I look at the credits in the booklets/covers of music CDs. Some interesting names there: "John Aguto" "Wesey Mamea"
I usually ask someone in the room to shout names at me until I hear one I like. I usually give them a short description of the character first. Sometimes I look up films that have similar characters in and steal there names. Sometimes I find names in very peculiar places! The name of one of the main characters in my current story, I got from a can of fly spray! I just added an 'e' on the end to name it seem original. xD Other times, I think of names really easily because they just happen to fit into the character well.
The names I choose for my stories usually depend on the story itself. In one of mine, all the characters are named for Greek, Roman and Norse mythlogical beings, but with the names changed just enough so they aren't noticable as mythological names. For example, 5 of my characters are named Marshall, Aren, Lockie, Diana and Cybil, after Mars, Ares, Loki, Diana and Cybele respectively. Their behaviour and attitude also reflect their names. Mars is the god of war. Marshal likes to fight. Lockie is cheeky and mischevous, and Diana is a predatory girl, like her namesake, the virgin huntress. In other stories of mine, the characters are named after people I know and/or respect. I tend not to use the names of people close to me, because they might not like what I do to the character. Sometimes, I don't give the characters any names at all.
I go through the oxford english names book, or I think of a person I know similar to the character and use that name, and sometimes there're just names that fit personalities perfectly. eg.James=troublemaker Lily=innocent Natalie=beautiful person
I suffer from extreme laziness so my character names are very short like Eli, Ila etc. That way my typing time is reduced (I'm slow in typing anyway) Seriously though,in general fiction, I just use names that seem most believable and sound like the character. Point is to make the names belong to the character and not let them sound too ... contrived. In fantasy, since my stories have a strong base in Indian mythology, the names tend to have origins in Sanskrit, or just random jumbled up names.
What I find challenging is naming a character with both a forename and surname. Sometimes I find a great first name that befits exacly the character's personality but after looking for surnames, there doesn't seem to be any that compliments the first name. And don't even get me started on middle names...
I type X, Y, Z or something then do a global search and replace--- talk about lazy. Although sometimes I'll use a longer name, I usually stick to short names or nick-names, like Mike Smith, names like that. I also like using nicknames, because some people actually don't even use their real names except for signing their checks. Everyone knows them as Bird, Mojo, Spider or something like that My old writing professor said I should avoid giving people unusual names, but I persist. It is like an addiction.
I prefer to come up with my own names. It helps me to be able to create a unique character that has many different traits. I find that when you go with common names you end up creating a character that is generally like every Sam or Bob that has ever been created imo. If you go with something different, unique, it gives your character that unique, different feel to them.
@anastasiastarz - James means troublemaker? I was going to post on how difficult it is to come up with names for my main characters (everyone else seems to come to me intact) and how my current chracter was still lacking one but you solved the problem for me. I was already fiddling with that name but the meaning is perfect.
I let my character's choose their names. It seems weird, but it works. I write down a bunch of names, that I like or think would suit their personality, on a sheet of paper and then read them over a few times. After that I set the paper a side for a few hours then come back to it and find the name that screams out to me. Almost all of my characters have been named this way, save a few that were just named by me finding a super cool name that just fit.
Ahhhh i just hate choosing names!!! it is sooo anoying, like doing a crossword you just cant finish. but when i'm done it's pure joy. everything falls into place. the name fitsperfectly (or i would have rejected it) and i move on to the next guy. James? James as a trubblemaker is a bit overused. it fits well, but i just see it too many times.
I read a book called Characters & Viewpoints by Orson Scott Card (the author of Ender's Game), and he wrote a passage about how he had a complete story in mind, yet he didn't know what names to put for each character, including the main one. So he just named each character with X's and O's and when he finished he claimed that the names just came together after the story had been completed.
Orson Scott Card is one of my favorite authors in the world. Not only can he write fantasticly deep philosophical books, but he can write them as sci-fis, and incredibly easy to read ones at that. But i have to disagree with the Xs and Os thing. I dont think i could do that. I think names realy humanises the characters. and the writing phase of the book is when you put the "HUMAN" part into them. If they were labeled instead of named then i dont think i could relate ehough with them. But anyway, we all have our methods, and as i said, he writes some fantastic stuff. so maybe it works a charm for him.
Is James that common? The only thing that springs to my mind is that one guy from Harry Potter... Ah well, if I reject it my main character will be nameless again and I won't be able to start this thing. Kind of annoys me to know it's common though...
nah. it's probly only to me. I've just read a few books with james as a mischevious trouble maker. it just reminds me of the boy-theif jimmy the hand from one of Ramond E Feist's books, he later changed his name to James when he became some sort of king thingo. There was also another james i read about and there's harrry potter's dad. But it might be just me. Dont change your character if James suits him.
I think it would be easier for me. As im writin about the jewish revolt, Ive picked a handfull of jewish names. Research the culture if it exists, or create your own!
I like names from other langauages. I luv the fact that most people in the western world have hebrew names- except for me. I feel left out
I've got 20000-names.com bookmarked. It's great. You've got your average every day names, and then if you're doing fantasy like I do, you've got names from different countries. That's great because I've got a big world and can give people regional names, as well as the meaning of the name. admittedly, actually choosing a name is the hard part... I like to say them out loud (or at least, in my head) though some things sound better than they look, in my opinion, like a lot of Arabic and Irish names. Then again, for things like Irish and Arabic names, if you don't know the pronouniation you're kind of screwed anyway. Like Soibhan. It's pronounced Shivawn
What helps me, is I pick a name I like, then create a character for that name. If it does not work for the current piece I am writing, then I tuck it away for a later date. Basically, having a file system of characters ^.^
I spend ages trying to find the perfect names for characters on baby name websites. It can be quite frustrating when you have a fully formed character ready to be written but you can't find the right name or them.
