I’ve always struggled to come up with character names. I’ve tried various name generators, lists of baby names, and other such, but they always seem to let me down. So, here are five different methods I used to help come up with some spiffy names.
Method 1: Name List
Yes, I said I didn’t have luck with name lists, but this is a bit different than just looking at name lists. I strongly discourage alphabetizing, as that’s one of my main objections to name lists: I don’t want to see five-hundred names that start with ‘a’! My other objection is in those giant name lists, chances are you will find less than 5% of those names remotely appealing.
Make a list by picking two or more names for each letter of the alphabet for female and two for male, giving you two lists. Then, do the same for last names creating a third. From this point, it’s mix and match, baby!
Sometimes, mixing two first names gives you a good sounding full name, or mixing two last names. I recommend to continually add to this list when you find a name you like. Even if it’s a name obviously taken from another piece of work (such as Frodo, Zim, Quasimodo, and so forth), you can expand or simplify the names until they have the feeling you want, or they might just fall into place somewhere.
I arranged all the names into a spreadsheet in my word processor to make better use of the space. Here’s an example to show you what I mean:
Female:
| Celia | Ellie | Fae | Hanna | Jennifer | Lisa | Marisa | Priscilla |
Male:
| Melvin | Marius | Mark | Oliver | Orval | Otis | Oscar | Philip |
Last:
| Xekosko | Gooseburger | Gale | Finly | Immers | Andrews | Porter | Grumple |
With this method, it gets around the headache of mindlessly looking at names lists for hours, which usually are only first names. This method can create full names: first, middle, and last. Yay!
Method 2: Word List
Make a list of a bunch of words you like, or words that are part of names or places you like. After you have your list, divide it into prefixes and suffixes, and then it’s more mix and match! Here’s an example using a couple rows from my lists:
Prefixes:
| Rocky | Summer/Winter/Fall/Spring | Sunset/Sunrise |
Maple/Elm/Oak |
River |
Fort |
Water |
Suffixes:
|
Gate |
Lake |
Cemetery |
Hallows |
Bridge |
Grave |
Side |
I find I like this method best for places. For an idea of what I mean, here are a few I came up with in less than a minute: Umber Crypt, Willow’s Bridge, Brickwood, Drifting Flats, Fire Creek, Frost Lake. Sure, they’re not the best names, but it gives me something to work with. And, chances are, some of these names are in use somewhere on earth, but it’s not bad for how little time it took. Also, you never know what might come to you later if you look at some combinations you chose later. I’ve also used this list with other lists to get some unique names.
Method 3: Etymology
This is probably my favorite method. I did some digging around for general etymology of names, and made them into a list prefixes, suffixes, and neutral (meaning either prefix or suffix… not sure what the term is), and included their meaning. So, I have something like this:
Prefixes:
| Ed/Od/Ot (prosperity, fortunate) | Sig (victory) | Tor (Thor [god]) | Al/Adal/El (noble) | As (god) | Rod[Rob]/Rud[Rub] (fame) | Ric/Rich/-ry (power/ruler) | Jo (“the Lord”) |
Suffixes:
| -run (secret) | -ry (power/ruler) | -ope (voice) | -sten/sten (stone) | -iah-jah (“the Lord”) | -wald/vald/hold (rule, power) | -ward (guard) | -win/vin (friend) |
While it takes longer to compile a list like this, I feel it’s worth the time. Take ‘Os (a god, divine)’, and combine it with ‘-Bar/-Ben (son)’, and you can get Osben or Osbar, which you could interpret as ‘divine son’. Here are some names I’ve come up which I’m somewhat fond of: Sigbert (bright victory), Raddis (happy goddess), Hufrid (beautiful mind). I think these would be great for first or last names.
I’ve also done the same thing with etymology of cities and town. ’feld/ Auch[en] (field)’, with ‘fos (ditch)’, Auchenfos. This link is where I found the information to base my list from. I like many of the town names I’ve come up with using this method.
Method 4: Foreign Words
This is another fun method. Find an online translation dictionary, and search for words you like, or words that are good descriptors. I usually combine two words and try to combine them into one name (think Labradoodle, but with foreign words! …And, not dogs!). I used this method to come up with names for demons and entities for my book using Latin or Gaelic/Celtic, and also happened to stumble across a great name for the antagonist.
Method 5: Naming Conventions
This method is an expansion on the word list. Each convention consists of a theme: celestial, earthen, bright, tasty, color, happy, and so on.
A sample list of ‘celestial’:
| Twinkle | Star | Moon | Wind | Eclipse | Breeze | Sky | Comet |
A sample list of ‘troubled’:
| Fray | Strife | Fret | Stark | Vex | Harrow | Rue | Rain |
I like this list for naming unique items, events, ancestry, and sometimes it makes a unique first or last name.
So, those are the methods I currently use. Hopefully some one out there will find some of this useful. Any feedback, additional methods, or angry criticism would be welcomed!
