Oh yeah, names. I did have a dog character named Kevin Spacey in a book once. He was named for the actor who frequently dies in his movies. Wouldn't you know it, the dog didn't fare well, either. (It was a bus incident...)
I find naming my characters is the easy part. Choose one of your favourite actors, then use first or last name, then take a movie they have been in and use a character they have played, and again use first or last name and mix them. No copyright breached.
Depends on genre. For fiction / fantasy in a highly modified universe everything will do. The sound of the name is probably the most important feature. The closer to our real world your setting is the harder it gets. Ethnicity/country/race/religion was already mentioned. It gets really tricky if you create characters from cultures you don't know personally. I grew up in Austria, so I probably have a well developed sense for German and Austrian names. I instantly feel that a "Jens Strehmann" belongs to the northern half of Germany while a "Josef Darajetsch" may come from the southern parts of Austria. I'm quite sure the same holds true for other regions on this globe. The further you reach out culturally the more obscure the problems get. You know about the changing family names depending on gender in Russian culture? (e.g. Olga Rosnakow sounds terribly silly, it should be Rosnakowa) Or the very formal touch if you use the fathers name when addressing someone (no, it's not like the "middle" name in the US or the uncommon second given name in Austria)? Can you construct a plausible sounding name for a Chinese peasant born during the revolutionary years in poor inland China? (I can't...) In addition to these pitfalls - which could be solved by learning more about your target culture - every author has personal connotations. Try to become aware of these and avoid them because no one except very good friends and relatives will be aware of them. For this reason I would be careful with the "names just pop into my mind"-method. This sort of free association is always based on your personal and maybe private experience. So how do I name my characters? I try to find real world names in news articles, wikipedia, sports events etc. as close to the target area and time as possible. Then I mix and match in order to erase unwanted 100% matches. For important characters I investigate famous people with identical first or family name and double check the origins of the names. Sounds like a lot of effort for just some names but I think a rock solid biography of your characters is the foundation of a good story. One additional benefit for names created from scratch (with no existing connotations) is that I can develop the character more freely, unconstrained from existing facts. Of course, if you _want_ to model your character close to an existing role model giving it temporarily the name of the role model is a good idea. (Like the "Carl Sagan" mentioned above)
I did something like this for my first novel. I was watching a lot of old movies at the time so a lot of the characters are odes to old movies. Kinda like Twin Peaks which I was watching at the time. Sebastian Devlin is a combination of Cary Grant's last name in Notorious and his nemesis's last name. I also like using stars character's names to look for types - like if you're creating someone sexy and dangerous you look up femme fatales. And it also gives you styles - in the 80s femme fatales had very boyish names - Alex, Adrienne, Matty.
Lets see, how DO I do this? Ah yes: I will refer to how I name my new characters in Diablo, but it can be done for anything. Genre is important o course, but what works for is type out 3-8 letters without looking. Many will be useless but some will trigger a flash in your brain for a usable name. Example: Lets say a fantasy name. iquwhc can become Quich. Sci Fi: owiejrc can become Owejic. And so on. And for a real tongue tangle, Quich Owejic. May work for some, others will decry the method. JMHO...
First, I decide which culture the character belongs to. Then I search for names from that culture until I find one both pleasing to the ear and different enough from any names I already have to avoid confusion. When it comes to fantasy settings, I usually assign each of my fantasy cultures a naming scheme from a real language that matches the feel I want for that culture.
I try to come up with names that fit the characters, and at times have looked up names based on culture as well. With Alien names I just try to come up with names that sound good and are at least pronounceable for most people who read them.
I go by 3 principles: 1. Where is my character from? Does his name suit the ones from other characters from that region? What is the theme behind the names? For example I wouldn't call siblings Francesca and Candace. 2. Can my reader pronounce the name without any help? I hate it when I read a book and the name is something along the lines of Hutdehkt. Why? 3. What does the name mean? What is the character's role in this novel? How do they develop? What is their essence, their core? Is my message subtle? I don't like when it's too obvious and I also don't like names that aren't really names. I once read a book where the lonely missing girl was called Enola (-> backwards it spells alone). I put down the book the second I read her name. To give you an example: One of my characters, the son of the head of military affairs, is called Leander which means "Lion Man". He is known as a great knight, righteous, kind and loyal, so the name suits his characteristics. However back when he was still a squire his father sent him and his two best friends, one being the protagonist, on a mission. The mission left Leander and the protagonist extremely traumatised. The protagonist leaves the knight order because his emotional injuries are too great overcome. Leander starts to doubt everything and his inner righteousness drives him to the point where he becomes a rebel. He is in fact the antagonist of the novel but that is only revealed at the very end but to get back on topic Leander's name is in fact a hint towards his inner conflict. There is this song called "Little Lion Man". This song and its meaning is what is name is also hinting at.
Depending on the culture or country I'm using for the story, I go to: http://www.20000-names.com/ Then I look at name meanings to see if I can find something that fits my character. Et voila!
It's weird. It always is to me. Eventually, as the story unfolds, I start to get comfortable with the chosen name and it just sticks.
I usually let the character to introduce to me on its own. When I imagine the character, its name just appears in my mind. Or sometimes the name appears first and then I have an urge to have it in the story and I need to create new character for it. If no name is coming, I try to think about some different names until one of them fits.
Honestly, I just...think really hard, using places and names of other things for inspiration and if I like it, I stick with it. One of my character's names for example is phonetically identical to the town of Malton in the North of England. Simple, yes, but it works and I'm happy with it
I think naming characters is something I will always struggle with. I'm not usually trying to be terribly creative or anything, but I still have a hard time with this. For the most part, the names I use are pretty common. I'm fine with that. I do think characters should have names (most of the time), but I also want their names to blend into the story, not stand out. So, I end up with a lot of Marys and Johns. I will change names as I get deeper into a piece if something more fitting comes to mind. But, still, I'm drawn to the more common names for my fiction. I would never want a characters name to be the most interesting thing about them. In fact, I would like my characters' names to be the least interesting thing about them.
I drop a pen on a group of names and say, "Yup, that looks good." Very, very rarely do I spend a lot of times thinking of names, because it's honestly a waste of time.
The last thing I had to name was my player in an online pool game. I remembered the name of a sword that was found in a scene in Ready Player Two. So my pool name became "DorkSlayer." I may rename my Dungeon Hunter V character that too. It is currently Dogmeat, after a Mage I created in an early version of Wizardry. They can come from anywhere...
I have a few ways depending on the character and how much I'm struggling to come up with a good name that fits the character in question. 1) It just comes. Feels right from the get-go. This is the best feeling, but it doesn't always happen. The other ways are slightly more methodical. 2) I research meanings behind the characters. A website like Nameberry should have a space to enter the meaning that you want. Then I dig through those and find a name that fits the character. 3) Take a sound or letter that feels right and look through names including those sounds or letters. 4) If I'm still struggling, I browse through lists of names. I've spent hours in total poring over name lists that include hundreds, if not thousands, of ideas. While enjoyable, I don't think this is the ideal way to find a name (at least for myself) because it usually means I'm overthinking everything, and I really need to just settle on something and move on with my life.
I use Google and look for the most common names for girls/boys during the years 1965, 1975, etc. Sure....it can get confusing if you have 8 characters named "Jennifer" but then you have "Jen", " Jenn", "Jenny", " Jenni" etc. Look at how many girls got named "Taylor" or "Ashley" recently. If it's confusing in real life, why not in your book? Anyways......Google the top 100 names or 10 names, whatever and then pick + choose. The names can change if you think it doesn't fit a character. Good luck!!!
I just grabs bits of names that interact with me on a daily basis. If it was friendly, they're a nice character. If they're drunk, rich and smell like they haven't bathed in weeks while trying to get me fired on my first day at a new job...then they might end up as a Nazi pedo who kills children for fun...
Any considerations for the reader? i find long names annoying and diff. to pronounce rather annoying esp. if I can't abbr. them. I choose based on the characters race/nationality but for humans its a multiracial scenario. One might slip into an unconscious naming of a real (famous) person associated with the role so when I choose I search for the name (Meta is usually good for name matching).
