You don't have to name them. Use a descriptor instead. Read Tale of Genji and you'll find out that characters aren't called by their names, but often by their town's name or an article of clothing, or a flower associated with that person.
but they are normal people in a normal US city in a normal universe. they need normal names. also... they aren't in any type of normal situation. lol. this description makes my book sound boring as hell. lol
That doesn't mean you have to name your characters, though. You could call a girl any number of things, such as 'the girl next door,' 'Italian chick,' 'boobs.' Those are quite normal names. I'm just saying... cause if you're having trouble making names, then maybe you should try something different. I mean, you can't call someone Michael Smith and be happy with that... or can you? muahaha 0.o
roslyn Maclin avis Constante jamie Traber allan Bottom cody Harari darryl Ravencraft hugh Roan Makin erik Sill amie Auclair Problem solved.
omg i love you. haha! the other day i was thinking, "what if there was a random name generator online somewhere" and there is. haha. guess i could've googled that just to make sure.
I think OneMoreNameless deserves a round of applause. That is a fantastic resource, for I too have trouble with names, but I think I have a problem no longer.
OMG, never mind my characters, I went through the hardest time last year trying to pick a name for my Son! In my search for the perfect name (for my kid) I used this website: http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager The best thing about this is you can search periods of time for the most popular names. In fact you can search just about anything on this website. Good luck.
But our characters are our children! *Considers the death toll by the end of my last novel.* ... I am not a very good parent.
I don't seam to have a problem... I must be one of the few that doesn't. I suppose it comes from the acting background. It's no good being an actor if you can't tell your audience about yourself, what your name is etc. So, in my case it was just practice. I'm sure it will come for you in time.
Hardest thing for me, generally i get 20 random surnames and 20 random first names i like...then mix them and see if any fit
I research this quite a lot and the peoples names are usually used for a reason, the origins or meaning behind the name helps me create unique characters.
Naming characters is the easiest part of the entire process for me. I just pick a name I like (or maybe a name I don't like) and go with it. It really doesn't matter if the meaning of the name matches. My own name apparently means "narrows, channel," yet I don't see any ships sailing through me.
I'm all about the normal names. I generally collect names every single time I hear one. Anyone with a nice name piques my interest. Right now, I'm really big on out-of-style southern US names. Names like Netty, Doreen, Dotty and the like.
I don't find a problem most of the time. Mostly I pick a name that fits at the time, and if it changes later on, so be it.
I use names of my friends for the first draft just to have *something* to call them. Then I go to the babyname websites. Sometimes I use the social security name thing: http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/
Finding names for characters isn't tough for me, it's usually which of the ten I am going to use...so I go with Ena Meena Mina Mo, or when that doesn't work, I change people's names, like my current WIP's MC's name is Ehna-which is sort of made from my own name. But the one thing I do focus on is substance. If the name does not have weight or juts out obscenely from the plot, I don't use it.
*raises hands* moi! well actually it's weird...usually when I set out with a character I end up with a name that means what I'm trying to potray.
A lot of the times I usually reference other characters in work that have similarities or acted as inspiration. Also, I tend to name them after philosophers' whose ideas are closely related
