When you choose a name for your character do you usually have to make one that matches the characters personality? I thought that sometimes whenever I name a character I usually like to make it match what their personalities are. Does that work with you? Let me know your thoughts.
No, unless it is a nickname. I don't know anyone whose name matches their personality IRL, likely because an ultrasound picture of an oversized bean doesn't really tell parents what kind of person someone is going to be. Instead I tend to give cultural names. Put myself in the parent's perspective and guess what name they would come up with. A recent arrival to a country seeking to assimilate will name their children with their host culture's name. Traditional families may name children after grandfathers. Perhaps a more elaborate fantasy naming system, eg, based on celestial bodies or day of the month.
It doesn't matter what you name your character, but it should always be unusually long, misspelt, highly complementary, and preferably Japanese. Bonus points for meaningless translations and superficial hyphens and apostrophes.
I just go to baby name websites and see what interests me. Sometimes though, a character, much like pet, will reveal its name in time.
I think this is more important than meets the eye: when you write, you have control over everything you do. To NOT make your characters name important is to MISS an opportunity to convey information to your reader. It doesn't have to always serve a purpose, and certainly not every name of every character is going to hold meaning, but at least--as the author--be aware that it's another tool in your arsenal to convey as much to your reader as possible in the smallest, least obtrusive span of time.
I worked in blue collar industries for years, as management and as a worker... I could walk the length of the factory floor and not call a person by their real name, and they would answer: High School: was a young guy that looked like...well..a high schooler. Fuchsia: was a guy that had the last name of "Gray" but I thought it was kind of bland. I called him Fuchsia for years! Guadeloupe: was a bigoted guy that hated Latinos, so I taught him a lesson and called him Guadeloupe Road Cone: he wore an orange jumpsuit everyday at work From parts of the ships, equipment, machines, etc we were working on, I might call a guy "Prop" because he worked on the propeller, or "Mast" because he worked on the mast of the ship, or "Ditch", because he ran a backhoe. The point here is, nicknames are prolific in real life, and work well for characters.
I always remember going to a talk by William Nicholson who wrote the Wind Singer trilogy. He was a great speaker, one of the things he mentioned was the fact he called a character Mumpo because he thought it fit their character of being a bit pathetic and being kind but very needy and with bad hygiene. But then he has a bit of a glow up in the sequels and really becomes one of the heroes and the name didn't fit him as much any more. So just something to keep in mind!
I definitively do! I even went a little overboard by naming my main character Eric because he is a nobleman/king/emperor. Shouldn’t have picked up that particular name because it’s overdone and associated with Vikings, but, hey, I picked it up when I was 12. And, somehow, 25 years later the name still fitted him like a glove. So it stayed. Nowadays I still pick up names (and nicknames, this is important!) that fit the characters. I write Fantasy in a fictional past. It’s not as important in contemporary fiction.
I'm not even sure you can pick a name that fits or doesn't fit a character. I mean it's just a name and most likely the character wouldn't be choosing it themselves. If anything, a name says more about the character's parents than it does the character. I think it can be a problem when a writer is trying too hard to make a name fit a character. A also like characters with names that seem a little off when it comes to what we would think a "Justin" or "Maggy" to look and/or act like. Naming a character is such a small thing. I feel like a good writer can make just about any name work. I do swap out names and replace them from time to time. I'm not exactly sure why I do this. Maybe it's because I can't name everyone Dave or something like that. More important than naming one character is making sure the names of all your characters fit together. You don't want all the names to start with A or sound too similar. I think that's probably my biggest reason for changing names, thinking about how they all fit together on a larger scale.
You do have to make sure you name your characters appropriately. Certain names have certain connotations. There are relatively few dark lords called Dave or Bob. Like it or not, it will create a certain perception amongst readers. That's not to say you can't have a Dave the Dark One, Jeff the Elf-King, or Lindsey the Barbarian, but you should be aware of your readers' reaction.
Honestly? I just pick a name from a baby names website and call it a day. I can always change it later if the rare chance happens that it doesn't turn out. It used to be that I slaved away just looking for "The Name." Then I realized that it was a lot of wasted effort. Usually the characters make the name, not the other way around.
I would choose a name that I like, and if I'm having doubts about it. I would go on the website 'Magic Baby Names,' type in the name/s, and it would give me a list of names to choose from (Male, Female, Neutral). If it is set in the past, I generally go through popular names in whatever decade it is and maybe look up historical/famous people in the past.
You could consider the parents of the character. What situation were they in when the child was born? They might have named their child after a leading politician, movie or sports star of the day or a heroic character from a TV show popular at that time. Put yourself in their shoes and think of what aspirations and hopes you'd have for your child. You could think of the birth year and consult a list of popular names for that year. (Google is your friend). Alternatively, just pick a name you like.
with a few exceptions, I always have the impression that the personality makes the name rather than the name the personality. Meaning that, as a reader, I make up my own reasoning for why someone is called with a specific name, if the story prompts it. Sometimes I like unusual names, but too many unusual names are hard to remember. If you like to pick a specific name or make up one, do so, but if you don't then I don't think it necessarily makes a difference unless you as the writer make it so. However, as a writer I have to find the right name for my characters or else every time I write their name I get the feeling something is wrong.
I don't want it too on the nose but I don't want readers to get mixed up. I cannot stand openly 'guy' names representing girls in fiction because although it's not too distracting in movies - even Bette Davis could play a Stanley, it's distracting to constantly see something that screams he align itself with she. I have rules when I pick names - nothing too confusing, too weird spelling, and if it contradicts expectations - if Asher isn't hot - state it up front because I'm expecting all Asher's to be hot. For the perky girl in my WIP I called her Violet Haze - the mc wisecracks that she sounds like either Lolita's offspring or an L.A. morning. My favorite name book for picking names was/is - Beyond Jennifer and Jason because it listed names according to impressions i.e. - sexy, beautiful, plain jane. Now there are lists like that all over the internet. I try not to overthink it too long and I've been known to change names even up to the last draft. Right now I've got a bundle of names that echo an F sound in the book and I'm attempting to pull it into some metaphor that hopefully will work.
I meant it just feels wrong for some reason (I don't understand), and that distracts me while writing. So I need to find the character a "good" name.
Yes. And this is even more important in Fantasy! Eric son of Eric, son of Eric, etc. I didn't mind this too much at first but now I can see the advantages of not having very similar names. It works better for the reader to memorize them.
Thank you, you really made me laugh. Dark Lord Bob. It would take a very skilful writer to pull that off. (Not that it would be impossible.)
