It's hard to invent an original name for a character

[LonRivers]

I look up obscure names, old world names and unusual names, and then see if I can mix them up and make new ones. I try really hard not to use names of people that I know or knew. It helps me to envision my characters better if my brain is not muddied by faces of people I know, love or hate.

 

[LonRivers]

Nicknames are a way to bypass actual names of characters. You may mention their real name in passing, but refer to them by the nickname the other characters call him.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I write all kinds of genres and such. So finding names can be a different process depending on your setting.

Stuck for a name for a modern slice of life? Baby name lists for first names and census lists for last names.

Need an ethnic name? Google common Dutch girl names, common Russian surnames, common Arab boys names. They'll even give you meanings! (<- hot tip)

For period pieces it's not difficult to search for period names like 'popular antebellum names' or 'popular medieval Gaelic names' etc and again they will give meanings.

If you want a name to be more obscure take a name and customize it. For instance Sokolov is a common Russian surname (means eagle-son). You could twist it to Sokolowski or Sokolovitz, of Sokolevski or Sokolmann.

For fantasy names you can make them up. If you have trouble with this you can twist real names like Myra becomes Myralina, or combine them like Twyla + Collette = Twylette (ok that one is kinda cheesy but you get the idea).

Again in fantasy sometimes you just pick something that sounds fucking cool, like a villain mage named Zodd.

Sometimes knicknames are best. Speedy, Tiger, Crash, Pumpkin, Doll, JJ, Bubbles. Why do they call him Frankie Four-Fingers? 'Cause he's got four fingers. Same movie: Brick Top. Great name.

Here's an example of a name that I came up with earlier this year. I had a villain. There wasn't much to him, he was just an arrogant jerk. He was Italian so I needed an Italian name. I just went to google translate, typed in 'scoundrel' and translated to Italian. One of the suggestions like the second or third down was 'canaglia'. It means villain or scoundrel. Perfect. Then I went to a list of Italian boys names. There were like 150 names or something all with translated meanings. When I got to 'Emilio' the translation was a single word 'rival'. Well it doesn't get any better than that. My villain's name was Emilio Canaglia - or Rival Scoundrel. What a terrific name if I may say so myself.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Man, I was so pissed when I found out Indiana Jones was taken.

Indiana was the DOG's name!!!

 

[SkyBubble]

Usually, I only give characters a last name if the character is a real person.

 

[SkyBubble]

My biggest problem is not recycling names too much. Every girl can't have a boyfriend with teh same name, and every guy can't vhe a bunch of girlfriends who all have the same name.

 

[Katie_Mae]

My biggest problem is not recycling names too much. Every girl can't have a boyfriend with teh same name, and every guy can't vhe a bunch of girlfriends who all have the same name.

I realised a few days ago that I accidently named five of my characters in the same story the same family name (setting requires use of family names often). It's a story I'm still working on so can fix it.

(and yes, it's a common surname for the setting, but don't want to confuse readers more than required so I'll change at least a few of those to something else)

 

[Writer61]

"Of all the names in all the world you had to choose mine"

I don't think an original name is necessary, or likely even possible (sorry, Tarquin Fin-tim-lin-bin-whin-bim-lim-bus-stop-F'tang-F'tang-Olé-Biscuitbarrel is taken).

Most of my characters are only refered to by their given names. I'm happy as long as I don't re-use one of those (a couple have slipped through the net to my chagrin).

When it is necessary to use a family name too I try to avoid those of well-known people because I don't want any associations with my characters.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

That's probably how Creation started, you know.

I take no credit for that

 

[gunhilltrain]

Try googling your own name. You'll find out how common names really are.

Yeah, there are a lot of me. I found out that I died seven years ago.

 

[MrPixel]

After coming up with a name, use this tool to find out how many others have the same name:

https://howmany-ofme.com/.

I tried this with my name (Candy Kane) and it returned 317 results with all of them being male with an average age of 94. Something hinky going on.

Agreed. I did a quick test of my wife's name, and the tool said "2", and "male". No, we certainly know that's not right. Plus we endured several years of dealing with collection agencies looking for one of the same name who happened to live in our metro area. Too much coincidence if that "rarity" was accurate. I just did a general search and just the first page had at least 14 different people with that name, all women, none of them my spouse.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I write all kinds of genres and such. So finding names can be a different process depending on your setting.

Stuck for a name for a modern slice of life? Baby name lists for first names and census lists for last names.

Sites that let you find names by year are especially handy here.

Need an ethnic name? Google common Dutch girl names, common Russian surnames, common Arab boys names. They'll even give you meanings! (<- hot tip)

For period pieces it's not difficult to search for period names like 'popular antebellum names' or 'popular medieval Gaelic names' etc and again they will give meanings.

If you want a name to be more obscure take a name and customize it. For instance Sokolov is a common Russian surname (means eagle-son). You could twist it to Sokolowski or Sokolovitz, of Sokolevski or Sokolmann.

This is the approach I use too, but when naming characters from an unfamiliar culture I'd also recommend googling on that culture's naming practices.

e.g. "Nadia"/"Nadja" is a common Russian first name and "Andropov" is a well-known last name, but a Russian woman is unlikely to be "Nadia Andropov" on her driver's license. (An American woman of Russian ancestry might be, though.) Or cultures where the family name is first rather than last.

For fantasy names you can make them up. If you have trouble with this you can twist real names like Myra becomes Myralina, or combine them like Twyla + Collette = Twylette (ok that one is kinda cheesy but you get the idea).

Huh, looks like Twylette is a historical name: https://www.myheritage.com/names/twylette_adams

For fantasy/SF, you don't have to go the full Tolkien but it's probably worth deciding on some principles about how different races/cultures make names and being consistent. IRL when somebody's named "Nigel Fotherington-Smythe" or "Bùi Thanh Sơn" that gives us some hints about their background; in fantasy, readers should probably be able to tell the difference between Orcish and Elvish names, unless there's some interesting reason why they can't.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Agreed. I did a quick test of my wife's name, and the tool said "2", and "male". No, we certainly know that's not right. Plus we endured several years of dealing with collection agencies looking for one of the same name who happened to live in our metro area. Too much coincidence if that "rarity" was accurate. I just did a general search and just the first page had at least 14 different people with that name, all women, none of them my spouse.

The text on their page looks to be AI-generated mush:

"User privacy is a top priority for HowManyOfMe. The tool clarifies that it does not gather or keep demographic or personal data. So, the users worried about their privacy online can now feel more confident because of this data protection feature which made it a mindful reason to get this."

"To sum up, I must say that HowManyOfMe is definitely a fun experience and to end my curiosity I did it and it was a lot of fun especially when you compared it with your friends or family. Other than that, I have talked about how you can use this tool so that you can have a hassle free and fun experience. That being said, it was all for HowManyOfMe from our side, hope you enjoyed it!"

I'm not sure if there's any publicly accessible source that would give accurate numbers for full names.

I had wondered if they were just taking first name frequencies and multiplying by last name frequencies to estimate the full name frequency ("if 10% of people have first name John and 5% have last name Smith, then 10% * 5% are John Smith" kind of thing) but that doesn't appear to be the case. For all I know it's just plugging into GPT and asking GPT to make up a number...

 

[pink_silk_glove]

e.g. "Nadia"/"Nadja" is a common Russian first name and "Andropov" is a well-known last name, but a Russian woman is unlikely to be "Nadia Andropov" on her driver's license. (An American woman of Russian ancestry might be, though.) Or cultures where the family name is first rather than last.

Indeed, her name would be Nadia Andropova.

Huh, looks like Twylette is a historical name:

Hah, that was literally an ass pull.

For fantasy/SF, you don't have to go the full Tolkien but it's probably worth deciding on some principles about how different races/cultures make names and being consistent. IRL when somebody's named "Nigel Fotherington-Smythe" or "Bùi Thanh Sơn" that gives us some hints about their background; in fantasy, readers should probably be able to tell the difference between Orcish and Elvish names, unless there's some interesting reason why they can't.

Got it. My orc is Silvyn Freelark and my elf is Gronk Churrk. No wait ...

 

[Bramblethorn]

Indeed, her name would be Nadia Andropova.

"Nadia Andropova" in everyday conversation, but on formal documentation she'd more likely be a Nadezhda, similar to how somebody who's "Liz" to their friends will probably be "Elizabeth" on their birth certificate.

Similar to how somebody who's "Liz" to their friends will probably be "Elizabeth" on their birth certificate, but just about everybody has formal and informal variants of their name, and maybe also intimate and pejorative versions.

Or something like that. My knowledge of Russian naming practices comes from doing ten minutes of research for a story and I had my Nadja come from a fictional neighbouring country with its own dialect of Russian, partly to give me an excuse for any holes in my knowledge.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Usually, I only give characters a last name if the character is a real person.

I almost never use them, in most stories it really isn't necessary. Think of how rarely it comes up in normal work or social situations. In my office the only time a last name comes up in normal conversation is because we have two guys with the same first name, and sometimes you need to specify. Most of the time context is enough to indicate which one you are referring to though.

 

[Katie_Mae]

I almost never use them, in most stories it really isn't necessary. Think of how rarely it comes up in normal work or social situations.

That would depend on the setting, the culture, and your version of "normal."

Eg. I have some characters who only ever have family names because the "normal" in the setting is to call them by their family name and their role in the story isn't necessary to identify their given name.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

That would depend on the setting, the culture, and your version of "normal."

Eg. I have some characters who only ever have family names because the "normal" in the setting is to call them by their family name and their role in the story isn't necessary to identify their given name.

You can always come up with exceptions, hence my use of the term "most".
A story in a military setting will be dominated by the use of last names, to the extent that some characters might not actually know another characters given name.

Those stories would be outside the norm for what you will find on Lit though.

 

[Katie_Mae]

You can always come up with exceptions, hence my use of the term "most".

I wasn't talking about exceptions, I was commenting on your use of "normal" specifically when you said "Think of how rarely it comes up in normal work or social situations." Because in normal work and social situations, family names come up a lot! (Eg, in an office environment where people are referred to by their family names)

Obviously in your personal culture using people's first names is normal in most work or social situations, but not everyone has that experience of "normal."

This is why I put "normal" in quotation marks.

I would agree that lit specific, there are many modern Americans here writing stories in modern USA and their experience of "normal" cultural customs aligns with yours, and that a great percentage of stories here are set in settings

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I wasn't talking about exceptions, I was commenting on your use of "normal" specifically when you said "Think of how rarely it comes up in normal work or social situations." Because in normal work and social situations, family names come up a lot! (Eg, in an office environment where people are referred to by their family names)

Obviously in your personal culture using people's first names is normal in most work or social situations, but not everyone has that experience of "normal."

This is why I put "normal" in quotation marks.

I would agree that lit specific, there are many modern Americans here writing stories in modern USA and their experience of "normal" cultural customs aligns with yours, and that a great percentage of stories here are set in settings

What are these office environments where people are referred to by their family name?

 

[Britva415]

What are these office environments where people are referred to by their family name?

That one with seven Steves and six Karens

 

[Kelliezgirl]

That one with seven Steves and six Karens

No one could handle working in an office with six Karens.

 

[Katie_Mae]

What are these office environments where people are referred to by their family name?

If youre asking what countries I personally live/ work in, I'd rather not reveal more about my location except "not USA" and that I've lived in more than one country.

Historically speaking, "most countries" would cover the situation where using family names/surnames was the "normal"

Modernly speaking, I've observed three different uses of surnames in the office

• You use them for everyone/ most people/ people you aren't too familiar with (generally combined with an honorific) because that's what's professional and respectful

Eg, you ask Mr Tan from accounting to send you a report

• You use them for your superiors (combined with an honorific) because that's respectful

Eg your boss is Mr Lee, but your co-worker is Jen

• You use them, with or without an honorific but in a casual way

Eg "Hey, Evans! You catch the game Saturday night?" But in a meeting it's "I agree with Mark"

 

[Britva415]

No one could handle working in an office with six Karens.

Have you ever worked in an office? Its wall to wall Karens

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Have you ever worked in an office? Its wall to wall Karens

I guess I've managed to avoid those offices.