What is the best way of choosing a protagonist's name?

I'm currently in the process of trying to find a different name for one of my MC's in my current science fiction writing. The problem is that his current name that I allocated out of random impulse: Jayce does not seem to suit the planned development or his character. My question is how can I find a suitable name for this human (-ish.) character that can suit the character better without making it sound too ridiculous?

I am also open to any suggestions to what names could replace the current one.

 

I think that you'd need to explain why Jayce isn't suitable, before we could make specific suggestions. And what would make a name sound ridiculous, in this context.

 

You could sit back and let the right name come to you or you can do it by volume, run through as many names as you can come up with so one eventually sticks.

 

@ChickenFreak Well the current name is an issue because the character is meant to be a foot soldier that has been serving for a long time and has become numb to horrific experiences (the sci fi setting here is very space opera like but on a large scale.) that is the centre of his personal struggles alongside having traumatic memories/nightmares from surviving a historically terrible military event in his faction's history. Thing is I just want a short simple name, but other ones that have come to mind are too anglicised or too exotic, plus it would make it ridiculous as this is a sci fi setting I don't really like the idea of unrealistic and humorous names like "Globentrilium" or "Titilius maximilium."

@Phil Mitchell That is a good idea.

 

What's wrong with your original idea of Jayce?

 

Too anglicised and doesn't really represent a broken man very well, more like the name of somebody off of jersey shore, also seems to lack that science fiction base.

 

Pick a placeholder and write... sooner or later it'll occur to you.

 

Your example joke names seem to have a pseudo-ancient-Roman feel. Is that--the ancient Rome, not the joking--what you see as appropriate for science fiction? So, Caesar, Marcus, Aelius, Albus--you could Google ancient Roman names.

Which raises the question: What is this science fiction setting? Is it the future of Earth-based mankind? Is it the past of Earth-based mankind? Is it created from scratch, and Earth isn't even in the picture? Names tie to languages, and languages tie to civilizations. What's the civilization?

Star Trek just uses normal human names. Battlestar Galactica went to "classical antiquity". I'm not sure what Babylon 5's inspiration is--the humans again had normal human names, but I'm not sure about the origin of the Centauri, Minbari, etc. names, though there's a Wikipedia article that speculates about a variety of inspirations--Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Shakespeare, etc.-- for the plot elements and themes.

So, what's the civilization and what's the theme?

 

BTW, for what it's worth, Jayce is Greek.

Edited to add: And Googling it, I see why you referred to the Jersey shore, while I said "what?!" In 1988, when I was in college, Jayce was used for 23 out of a million babies. In 2016, it was used for 1,635 out of a million babies.

To me, it's thoroughly obscure. To you, who are probably a good deal younger than me, it's prosaically common.

This is the danger of depending heavily on a name choice. Fashion may come along and completely destroy the nuances that the name had for you when you chose it.

Edited again to add: Since your rejected choice was a Greek name starting with a J, you could look for Greek names starting with J, and then check their popularity. Jahan, for example, means "Holder of the world" and has been thoroughly unpopular (based on BabyCenter, which offers graphs) at least since 1972. (Edited to add: Huh. But it's not Greek, it's Persian. Apparently I got confused somewhere in my Googling.)

 

I tend to do it by brute-force: looking at as many names as possible as quickly as possible, deciding what I like and don't like about each one, and then looking for even more names based on those new discoveries about my current preferences.

For realistic settings, I focus on baby-names websites, but for SciFi/Fantasy setting, I go back and forth between

• Baby name websites
• SciFi/Fantasy name generators
• Obscure to semi-obscure language/culture names lists
• Google translate

And take more liberties with cut-and-pasting syllables from different names/words.

Most importantly, if after all of this I still can't come up with any names that I absolutely love, then I just pick a name that I don't mind and then use it until I like it The Milwaukee Cannibal was not scary because his name was Jeffrey Dahmer, the name Jeffrey Dahmer became scary after the Milwaukee Cannibal was arrested. Unless the name is extraordinarily powerful, the character makes the name far more than the other way around.

 

Creating names is always my favorite topic and part of writing stories, because either it's the first thing you do, or it's the last thing. For me, I always like to make a draft of the story through very vague detail and write out the plot. Based on how the plot is, the names usually come to me through that.

A story is what define's the character's name, though. Nobody would think much of a first name unless it refers to famous or historic people. From that thought, make your story strong enough for people to remember the character's name for your story if they hear it anywhere else!

 

I know, I've read your early drafts, with "Testicle Judy" and "Twice Vagina Phillips". I found it a little distracting.

 

I think they come into their own. I was halfway through my first novel before
Mackus had his name, and up until the last 1/8th for Corlixia.

Spend some time just building the characters in your story, and you will come
to the names later.

Other wise pretty much everyone else has suggested all the possible ways
for you to cook up names.

(And if you want have a good laugh, use Steve as a stand in.)

 

Something that always takes me out of a book is when characters have a name that's too perfectly suited to their character, without a plot important reason. It's one thing to have a fitting name, but quite often it goes too far into the 'Their name clearly ended up controlling the rest of their life' territory.
There are two exceptions to this - If it's a family name, and that family plays a large role in their identity, it can work. Or, if it's a made-up name that they gave themselves, then it at least makes sense, even if it's still a bit cheesy.

(For a particularly noteworthy example, Eragon the Dragon rider comes to mind - Yes, it is eventually revealed that his father was also a dragon rider, but even with that knowledge in mind it's a particularly obvious and cringe-inducing name when you think about the astronomical odds that led to his situation, and what his father could possibly have been thinking when he was named.)

I try and pick names that reflect their background and setting more than their current characterization. For example, my main character is Adelyn Mayweather - Firstly, I just like the cadence of her name, but I also want to establish that the setting is also not that of a typical fantasy novel - Adelyn is a name with American roots, and Mayweather was chosen because it's similarly rooted, and is also evocative of Meriwether, the famous American explorer.

Similarly, my other MC is David Undertow. David, because it's intentionally generic - He was an Orphan pretty much from birth, so his name doesn't get to have a special meaning, and Undertow is actually a pun - He grew up on the coast, and got a reputation for getting in the way of people who were working on and around the beach and docks. 'Undertow" = "Under Toe". It's a name he adopted since he lacked a family name.


So, in short, I'd focus less on how your characters name fits their current arc, and more on how it fits their history.

 

I think there is something to be said for names being a bit more random. We are all given names at birth, but how much do our names really influence how our character develops as we grow up? Perhaps if you have an unusual name, it might have a some impact, but for more common names, not so much I'd wager. There is that thing called 'nominative determinism' which is about people being more likely to do jobs that reflect their names, but I'd say this is a marginal effect in reality.

In fiction, sometimes this idea is relied upon too heavily - as though the name is supposed to signal an initial clue about the character. Such clues are counter-productive though, I think it's better to discover what the character is like from the the story itself.

 

Great advice! Peace, Tex

 

Jayce sounds androgynous, which might be what you want. I agree with just writing until something comes up. It helps to have a story behind a name, so if "Jayce" has a story that is interesting, keep it. Peace, Tex

 

I agree with a lot of what's being said here.

And I think two separate points can be compounded into one.

Names carry connotations based on each of our own subjective associations, whether real people or characters from film, theater, novels, et cetera.

For instance, the female name "Grace" means beauty, elegance in movement & demeanor, and benevolent favour

But to me, it means bitch in no uncertain terms. Every Grace I ever met has been a nasty, manipulative little witch—as apparently have all my mother has known, who reinforced my findings. That's not to say that there aren't compassionate Graces in the world or even within my own town—I just haven't met them and I bring my own prejudice from experience.

Like with you & ChickenFreak: you both brought & had very different associations with the name Jayce. And for me, it's a blank slate as I've never met anyone with the name before—off my head it feels like an alteration of standard American name Chase, so there is either something special about the person or they wish there was.

So three people came with very different readings or first impressions of the name "Jayce."

The main thing is that you're story can shape our perception of the character's name—become the new association.

As a personal example, a book I read had a male name Sashai which I thought sounded awkward & feminine on first seeing it. Now when I think of it or hear/read any similar names, I automatically picture a strong, cunning, incredibly sexy man. That definitely was not what came to mind before the book. But the story now has the strong association with the name, and even though it was odd at first, it became casual as breathing to read it.

Now for me personally, I like having names that mean something, even if it's for my own peace of mind rather than the recognition of the reader.

For instance, in one of my stories I had two female friend protagonists with one of them being Amelia. Amelia means "gift of God" and everyone adores her & thinks her perfect, like she's heaven sent. But I also loved that it can also be a variant spelling of Emelia, which means rival. Because even though best friends, the second protagonist is always set up in direct comparison & competition to her.

For another story I had been listening to various renditions of the Disney song "Poor Unfortunate Souls" and was fascinated how the tone & inflections of the singer could change the overall impression of the character. And one style made me want to write a callous witch forced to do helpful magic as a sort of community service while on parole for disproportionately cursing mortals for slight infractions. Because the Disney villain's name was Ursula, meaning she-bear, I found Bernadette that means courageous as a bear and then let it become Nadette because I preferred the sound. I don't suspect any reader is going to pick up on the history or deeper meaning behind her name, and that's fine. It's more for me than them.

And then sometimes I hear an odd or unusual name I love or find fascinating then just save for later use. Like I'm reading "The Golden Bough" by Frazer and I loved the names "Damia" and "Auxesia" even though they were mentioned solely in passing.

And sometimes, someone is just named Tony because it sounds right. He's a Tony, she's an Alanna, and she's a Chloe. Sure I know Chloe is Greek for green shoot or something, but it has no bearing. Just a bunch of high school students with high school names.

Just find out whatever method works for you. If you want meaning or originality, then research it by culture, language, definition, etc.

But remember, just because it's a blank slate for you or seems to carry the right associations doesn't mean all your readers are going to come with the same impression of it.

The story can make the name.

 

I downloaded a handy spreadsheet from The National Statistics Office (I think). It has the top 100 girl and boy names for each decade from 1904 to 1994. I usually pick one from around the characters' birth year when a name doesn't occur to me immediately.

But I write contemporary stuff set in the real world, and I don't like or need to give characters out-there names. In that case I'd probably just write a list of pleasing-sounding syllables and put them together until I got something that sounded right.

I agree with others that giving your characters names to match their destiny or whatever might not be the way to go. Who doesn't eyeroll at Bella Swan?

 

Names don't fit people, people fit names.

Just pluck a name out of the air and write the character and it'll do just fine.

In my first book I couldn't come up with a character name as I was writing, didn't want to stop so just stole a name from the TV that was on in the background. I happened to have A Touch Of Frost playing and someone had just said 'Sandy' so I used that. And by the end of the book I kinda liked it as this guys name. The name moulded itself around the character and started to pick up the traits from the character I was creating. I really liked the feel that this nickname got dropped on him at about twelve and he's been stuck with it every since and kinda resents that no-one actually knows his first name any more, that he just got poured into this mould and has never escaped it.

As I have said before on these forums; Joe Bloggs can be just as dynamic as Gemini Thrust because what matters is the character not the name.

 

Is this just a weird prose novelists thing? Because I know in comics, manga and graphic novels, the name matters. Bigtime.

 

Comics, manga, and graphic novels generally use exaggerated features to convey scope and themes. This isn't universally true, but its fairly common - Even in the most simple example, a subtle gesture in a static pose will have to be exaggerated when compared to a moving image in order to convey the same feeling and emotion, and much of this styling ends up bleeding into the rest of the medium.
It could be compared to Opera, actually, or greek theater - Intentionally overdone to convey grand themes and ideas.

This isn't impossible to do in a novel, but often comes off as cheesy instead of dramatic.

 

I think it's because in prose, we get words and direct ways to build character.

Graphic novels are given special cues for readers to pick up immediately.

So while a novel eloquently can linger on a description and give detailed insights in unique ways that doesn't bog the story down, graphic novels are more complex.

It can't have too much dialogue clogging the frames, and can't meander in endless images without action, narration, or dialogue. So things become punchier, more polished or to the point, a lot of immediate innovative ways to inform the reader of imperative things, with an interesting balance between visuals and dialogue & narration.

In some ways, it's more similar to cinema.

 

But we live in a multimedia society now. Where if a work does gain traction and popularity, films become books, books become comics, comics become film, gotta throw video games in the mix. Y'all gonna have video game starring Joe Bloggs? Maybe I'm missing the big hurry, where let's rush the name cos you've got somewhere better to be? If you're going to spend a ton a time building up the character, yet the characters name, one of the first things the reader will see on the back: https://susanleighnoble.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/cimg0524.jpg ...doesn't matter? A reader who looks on the back, in a bookstore the time you have to make an impression is measured in seconds. I don't understand why someone wouldn't give themselves every edge. It boggles the mind.