9 Tips How to Come Up with a Fictional Character Name
I don’t know about you but choosing a name for a fictional character can really ruffle some people’s feathers.
It can be a nagging pain not knowing what direction to start or even having so many names to choose from that it feels like a daunting task.
Hopefully, these ideas will ease a bit of that pain for you.
Ask the internet.
Go to forums, Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter, and make a simple post.
You can title it: Looking for ideas and inspiration on what to name my fictional character.
Then describe the character and maybe a sentence or two of what you’re looking for and see what comes of it.
It may turn into nothing, but at least with this trick, you won’t be stuck in your own head for a bit.
Google baby names.
There are a bajillion (is that a real number?) sites that exist for mostly this one purpose: to help people name other people.
With a baby name site you can plug in a first letter preference and then boom, you’re off to the races.
You’ll have so many name options that you won’t know what to do.
It’ll be awesome, trust me.
Take a poll.
If you’ve narrowed it down to 3-5 names you can go to a place like Reddit and ask for people to vote on a name to help you decide.
Again you can title your post something like this: Help me choose a name for a fictional character.
Then drop the names into the description with a few little details and see what people think.
Working together with others will save you time and it’s actually enjoyable to collaborate.
Try a name generator.
These things are pretty handy and fun too. You could waste hours generating names so have a plan ahead of time.
I’d say click through 100-200 max and write down ones that stand out to you. Then see if you can narrow that list down with friends and then when you have about 3-5 you can do a poll online.
Make their name an allusion to a theme in the story.
An allusion would be something like: Peanut butter is his Kryptonite.
Peanut butter isn’t really a green rock from an alien planet (just so everyone is clear on that) but it is his weakness.
If one of your major themes is “man’s inhumanity to man,” you can have your main character name their cat Hitler or their name could be Stal in reference to Stalin. It’ll take more digging for your reader to put these things together, but if they ever do I imagine they might find it clever.
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Use their language to make their name.
If you are creating a science-fiction or fantasy story it is likely that your world has multiple languages and such.
You should give them a name that makes sense with their culture and language.
For example: in star trek a Klingon would have a name that sounds like and makes sense in Klingon. You wouldn’t name them John.
A twist on this logic is if the Klingon has a child with a human and then gives it a human name or a name that melds cultures.
Use their culture to name them.
What type of culture is your character from?
If your character is a troll, then they might obviously have a troll sounding name, maybe something a little guttural sounding.
If they come from a culture that worships mythical deities they may name their children in honor or in hate of certain deities.
“We named him Arforre. It means, “he who fights for Arelis’ sight.””
Or
“We named him Balukbane. It means, “Baluk brings only pain.””
Use ancient languages.
Make use of ancient languages to gather ideas. Try languages like Latin, Hebrew, and Greek.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say you want your character to have a strong name. Let’s be simple, what is Latin for strong?
You get:
- Fortis
- Robustus
- Validus
You could literally choose one of these for your character (I personally like Fortis as is.) or you can change it a bit and have a good strong name.
Examples:
- Fortisius
- Lidus
- Robu
- Robus
- Fortus
- Fortoss
- Etc.
You can be as creative as you like or even mash them up:
- Valistus
- Rodus
- Vod
- Forval
- Vatis
- Valtis
The possibilities are fairly endless.
Take your time.
Don’t worry. Take your time. Wait for the name to feel right.
Continue to make a list of names that stick out to you and work your way through that list. Exercise the process of elimination and keep the names you created and for other stories or other characters in the story.
Give them names that are memorable.
At the end of the day, you are naming your character for the purpose of your reader being able to distinguish whom you are talking to and when you are talking about them.
Your names can be very complicated or even outlandish, but just keep in mind the point of a name is so that people can distinguish who you are and how to talk to you.
In storytelling, names are often much more than that (with allusion and such) so there is no problem having a well thought out clever name.
The point here is, if naming your fictional character is really stressing you out and it’s not fun or doesn’t add much to the story, don’t stress. Just pick one that helps your reader remember and distinguish them easily from the other characters.
Help your reader out by giving them imagery for each character and then move forward.
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That’s all for the moment.
Hope this helps!
Happy writing!
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