1. Storm713

    Storm713 Member

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    Need help with character name!

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by Storm713, Mar 17, 2018.

    Hi people who bothered to click on this post!
    In all my experience as a writer, either names come to me in a flash of sudden inspiration during the first planning stage of my story—or, as much as I scour the internet’s nearly endless supply of baby names, I can never find one that “fits” my character.
    And, unfortunately, for my newest WIP, my character’s soon-to-be name has settled on the latter. As I am beginning to write a rough first draft, I seriously need to find a name soon. I cannot keep calling him “Subject A”.
    A description of my character: A 16yr old boy, he is passionate about his beliefs and figure skating, which has grown to be his competitive career, but tends to shy away from his own emotions, as he feels they are a source of weakness. However, he is often impulsive and easily enraged, moved quickly to acts of violence. As he is pretty antisocial and a blatant introvert, Subject A doesn’t have experience on dealing with other people, and is extremely guarded and wary of others due to the fact that he thinks his love is a burden. This idea mainly stems from his father leaving him as a child, and his mother being emotionally disconnected. He has raw talent on the ice, especially during passionate step sequences—he is most driven by the music he surrounds himself by, and feels as though it is the pinnacle of his skating. Rather than stunting his performances, emotion is what drives them—while his face and motions off of the ice may be blank and seem to be darkly unemotional, on it he is unending, unconfined art, brimming with emotions. He becomes alive with his focus and dance. Subject A is also somewhat of a dreamer—he has a dismally cryptic and pessimistic view of the world, but draws inspiration and creativity from many things. Despite his high levels of depression and anger, Subject A finds beauty in things other do not—such as figure skating, music, and, most specifically, Subject B (yes, it is a gay romance). If you know the Myer-Briggs test (16Personalities), he is an INFJ or an INTJ depending on the situation.
    I hope that that’s enough information to gather a few name ideas. I’d prefer something long (especially since Subject B’s name is Luka—or Lukas, or Luca, or Lucas, I have yet to decide) and that doesn’t sound similar to Luka. Also, he is from the U.S. and the story is set in the current time period, so please take that into account.
    Any name ideas? Thanks!:)
     
  2. Andrew Alvarez

    Andrew Alvarez Senior Member

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    Can you give a hint about ethnicity, or social backgrounding? That could help to restrict the choices.
     
  3. izzybot

    izzybot (unspecified) Contributor

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    Figure skating made me think of Adam Rippon. Adam?

    Wait, I'm an INTJ. Name him Isaak :D That's not weird at all.

    I think most people find figure skating and music to be beautiful, though. Not sure about that angle.
     
  4. Storm713

    Storm713 Member

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    @Andrew Alvarez He’s from the U.S.A., American, and lives in Massachusetts, though his father was born in Wyoming (not sure if that makes a difference). However, his family is pretty poor. He’s white (oops...I tried, diversity in fiction), neither his family nor him is religious, and he’s liberal. Is there any specific information you would need besides that?
     
    Last edited: Mar 17, 2018
  5. Storm713

    Storm713 Member

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    I’ll put Isaak as an idea :) Congrats on being an INTJ—I’m an INFP.
    And YES Adam Rippon! I watched his performances in the 2018 Winter Olympics—they were amazing.
    You’re right, but I suppose he also connects to skating on a deeper level of beauty, if that makes any sense. It isn’t just physical, for Subject A (as so called) it’s also about the emotional aspects tied into the art.
     
  6. Andrew Alvarez

    Andrew Alvarez Senior Member

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    No, it should be enough.

    Non short neither overly complicated for a lower income class child that could go along with high endurance sports could be, in my opinion, Brandon, Benjamin, Carson, Lincoln, Dominic, Cameron, Hunter, Matthew, Nathan. You should consider a way to nickname them too, in case you wish to imprint a less formal dialogue along the plot.
     
  7. Andrew Alvarez

    Andrew Alvarez Senior Member

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    I would go by Dominic, just by personal taste.
     
  8. Storm713

    Storm713 Member

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    Thank you for the names, I prefer Dominic as well, and Benjamin is another option. I was also thinking of giving him a nickname, presenting it as his way to stand out from what his parents “made him” as, giving himself something independent of his family’s choices.
     
  9. NobodySpecial

    NobodySpecial Contributor Contributor

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    I tend to use Google to help name characters. On Google’s base search page there’s a link ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’. First try is for the first name, the first name I find on the page suitable for male v female characters, second round for the last name. The nature of the web page can also lend inspiration for the character’s personality. I once put together the name Leon Parchman; Leon came from a web page on Tiffany glass, Parchman came from a page on ecology. Leon was to be a slightly bad guy, so I set it up that he was on the artistic side and feigned a concern for the environment to get close to people and convince them he was a decent sort before he revealed his true colors. Those two pages gave me ideas for his attributes and his flaws, and a realistic sounding name.

    The trick is to use the first name you find on that page, don’t scour the page looking for something better; the idea is to go on chance. If what you find on that page doesn’t do it for you, back up and try again.
     
    Storm713 likes this.

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