Naming Your Character

Names breed impressions. In the world of writing there is no better method than choosing the right name, or nickname. From the very beginning a name suggests a lot about a character, not just from a readers personal experience but because of how the name sounds, how common it is, and general connotations.

At the tender age of ten I lept into the fantasy world, and I created a race. It was stolen. I must admit. from a book I’d just finished reading. The first thing I did was snatch the name the author had used: Trans. My race was slightly different from his, because as a ten year old I loved cats. To get to the point, as the story progressed and my race grew I changed the name a couple of times. Cat people, Animans, and Shakai to name a few.

None of them seemed to fit and as I got older, or at least better at writing and creating I realised that I was just chosing what I liked rather than what fitted. It’s a mistake a lot of writers make, and an understandable one at that. Age, or maturity of writing, doesn’t matter at all – creating a name is an art and takes practice.

Naming a Character – The First Name

First things first, names stick. Using a temporary name is not always the answer to your character naming problems. I’d personally recommend you avoid this, by naming your character before you begin any detailed planning or writing. I once named a character Cai, the main character, and boy was that a mistake. Half the people didn’t know how to pronounce it, and the other half said it jarred. They were right; again I’d chosen a name I liked rather than one would work. I later changed the name to Jamie, but I never felt comfortable with it.

So this means name your character before writing, but otherwise there is no strict timing to when you do so. Some writers chose the name before inventing their character, while others invent their character and then name them. If one choses the name first it is a good idea to play to the general theme of the world, or the culture. If you invent your character first, chose a name that fits them and the world around them.

What this boils down to is that your name should fit both the character and reflect their personality. How names sound can greatly influence this, so it would be a good idea to find out what sound types reflect how people react. There is of course nothing wrong with giving your character a down to earth, boring name, even if they are anything but boring. If this doesn’t sit well with you there are always nicknames.

Now, I mentioned above that you should chose a name that fits the world. Hand in hand with this is time period and culture. I’m sure most people know that different cultures and times have different common names, for example in England you might name your character Jamie, while in Japan you might use Agito.

On this note I know all too well the influence of cool names, cute names and weird spellings. I also know the allure of TV. You may find if you chose a normal name, you want to make it look cool so you temper with the spelling and come up with the spelling Allysun. Don’t do it without very good reason. With TV you might really like one of the characters and decide to name your character after them – now you find it hard not to base your creation off of that name. It’s never a good idea to name your inventions after another character.

And a last real tip for character first names – don’t worry about the meaning too much. It’s always great if your character has a name that has a meaning that fits them, but the name might not. Always make sure to look through name sites/books for idea’s so that you aren’t using the same old names – this can lead to confusion for you yourself. Google “2000 names”, or “baby names” for example.

Naming a Character – The Surname/Full Name

There are a couple of tips to naming your character fully, that can be useful in the long run. This applies to syllables, pronunciation and making sure the names aren’t too out there. However far from telling you a name must always be common I believe it’s a mix and match system with a dash of instinct.

The best way is to pronounce the name and sound it out, to found out how good it feels and sounds. Look is important but ease of reading is better. Although there are tricks to choosing a name that sounds right, such as short name, short last name; short name, long last name; long name, short last name; it isn’t always right.

I’d recommend you look up surnames and use one that exists rather than making one up, but it can be just as easy to go with the latter method and it’ll turn out fine so long as you check how it looks, sounds and how easily it can be pronounced.

Nicknames

Nicknames, particularly if used a lot, are just as important as real names.

I once had a character whose name was Jane Rose, but nicknamed Silver. I broke all the rules with that one. The nickname made no sense, it didn’t describe her at all, and was a big mistake. The point of this is the nicknames should describe the character and give another sense to them. They are just as important as names and shouldn’t be tossed about casually.

Some nicknames however do derive from the characters main name. For example the characters first name might be shortened down, or their surname is their nickname.

A Last Point

Regardless of how important many people believe naming their characters correctly to be, a good writer should be able to make almost any name work – in so long as the name fits the story, time period or culture. Don’t stress over finding the perfect name, if you feel the name gives a good impression of your character go for it. Sometimes it is more important to use any name than spend forever obsessing and never writing.