This is a question that has plagued me from the time I learned how to read, so I figured I would finally ask it:
How do you come up with the names for your characters? Do you base them off of people you know, names you like, a big book of babies' names?
(Oh, and to make this thread last: AAARRRRRGH, pirates!)
[ March 01, 2004, 07:36 PM: Message edited by: MidnightBlue ]
Posted by Cor (Member # 4295) on :
Sorry, I can't be more helpful, but names of characters generally come to me from nowhere. Frequently, the names fit the personalities. For example, Cor, a strong, solid name for a female character of mine, is an assassin in the story I'm working on.
[ March 01, 2004, 07:46 PM: Message edited by: Cor ]
Posted by Da_Goat (Member # 5529) on :
OSC answered a question like this. I searched for it, but only got 404's.
Posted by Anthro (Member # 6087) on :
I rearrange words, and not really on purpose but absentmindedly. Then I come up with something I think sounds cool and find some place to use it.
Like my new one, Len Oloc. Colonel. Backwards, though that wasn't intended and didn't notice it 'till now.
Normal, I stick with normal names I like the sound of. Like Helen. Doesn't imply that hussy to me--Helen's a strong, intelligent woman, in one of my stories.
Cor, you know that's Old English for God? As in, Cor blimey(God blind me).
Posted by Cor (Member # 4295) on :
Cooooooool...she is a bit godlike....
Posted by Dobbie (Member # 3881) on :
Oh, my question: Does Oloc sound better as a first or last name?
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
As far as I can tell, "cor" and "blimey" date back to the late 1800s. Definitely not Old English.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
It's always been my opinion that names should perform two functions: give the reader a quick sense of the character's spirit, and NOT distract the reader with their weirdness or preciousness.
Consequently, you won't find me rearranging words to create "fantasy" names or making amusing little puns or symbolic references. I tend to stick to relatively common -- but not altogether prosaic -- names pulled from places like the first few pages clicked through on CNN.
Every now and then, I'll spell something "creatively" if I absolutely MUST pander to an audience. But I don't believe that the name is -- or should be -- the most important element of any character, and placing too much energy into it actually detracts, I believe, from the vibrant reality of the characterization.
That said, names which don't sound ridiculous when read aloud are also pretty important to me. Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
I use two methods:
1) Mix & Match names of friends. They usually like it and I'm not actually just putting them into my story without their permission.
One example Peter Mitchell is named after my favorite two professors. They were both flattered when I told them. The character is an almalgam of sorts as well, but mostly Peter.
Another character is Denis Winter a prof and a grad student from my undergrad days.
Method 2) The Professor Pangloss method
I pick a word I like and use it as a last name or transform it somehow.
Jack Onus: I like the word onus (a disagreeable burden). It's suggestive of the character -- if I write it correctly.
Dro Trebor: This actually came from looking at my hospital name tag (I was an orderly) in a mirror: Robert Ord, becomes Dro Trebor.
Posted by docmagik (Member # 1131) on :
I hate coming up with names. I use it as a huge stall tactic. Half the time I end up randomly picking through the phone book looking for stuff.
Sometimes I get cutesy. I had a story about a guy who was making a big change named "Saul" a story about a guy who was having problems with foreknowledge named "Abraham," stuff like that.
But I never like the names. At least the cutesy schtick gives me some connection to the story.
Posted by MoonRabbit (Member # 3652) on :
I usually have "Cold Case Files" going in the background when I write. I just mix & match the names of serial killers.
The first 2 character names I came up with while writing my first story (sixth grade, 1974) were Bud Reefa and Bull Nova. You can't get any worse than that. Posted by Taalcon (Member # 839) on :
I tend to like names that have sounds that flow. Sometimes I'll pull an ancient or semi-common name for elements in a 'fantasy' name as well. As long as they slide off the tongue and have a bit of a cadence to them, I usually like 'em.
Examples from "Our World" Names I've used: Kyle Lenmore Jeanette Waters Samuel Larkin
[ March 01, 2004, 08:55 PM: Message edited by: Taalcon ]
Posted by Anthro (Member # 6087) on :
Really, Jon Boy? Just what I've heard, though I suppose the Old English roots are illogical.
Posted by cochick (Member # 6167) on :
Ooooh Anthro, my daddy used to slap my legs if I said that.
Edit: by the way I mean C.. B..... not Oloc
Which is funny really 'cos I don't remember him being funny about any other phrases/ words - although swearing wasn't common in my home.
[ March 01, 2004, 09:42 PM: Message edited by: cochick ]
Posted by Lalo (Member # 3772) on :
If you intend writing anything at all literary -- as opposed to a rolicking adventure story -- it's fairly important, at least in my eyes, to give your characters some sort of symbolism in their names.
Possibly the best example of this I've seen thus far was in the movie Gattacca. I'll never forget the kick I got when I learned the cripple was named "Eugene."
Posted by Lalo (Member # 3772) on :
Though as an addendum to my last post, don't be too heavy-handed. I've never forgiven Miller for naming the poor guy "Everyman." Subtlety is important.
Posted by A Rat Named Dog (Member # 699) on :
Sometimes, I glance through a database of foreign names to grab interesting stuff from other cultures. Lends some harmony to the names of characters who supposedly come from some fantasy culture. I've noticed that a lot of professional science fiction writers seem to use similar methods. Like David Farland. One nation had Germanic names, one had Indian names, and one was ... just weird, I believe
But if you are writing within a fantasy culture, you may want to think through the ways that culture handles naming. In modern America, you typically inherit your father's surname, and then have two names that are usually just made up because they sound pretty.
But Russia has a different way of assigning first, middle, and last names, based on who your father is, etc. And they have a voluminous library of different ways to diminuitivize names, creating dozens of possible nicknames for any given name.
So maybe in your culture, given names are based on birth order, or on virtues the parents wish to instill in their children, or on astrological signs, or on what the father sees first when he leaves the birthing tent. Maybe it's an omen, or a descriptor of social status.
Thinking through stuff like that could really spark some cool ideas. Usually does for me, anyway.
Also, just have your mental dragnet open all the time, to pick up cool names. I know a family who named their daughter Tasman, after a body of water. She goes by "Taz". Awesome name for a girl. I stored it away in my head, and one of these days, I'll use it.
Posted by A Rat Named Dog (Member # 699) on :
I don't think that little jokes like "Eugene" belong strictly to the realm of "literary" fiction. I imagine that kind of cute cleverness could find its way into anything.
Posted by Lalo (Member # 3772) on :
Eugene's all I can come up with off the top of my head, honestly -- I'm tired as all hell, and not in the mood to dig deeper. But whenever I read a character's fate in his name, I gain a little respect for the piece; it changes the story from character-driven to a form of ironic commentary, often, but that's not always a bad thing.
What does annoy me is when authors choose names because they sound pretty. Good god. Have some class.
Your father did a decent job with tying in Ender's name with his fate, actually.
Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
Willy Loman is a good example of what Lalo's talking about, from Death of a Salesman.
The main character in All My Sons is named Joe Kellar, I thought that Kellar might possibly translate to Killer. Has anyone ever heard that said? I asked my friend's dad, who's an English Prof. and he didn't know, so I'm sort of curious.
What does Eugene mean? It's my dad's middle name, so I'm sort of curious...
Posted by Taalcon (Member # 839) on :
Dunno what it means, but take into context that the film Gattacca is about genetic manipulation.
Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
Ah, I didn't know that, thanks. Posted by knightswhosayni! (Member # 4096) on :
I'm one for picking names cause they sound pretty. I do like to have people from the same culturehave names that resemble each other. In my current(est) story, my characters are named after the animal that most embodies them. Kind of simplistic, but it works. I change vowels around a lot too, turn an a into an e and sound it out. ::shrug::
Ni!
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote: But if you are writing within a fantasy culture, you may want to think through the ways that culture handles naming.
When authors dive into that, I just start to yawn. Like OSC in the homecoming series -- it looked like he had fun with the names, but it wasn't that interesting to read.
Posted by Lalo (Member # 3772) on :
Tara, the irony behind Eugene's name is that he was exactly that -- "good gene." He was gifted with perfect genetics. Eugene Morrow was, in his words, never meant to be second best. Yet his body's crippled and, in context of his abysmal failure of a life, his superior genetics mean nothing -- whereas Jerome, gene trash, goes on to succeed beyond anything Eugene ever dreamed of.
It's all about the triumph of the human spirit in defiance of science. I love the film.
Posted by A Rat Named Dog (Member # 699) on :
I dunno, Lalo. I think it can be just as effective to give a character a unique name with no official symbolic meaning, and then GIVE that name meaning by crafting a powerful story around that character.
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
Sometimes the name can change the way you view the character. I really like giving names to my characters... In the short story I'm working on right now, the idea for which and inspiration for which was given to me by a friend of mine whose name is vaguely British though he is not, I named the main character Liam with that in mind.
I always give my characters a name that's sort of a shtick. I wrote a short story about people who thought they were dead and they were all named after angels. In my good vs. evil huge scale story, the main villains were all named after serial killers. I have a lot of fun with it...
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
"But whenever I read a character's fate in his name, I gain a little respect for the piece."
That will stop after you take a few lit-crit courses in college and realize that EVERY two-bit wanna-be "auteur" does this same trick under the mistaken impression that being able to make obscure, foreshadowing, precious little puns is somehow the exclusive realm of true genius.
And then you'll realize how many of these two-bit "auteurs" fail to make it big, and consequently wind up teaching lit-crit classes and trying to explain to their class that we know the author was clever because his protagonist is called "Adam Mensch."
That said, I happened to love Stephenson's own parody of this tendency, his classic "Hiro Protagonist." Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
TomD, what book was that? A friend of mine was telling me about it, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was.
Edit: Offending underscroll...
[ March 02, 2004, 12:23 AM: Message edited by: Ryuko ]
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Snow Crash, which is a fantastic book that I highly recommend to anyone. Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
(Notes this down) Thanks, Tom! Posted by MidnightBlue (Member # 6146) on :
*shameless bump*
Anyone do anything really strange to name their characters? Like playing with Alpha-bits?
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
I do the phonebook route. I turn the page randomly, start scanning it until I find something I like for a first name. Then I'll turn randomly until I find a last name I like.
Boring, but it works. Otherwise I'd fret over it forever.
I do like to give my female protags feminine names, I'm not one for naming them "Sam" "Ryan" or "Tommy" They can be strong, independent females and still have lovely, soft names.
Sometimes real names sound stranger than fiction. Wes knows a guy named Arizona Winbourne, and I know a girl named Tucker Slaughter. Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
I have a friend named Stormie Foust Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
My son and I (both avid sci-fi & fantasy readers) have often complained when authors use a made-up name that is hard for our brains to figure out how to pronounce. I mean -- we are reading it silently, of course, but as we read in our heads we SAY the name -- and often he comes up with a much different pronunciation than I would. If it is hard to figure out how to pronounce, then you kind of get "stuck" on the name every time it comes up in a sentence -- like it doesn't fit because you slow down the flow of the sentence in order to figure out this word.....
so basically, if I can't read it comfortably when reading outloud, then it is a hinderance.
Farmgirl
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
I just put up a "Name the baby" thread and full people into giving me lots of them.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
and here I thought Cor got Cor, from the Chronicles of Narnia as Shasta's given name.
AJ
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
I once named a character Eman. Then I realised I had called him 'Name', only backwards. Oops.
For 'real-life' stories I use 'real-life' names depending on what feels right. For fantasy and science fiction I use slightly modified names of a chosen nationality.
Posted by Peruru Dragoon (Member # 2545) on :
Backwards words, mixing up parts of words, or just pulling them out of thin air. It seems like the hardest part of the actual writing.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
But I don't believe that the name is -- or should be -- the most important element of any character, and placing too much energy into it actually detracts, I believe, from the vibrant reality of the characterization.![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Monkeys]](graemlins/monkeys.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Blushing]](graemlins/blushing.gif)
What does Eugene mean? It's my dad's middle name, so I'm sort of curious...