A Guide to Naming Characters

Before you begin to yell out random names, there's a few things you need to consider first. What do you want to do with the name? This may sound like a strange question, but it really helps in the long run when you have a long list and no idea which to pick from.

This basically means that you need to find the purpose behind the name. Does this person have a name which means something in another language? Is there something special to the parents of this character that would make them give him/her a certain name over another?

As an example, you have a character who is strong and protective, almost like a dog, so you may name them something that means one of those words in another language. Another example would be if your characters parents were in love with gardening, perhaps naming the child after a flower would make sense.

Once you figure this out you'll narrow your search immensely.

Now that you've narrowed down your search, it's time to narrow it further.

Think for a moment on your story. What time period is it set in? What is the dominant language? Is your character from another country then the rest?

Asking these will help narrow your search once again. If your story is set in Asia, then it would only make sense to give your character an Asian name.

Using the previous example, we can already pin point a name. Your character's parents loved to garden, so when they had a child they named them something garden related. They live in Asia, so they took the Hindu word for Jasmine, Chameli.

See where this is going?

Other things to consider are typical names used in the region. If your character is from America, using something common like Jen or Steve would work nicely.

Now that you have background, time, and place figured out, it's time to find that perfect name!

Wondering how I found the name used in the example above (Chameli)? I used the wonderful world of the internet! This final step is actually the easiest. Since everything is narrowed down, searching through a long list becomes easy if your paying attention to language and definition.

Below is a list of site's I have found useful, but for this example we will be using only one.

http://incompetech.com/named/

Using the previous example, enter the word "flower" into the name contains field. Leave everything else the same and click on the search button. Only two names come up, one Hindu, the other french. There's no need to decide which is better if you already know where your character and their parents are originally from.

Of course, if your writing fantasy or science fiction this becomes slightly harder. The key is to find a name that has the sound of where they come from, if it's no where currently in existence.

If you use the "meaning contains" field, I would suggest using the other options to narrow the search, as the list can turn out to be quite long.

I hope this guide has helped you find a name for your character. If not, feel free post a comment below and let me know how I can help you! If you feel as if you need more personalized help, you can also message me anytime!