Ok, so here is yet another request for name ideas. My male MC (Venezuelan) is based off of someone in my life, so I certainly don't want to use his real name. As a filler, I've been using his middle name and second last name (yes, in Venezuela we have 2 last names- first the father's and then the mother's) but again, I wouldn't want to use any real name associated with him or his family. I also don't want to use the typical Juan, Jose and certainly no Jesus. None of the three "J's" My male MC's character is from an old-ish Spanish family who emigrated to Venezuela 2 generations back. They're kind of snooty about being Spanish and don't like to call themselves Venezuelan. I'm not worried about my female MC. She just decided to call herself Sofia Durand. Not even a name I particularly like, but whatever. Thanks for the help!
lol, you have tons of questions. Not sure if this is okay but I don't think anyone here can name YOUR character so here's a place I found with tons of Spanish names for males. Explore it if you like. Edit: here's one for surnames. But yeah, like Cogito suggested, Google is your friend.
Google is your friend, and should be your first resort. Try these searches, and you will find what you need: Venezuelan names Venezuelan surnames
ok kind of left over from my attempt to find a Guatemalan name for a character, so I maybe showing ignorance with them. (I played it safe in the end found a fairly common name and used it). Salvador de Armas Blanco Rafael Garmendia Gabriel Carlos Balza Tomas Uslar Sotillo Alfredo Reif Francisco Delfino Amador Baptista.
Thanks all! I am familiar with Spanish and Venezuelan names as I just moved from Venezuela to the USA a few years ago. I am just so stuck that I honestly need someone to name my character for me. I can't fathom using a name other than the original one which, as I mentioned, isn't an option. Elgaisma! Thanks so much for that! I might mix and match some of those!
Can you pick something with a similar sound or number of syllables ? When I have to change a character I find that easier. Like I changed Matt Smith when Dr Who was cast whilst i was writing to Nate Smith Mack became Jack for some reason. Lily became Lizzy.
You will never mature as a writer if you depend on others to make your decisions for you. It will also do nothing for your self-confidence.
@ Cogito : Ouch. That was a little harsh, don't you think? @ Elgaisma : Hehe! I just posted about how I do that in another thread. Great minds think alike. I have self-confidence in spades. No problems there. I personally don't think it's appropriate to judge someone's reasons for asking for help. I'm simply asking for help, not for a ruling on my motivations for asking. I appreciate all input though. I just think you might want to take it easy on newcomers to this site or they might be a bit afraid to return. No offense intended. (And I consider myself a newcomer as I've only had 20 something posts)
How would you prefer I pad an important truth to make it more appealing? I would do you a disservice by not pointing it out. It's one thing to ask for naming strategies. Asking others to come up with the name for you teaches you nothing, but reinforces poor writing habits.
I appreciate your matter-of-fact way of putting things, though sometimes I feel your responses are too harsh for my dainty southern sensibilities. (joking- kind of) I'm a rather sensitive sort. I was asking for suggestions in the most casual way possible short of "Hey, anyone ever hear a Spanish sounding name they like?" It seems as though you thought I was literally asking someone to name the character for me, which is understandable as in my second post I pretty much say as much. I suppose what I meant to say was "It's so frustrating to me that sometimes I honestly wish someone would just name him for me."
It's just that if you're from venezuela yourself you probably know more about possible names than we do. it's like I would ask an english speaking forum to come up with a scandinavian name for my character.
Well as I live in North Scotland finding Scandinavian names isn't hard Sometimes it just helps to talk about a name etc to come to a conclusion of our own. Part of that maybe a male/female thing as for me talking about my writing, either online or in real life is useful. Without a discussion thread on here and wonderful help, my first novel would be without a title. Writing is something I do with a group a people in chatroom and is not a lonely, solo experience. Someone will often shout I need a name for ... , title for ... , this sentence is not making sense etc I've learned a lot writing with them and my writing has improved.
Totally right! That's the purpose of this forum after all, right? To ask the "stupid" questions? I'm not from Venezuela, though I am a citizen (almost! permanent resident as of now) Even so, I was just asking for interesting names that you all had heard of. Just something to trigger an "Oh yeah! That sounds nice"
I'm sorry, OP, but I'm no good at coming up with names for my own characters, let alone for other people's. I usually end up on behindthename.com and use their "random renamer". It usually works OK, although you sometimes have to go through several different searches before you find one that sounds legit. The same site does let you search names by meaning, so if you want a name that means "intelligent," say, or "brave," you can look under that criteria and see if you can find one in Spanish. Anyway, I feel like I have to respond to this: I'm sorry, but I think that's unfair. The OP is asking for help with a name, not for us to write the story for him/her. I don't think it's a disservice not to point out what was said previously, because I don't think it is true in this situation. You will never be a good writer if you rely on others to make BIG decisions for you, but asking for help coming up with a name is like asking what color we think the person's hair should be. In the long run, I just don't think it matters what you name the person. I've never once read a book and thought it would be better if the guy's name was Steve instead of John. Fairly generic names like Harry Potter obviously work just fine. Even if a character's name is an important decision that should only be done by the author, there's no reason to be mean about it. All that needs to be said is, "I don't think you should rely on others to make such an important decision."
