guy be named Meaton Br'ead.
Lol! I typically don't like randomly made names because they bear the indelible stamp of fabrication. Making names is okay, but alot of times they sound very kitch and corny. Edgar Rice Burroughs gave the green men of Mars the name "Tharks" and it sticks, it sounds alien-ish and functional. But then he had to mess it up by naming a kingdom "Helium", a clear appropriation that makes my eyes roll. Often the best "made-up" names are fusions of different names or revisitations of older names. Conan the barbarian was named after an old celtic warrior from Irish mythos. Then again, there is a funny anecdote about the naming of a popular 1980's cartoon character "Kissyfur". The creator was asking his son what to name the MC, the son tried to say "Christopher" but had his front teeth missing and whistled Kissyfur.
Depends on the genre. Normal stories, set in normal, everyday life (which I actually don't usually write, but anyways), normal names work. Not too unoriginal, like Mark or Bob (duh), but something... normal. Yeah. I'm currently writing a novel, set in a made-up world, with kingdoms and bows and arrows and some magic, you know, and I make up names that suit the character's personality.For example, a feminine girl who's pretty and sweet (to an extent - she's also a spy, for the good side), is named Seiretta, Rei for short. Whereas the other girl on the team is a feisty, tougher type, called Varelle (AKA Vee). My best friend often likes to use anime-based names, because she watches it so much. Also, for last names, sometimes I get a word that describes the person, translate it into an uncommon language and make it sound like a name. Or just get a normal English word, play on the letters, add in a couple of extra letters to the end, and it sounds cool. ...Wow, that was long.
Re: random name choosing and publishing.... In order for my book characters to be original.... do you think that random names are a good idea, if so how? Do you think that by choosing random names out of the blue would HURT my chances at being published? And if so how?
When it becomes a problem whether you make up names or not is when they are difficult to process and work out how they are pronounced.
Depends on what you mean by "random names" and what you are writing. You mean unusual and weird? Because if it's like that... I'd say... weird names fit weird stories, but weird names don't fit normal slice-of-life stories. At least I don't like that combination. I've always thought names should go with the ambient, genre and age of the story. Anyway if you want to publish, your publisher will be the one to tell you what you need to change.
sure Lets say I look around my house and pick out 2 objects ....I then combine those in what ever spelling way I want and with a basic Pronounciation...such as: lamp and floor Might turn out as: Lompeflaire(lom-flare) Sound easy enough? Well thats how I come up with names, in order to be original and make my book as unique as possible!
I get what you mean but, really, creating those kinds of names won't make your book and characters more original. Have you ever seen a person and then thought/said "hey, you have the face of a Fred"? That's what makes your characters original, the fact that their names suit them the most. However if you want to make up names, that's up to you. Just don't think it will make everything more original.
OR, if you make the name first, maybe try to explore the name, and see what kind of person would have a name like Lompeflaire. And, if you can and if it fits, add in the lamp and the floor in a subtle way that only you know about.
Making up names works for a fantasy or possibly science-fiction story, but not really other genres. If you make up names, make sure that it's something a reader would understand how to pronounce. It's annoying to read a story and not be able to "hear" the character's name as you read. Made-up names aren't going to make your story original. If I loosely changed the plot of "The Matrix" but gave the characters crazy, made-up names, you'd still realize it was a badly disguised rip-off of an original story. I'd worry less about character names and more about actually creating something fresh. If you're depending on character names to help make your story more original, you're spending energy on the wrong things.
None of these names really have a meaning behide them, or even a characteristic that explains the characters name...they are just names to me. Sure I have a few japanese names that DO have meaning behind them. But the rest are just names, just some random names that fit well with my Fantasy book,that they are in....
No that is not whta I'm worrying over so much but to me my book is nothing without names. I worry most about their Characteristics, Personality, ect. As to my names having meanings...No they do not. Except my few japanese based names which DO have meaning behiind them and helps describe my characters personality, ect.
I think it's good to have some names that have meanings that fit the characters, but it's totally okay if the meanings have nothing to do with the character as long as the sound, feel, and connotations of the name fit with the character's persona. For example, John Wayne's name literally means "God is gracious, wagon driver." This meaning doesn't fit John Wayne's cowboy badass character, but the sound and feel of the name totally does. And here's where it gets interesting. John Wayne is his stage name. His original first name, "Marion" means "Bitter" which is much closer to his persona than "God is Gracious", but c'mon, "John Wayne" just fits way better. So as long as the name fits the character in some interesting way, that's what you want. If the names are totally random and have nothing to do with the character, then the reader will have a tougher time understanding your characters, as well as not getting confused. If your bubbly and nice heroine is named "Dragon Burnface," and your bloodthirsty, inhuman villain is named "Betty Shoeshine", then your reader might be totally confused, especially if they put the book down and pick it up halfway five months later. But if the names fit the character really well on some level, then the name itself will become a part of the character's personality, describing who they are and what they look like without you saying anything else.
Re Well my character "Yami" meaning "darkness"(in Japanese) totally fits his characteristics he is a little what we would call a murderer and goth, hes on the dark side.....
No most of my names have NO connection to the character, but I make up for it with a good descripton, personality, ect....
Then it comes down to the golden rule of creativity: Whatever Works. If you think it fits to have your characters have the names that they have, then that will be fine. I personally believe character names should fit their personality on some level, but in real life that's hardly ever the case. My name's Nick, and people have (very strangely) told me for years I look like a Chris. To get back to my John Wayne example, he came up with a stage name because his real name didn't seem to fit. As far as publication goes, though, they will need to feel like the character names seem to make sense, whether that means they "fit" or that the randomness makes sense with the tone/plot/setting of your story. That's what I think, anyway. Edit: I'm finally a senior member! (Also, that's what she said?)
Not sure how it would effect publishing, but as a reader I find made-up names off-putting and annoying. For example, I would've been confused the lamp/floor example you posted (see - it's that odd I can't even remember it! But if you'd said your character was called Amy or Jun I would have remembered) if you hadn't put the pronunciation immediately after; I would've had to stop for a moment and try different ways of saying it in my head before settling on the way I thought sounded most likely. I'd do the same thing each time I came across the name if I really couldn't figure out how the writer intended for it to be said - made-up names like that pull me out of the story.
Creating a character from a name is a great idea too, though I never did that with a name like Lompflaire. lol Let's see... Lompflaire sounds to me like some lonely and poor little girl who lives in another world with an old-fashioned society. She's a dreamer but feels no adult understand her and she doesn't get them either. Her closer friend? A mouse that cannot talk but can listen and understand her. Lompflaire believes in all kind of fantasy stories and creatures and one day lets all those tales and creatures take her to a big adventure far away from all she knows. I suposse Lompflaire can be used as a name in a good fantasy book for children. Edit: Nick is a pretty name. I've used it. Chris too. But now I'm curious to see your face and tell.
Random combinations can give something unique, and it could be a place to start. Really there is not ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way. For me, names are part of what describe or create a character in the mind of the reader. Priscilla forms a different immediate image in my mind that say, Wendy. Putting random sounds, parts together to create unique names would in some ways be similar. A male character named Bullzwin would form a different image than say, Jinnsif. For my novel Flank Hawk (which eventually found a publisher) had been rejected once out of the slush pile by a publisher, and one of the comments was that the editor didn’t care for the name Road Toad, which was a mercenary’s name in the novel who takes the main character, Krish, under his wing. So, names do make a difference, at least in some instances. Names too weir (difficult to say in one’s head) can frustrate a reader, just as having too many character names being too similar. I read a while back, novels written by Elizabeth Boyer. The culture in her fantasy novels was based on Norse/Scandinavian, and the names followed suit—or many of them. Me, not being familiar, kind of gave my own ‘pronunciation’ to the names that were long with many consonants and very few vowels. Just my experience/observation/two cents.
