How do YOU name characters?

[Lady Kakata]

It depends. Sometimes I come across names that are good and use it for my characters, some I store until I come up with a character that's worth it (as I did with the name 'Niuhuru')

If the character has a particular background or a particular rule to their name (such as The Lion King characters) then I go with names that comes from a specific language or era such as Swahili for TLK

If all else fails, go for feeling. Sometimes you get the feeling that your character would have a name that begins with a certain letter or sound. Takes this and 'tumble' it inside your mind, mix and match it with other sounds until you get a winner. From this, my Barbarian Prince got the name 'Vaahl'
This can work with taking items or other names and tumbling them until you get a result. For example, a Prince needed a name. I took the word 'Cerebus' and tumbled it until I got Cerebane.

EDIT: It's recommended you do a lot of reading of historical books. Historical books, particularly about bad/evil people, tend to have a fantastic amount of great names

 

[Mad1Cow]

I think of their characteristic, type it into a latin translator and work with what I get. If that doesn't work, Japanese translator. It gives me something to work from that sounds strangely fitting.

For example I just had to name a cleric in a game I play, went for Quinn Sanctus...sounds appropriate...

 

[NeedAUserName]

Its always either:

• My name
  Their canon name
  Deeply immature swear words

 

[chiggerwood]

Try traditional Celtic names. They usually do well.

 

[quantumsoul]

I like http://www.parenthood.com ; it has a great baby name finder. You can search by language origin, meaning, etc.

I like to pick a name who's mean refers to something about my character or fits the nationality.

 

[Your once and future Fanboy]

Well, first you need to think about the characters, what are their traits, whats their background and how do they relate to the world around them.
I'll give you an example: One of my first Dungeons and Dragons characters where a half-orc (3rd edition d&d), and I wanted a character who where different from the standard orc brute.
So I decided to take a few levels in the rouge class as well as the barbarian class (to show that he also had a savage nature), finally i wanted him to be from a different place, so I had him come from an oriental background.
I wanted him to be known by another name than his real name, so i gave him the nickname Oni the Orc, because he whore an oni mask during combat. His real name where not oriental because of his race, but more human style name because of his less savage upbringing, so I called him Roderik. Roderik is actually an anagram (more or less) for an old Norwegian name for the devil : Røde Erik (or Rode Erik, seeing that the English language don't have that letter)

I have not gone to college, but I have been an on/off amateur writer for the last 5 years, and I have had a short story published in a local paper.

 

[vivalahelvig]

I always have used the same name for years, remnar, no capitals no nothing, unless it's taken (and i dont know how considering its very rare) in which i use a multitude of others!

 

[Zhadramekel]

Most of the time, since my writing is often based off my nightmares and involving people I know, I take the first letter of those friends names and use another name starting with the same letter.

 

[Stickwell]

After American presidents... Only ones that have been assassinated though.
J.F.K. being my most commonly used/original

 

[Xaio30]

"Modders Muse" is an awesome, awesome program that generates names after your specifications! (Include these letters here and there, be this long, use this many vowels etc.)

 

[SamuelT]

I tend to write yeah, though not professional. I'm currently studying for finals, or am supposed to anyways, and have an entire thing planned for the summer holidays. Things like; learn to draw properly and finally finsh that story I've had swimming around for a month now.

As for naming the characters, I tend to go with what feels right for the character. That might sound really vague, but I just call out names out loud until I find one that suits this character. It's usually one of the last things I do when writing out a character, as names aren't all that important when compared to their traits and personalities. Same with appearances.

 

[Hristo Tzonkov]

I like the name Darius for a male character.Usually Jane for female.

 

[Kiltguy]

Here's few tips.

1. Name the characters with the first name that pops into your head.


2. Don't name a character after it's attributes, experience ect. Instead think, what would his/hers parent name their child?


3. Pick up a atlas, check out different countries river, lakes, and city names. If need be, twist existing name so it sounds better.
Depending on how exotic your name is, check various part of the world. For instance a Nordic name, check out Scandinavia for names.

Hope that helps and good luck.

 

[Wierdguy]

Got a few standard names I usually use. About 3 male ones and 2 female ones.

In the case of games where names are already in place such as ME I mostly use that, and any new playthroughs I just use a name that sounds similar to it.

 

[Hiikuro]

I tend to get attached to certain names, both real and fictional. Sometimes there are themes, like I have an entire family named by colors.

The most recent name I got attached to was Sylvia, likely spawned from my mind subconsciously mixing the names Sepia and Silver. For a week or two that name was burned into my mind, until I created a well needed character to host it. Previously I've been attached to names like Lyric, Saiteki, Meirah, Hiikuro, and others.

I find it quite easy to come up with names, I usually just spend about ten minutes thinking about possible names for a character and then use the most ideal name I can come up with. I go with my gut when deciding what name to use. I tend to use either english names, japanese names, non-language names, and quite a few names spawned from a fictional language I once made.

Though, related, for place names, it is harder. I dislike "random" names when it comes to places, so I tend to use real words instead, often using several different naming styles to keep places more unique. I'm not entirely satisfied with my method for this yet though, as I want to keep my naming scheme for places more themed and rely less on suffixes like "lake" and "plains".

 

[amucha98]

.

 

[Thetwistedendgame]

I'm suprised nobody actually suggested to use no name at all. I actualy only read one book with a nameless protagonist. Just a suggestion, think about it.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'm a cartoonist and I tend to name my characters depended on their role in life or their characteristics.

Other than that I suggest you just go though a list of names (simply watch the end credits of a movie) and decide which name sounds best for your character.