How do YOU name characters?
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I tend to be great at making random names at the spot (e.g. my avatar name).
For your case the way I do it is pick a name by the first part e.g. for my avatar it's "Scar". Then add another word to match the rest of the word which I use "rim". Combine the two I get Scarim.
For your case the way I do it is pick a name by the first part e.g. for my avatar it's "Scar". Then add another word to match the rest of the word which I use "rim". Combine the two I get Scarim.
Pick a letter to start with, then add other letters after it until you build something that you like. I play Dungeons and Dragons with my friends, and I've come up with these names so far...
Seyth
Kahn
Valtien
Kharezaek
Oaan
Kavarek
It depends on what the setting is.
Seyth
Kahn
Valtien
Kharezaek
Oaan
Kavarek
It depends on what the setting is.
I tend to try to work out a general setting, and work out names that would generally be appropriate for that setting. Then I try to chose names that don't sound overly evil, or overly good (e.g. I'm not going to name a bad guy Vincent or Lucifer). Maybe I'll try to pick a name depending on the character type, but it's rare I do this. Usually I just work out a name that matches with setting and run with that. If I need to make up a name, I usually toy around with various verbal sounds until something sounds like a name (e.g. Atharax Riothel as a fantasy character, although some people kept pronouncing the first name as Anthrax which was irritating).
Edit: Oh, and I also make obscure references which I do in all creative things I do. For example, I made a character called Lyndis Farne named after the band, and made a city for a World Of Darkness campaign be called Helvetesview, with the name of the campaign being called Escape From Helvetesview, a bizarre reference to a song.
Edit: Oh, and I also make obscure references which I do in all creative things I do. For example, I made a character called Lyndis Farne named after the band, and made a city for a World Of Darkness campaign be called Helvetesview, with the name of the campaign being called Escape From Helvetesview, a bizarre reference to a song.
I just, um, make them up. If it's in English, or otherwise a more international context, then it much more easier since I can use Finnish words. They work like a charm. Every Roccat product I've seen, has a Finnish name, for example.
Occasionally I might use names of athletes from different sports (if they need to be regular names, or reflect a certain nationality, etc.)
Occasionally I might use names of athletes from different sports (if they need to be regular names, or reflect a certain nationality, etc.)
Usually I try my best to make their name fit within the game's canon, for instance, when I played an Argonian in Oblivion I'd come up with something Argonian-sounding. Two names I tend to use a lot, especially in Fallout 3 and New Vegas, are Rodrigo or Hector just because I've always liked those names.
EDIT: *Sigh* I have to stop assuming I know what the OP is talking about before I post, bad posting habit. -___-
When I come up with characters for characters in a fictional world I usually pick an existing language to base their names off (French, Italian, Spanish, etc.) and just make adjustments to names from those languages.
EDIT: *Sigh* I have to stop assuming I know what the OP is talking about before I post, bad posting habit. -___-
When I come up with characters for characters in a fictional world I usually pick an existing language to base their names off (French, Italian, Spanish, etc.) and just make adjustments to names from those languages.
I look to my games for inspiration... In the short story I wrote for school, I used the names for the Velvet Room attendants from Persona 3 Portable: Theodore and Elizabeth. Not terribly creative, but it got the job done.
I'm a writer and when I name my characters I usually try to look up suiting names for my setting. As an example, I wrote a story with themes from Scandinavian culture, so the names I chose were inspired by common names from there.
At the moment I'm writing a story where the names are stuff like Antonius, Canon, Lia or Valerian, which is to say really weird ones.
So my advice is to try to understand the setting your writing in and work your way from there. If you're inspired by a real place, look up a list of names from that place and pick some out that look interesting.
If that doesn't work for you, just take a quick glance around the room and combine the words of the first two things you see.
Kellogs + Warcraft (Kelwar)
Heroes + Sacred (Hersac)
Nostradamus + Lamp (Noslam)
If nothing of that works I recommend going to seventhsanctum.com and look up one of their random name generators.
At the moment I'm writing a story where the names are stuff like Antonius, Canon, Lia or Valerian, which is to say really weird ones.
So my advice is to try to understand the setting your writing in and work your way from there. If you're inspired by a real place, look up a list of names from that place and pick some out that look interesting.
If that doesn't work for you, just take a quick glance around the room and combine the words of the first two things you see.
Kellogs + Warcraft (Kelwar)
Heroes + Sacred (Hersac)
Nostradamus + Lamp (Noslam)
If nothing of that works I recommend going to seventhsanctum.com and look up one of their random name generators.
reCAPTCHA helps http://www.google.com/recaptcha/api/image?c=03AHJ_VuvpFadUvElActuGkwzSmgJxTGGbR5SUJyS2rs7kInhPI43_mvGrL7gzITno9gFSySEwrdFuP5UQaObs7YkWAZTivgXdiMW14EQghw6Ujq7YHaxgWzmhVfhSHlF1fx5jGkFv0iOSYMlIguWMGnf72BYtp4ShHQ
I'm college-educated, but by no means professional. I do like to RP a lot, though. 
Dunno if this helps much, but here's my method (well, series of questions):
1. Was this person born naturally/are they using a nickname or something?
If yes to the former, think what the parents would logically name the child. It might be related to personality/ability and might not. If yes to the latter, go nuts.
2. Where are they from?
It's best you choose a name that originates from the country/continent/whatever they/their parents are from. Not mandatory, but still a good idea.
3. Are you intentionally trying to be symbolic?
If yes, search through a baby names site and find one with a meaning that at least roughly matches what you're going for. For e.g., one of my characters is a fire- and light-based superhero named Dawn (duh) Cynthia (ironic name; Kynthia was the Greek goddess of the moon) Anastasia (light-bringer). She gave herself this name, though.
If no, then you can pick names of people you know or just grab a name from the aforementioned baby names site.
Try to keep the names consistant and clear, though. People will remember your characters better if you give them names they naturally associate with this character's attribute; for example, naming a really strong guy Samson. But also try to avoid making it too blatant (unless it's being played for laughs, or if the character gave him/herself the name, or it was given to him/her by others).
Hope this helps. Good luck with your project.
Dunno if this helps much, but here's my method (well, series of questions):
1. Was this person born naturally/are they using a nickname or something?
If yes to the former, think what the parents would logically name the child. It might be related to personality/ability and might not. If yes to the latter, go nuts.
2. Where are they from?
It's best you choose a name that originates from the country/continent/whatever they/their parents are from. Not mandatory, but still a good idea.
3. Are you intentionally trying to be symbolic?
If yes, search through a baby names site and find one with a meaning that at least roughly matches what you're going for. For e.g., one of my characters is a fire- and light-based superhero named Dawn (duh) Cynthia (ironic name; Kynthia was the Greek goddess of the moon) Anastasia (light-bringer). She gave herself this name, though.
If no, then you can pick names of people you know or just grab a name from the aforementioned baby names site.
Try to keep the names consistant and clear, though. People will remember your characters better if you give them names they naturally associate with this character's attribute; for example, naming a really strong guy Samson. But also try to avoid making it too blatant (unless it's being played for laughs, or if the character gave him/herself the name, or it was given to him/her by others).
Hope this helps. Good luck with your project.
For the first names of characters - If its a fantasy setting, I will use something that sounds like a name. For surnames I will usually use either an anagram of someone I know, or will spell some word backwards. But than again, I'm pretty unoriginal like that. I also like to use names that are phonetic.
If it's a story in a real-world setting, I would look into what area of the world you are writing about, and find some names from there, and just pick some first name you think sounds good with a proper sounding last name.
As for towns; Again, I suck at this and usually go back to using anagrams and spelling words backwards
Edit: It's a shame I trashed the stories I was writing. Or I would pull that notebook out and give you some examples.
If it's a story in a real-world setting, I would look into what area of the world you are writing about, and find some names from there, and just pick some first name you think sounds good with a proper sounding last name.
As for towns; Again, I suck at this and usually go back to using anagrams and spelling words backwards
Edit: It's a shame I trashed the stories I was writing. Or I would pull that notebook out and give you some examples.
It really varies. I have alot of characters that I can stick into alot of places. For the record, the Escapist actually gave me "Johnny Aces", from a little writing challenge thread.
I struggle to come up with names I'd like, I hardly ever use my own name because it isn't very original, and Rough Sausage loses it's comedy value eventually. Sometimes I'll go with random syllables, or sometimes just mundane names like gregory. I'm not very creative.
Dude I have the exact same problem whenever I write a story and how I combat this problem is by the fabled Random Name Generator. Now what I do is that for each character I write down his/her personality, if they are a major or minor character, and if they are good or evil. After I write that down I go on my Random Name Generator of choice [http://www.kleimo.com/random/name.cfm] I go through the different names and if I find one that I fancy I write it down and then I mix and match the names to get the characters name. This may be long and tedious but it works for me.
Also I am a writer, not professional, and I am in the process of being college educated but not for writing.
Also I am a writer, not professional, and I am in the process of being college educated but not for writing.
Onomatopoeia. While this advice is so general as to be useless, basically name your characters for the things they do. (Apparently Charles Dickens was good at this, but I couldn't say.)
Slightly off-topic: I name video game characters for philosophers that exist in the same time period as the game is set. Currently playing Mount & Blade as Eriugena.
Slightly off-topic: I name video game characters for philosophers that exist in the same time period as the game is set. Currently playing Mount & Blade as Eriugena.
Your advice had just enough quirk in it to be quite helpful.Ultraman950 said:I'm college-educated, but by no means professional. I do like to RP a lot, though.
Dunno if this helps much, but here's my method (well, series of questions):
1. Was this person born naturally/are they using a nickname or something?
If yes to the former, think what the parents would logically name the child. It might be related to personality/ability and might not. If yes to the latter, go nuts.
2. Where are they from?
It's best you choose a name that originates from the country/continent/whatever they/their parents are from. Not mandatory, but still a good idea.
3. Are you intentionally trying to be symbolic?
If yes, search through a baby names site and find one with a meaning that at least roughly matches what you're going for. For e.g., one of my characters is a fire- and light-based superhero named Dawn (duh) Cynthia (ironic name; Kynthia was the Greek goddess of the moon) Anastasia (light-bringer). She gave herself this name, though.
If no, then you can pick names of people you know or just grab a name from the aforementioned baby names site.
Try to keep the names consistant and clear, though. People will remember your characters better if you give them names they naturally associate with this character's attribute; for example, naming a really strong guy Samson. But also try to avoid making it too blatant (unless it's being played for laughs, or if the character gave him/herself the name, or it was given to him/her by others).
Hope this helps. Good luck with your project.
It doesn't help with the assembly of building a name, but it helps in other regards.
I just come up with them.
They are usually random, but I fit it into the story, I go into long thought processes beforehand...
They are usually random, but I fit it into the story, I go into long thought processes beforehand...
I struggle horribly. Honestly, naming is by far the hardest part of anything I've written. Eventually something seems to spontaneously "pop" into my mind, and I generally just go with that. Or you know...I cheat and use a random name generator, but you didn't read that...