The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

The Ultimate Guide to Choosing Character Names

Back in print and better than ever, The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook has been updated and expanded to help you find character names and their meanings quickly and easily!

This one-of-a-kind resource was specifically designed with the writer in mind. Inside you'll find:


25,000+ first names and surnames, and their meanings, listed by origin
Names and surnames from more than 45 countries
A reverse lookup of names by meaning
An alphabetical index of names
An explanation of naming practices and historical context for each origin
A list of the top ten most popular names in the United States every year from 1880-2003
Instruction on how to create believable names that fit your characters and your story
This exciting new edition also includes advice from a number of best-selling authors, including Elizabeth George, Alexander McCall Smith, Homer Hickam, Marian Keyes, Big Fish author Daniel Wallace, and others. You'll get the inside scoop on their naming methods, plus the stories behind the names of their most famous characters.

So throw out your old telephone books and baby-naming guides - The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook meets all your naming needs!

Genres: Writing, Reference, Nonfiction, Research, Paranormal Romance

486 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1994

About the author

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New York Times and international bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon is a regular at the #1 spot. With legions of fans known as Paladins (thousands of whom proudly sport tattoos from her series and who travel from all over the world to attend her appearances), her books are always snatched up as soon as they appear on store shelves. Since 2004, she had placed more than 80 novels on the New York Times list in all formats including manga and graphic novels. Her current series are: Dark-Hunters, Chronicles of Nick and The League, and her books are available in over 100 countries where eager fans impatiently wait for the next release. Her Chronicles of Nick and Dark-Hunter series are soon to be major motion pictures while Dark-Hunter is also being developed as a television series. Join her and her Paladins online at MySherrilyn.com and www.facebook.com/mysherrilyn

Fan Run International Sites:

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Dark-Hunter Spain 

Spanish

Reviews

[Lauren]

A Write to Review

This one-of-a-kind resource is a veritable treasure trove tailored specifically for writers, offering a wealth of information and inspiration. Inside the pages of this book, you'll discover a rich tapestry of features designed to assist and enhance your craft.

With over 25,000 first names and surnames, meticulously listed by origin, this book serves as a naming encyclopedia that can breathe life into your characters. It spans names from more than 45 countries, offering a global perspective on nomenclature. What sets it apart is the unique reverse lookup feature, allowing you to explore names based on their meanings, a creative tool that can ignite your imagination.

The alphabetical index of names is a practical resource for quick reference, making the process of finding the perfect name a breeze. Moreover, the book delves into the historical context and naming practices for each origin, providing valuable insights that can add depth to your characters and storyline.

One of the book's standout features is the list of the top ten most popular names in the United States from 1880 to 2003. This historical data offers a window into the evolving trends in naming and can be a valuable reference for period-specific storytelling.

What truly sets this edition apart is the invaluable advice and anecdotes from best-selling authors like Elizabeth George, Alexander McCall Smith, and others. You gain access to their naming methods and the intriguing stories behind the names of their most iconic characters, offering a glimpse into the creative processes of literary luminaries.

Whether you're a seasoned writer seeking a comprehensive naming tool or an aspiring author in search of inspiration, this book is a must-have. Its well-organized listing by cultures adds depth and authenticity to your characters, making the task of choosing names a delightful and engaging endeavor.

And as a delightful bonus, you could even explore it for potential baby names, making it a versatile and enjoyable resource for writers and parents alike. This book is an indispensable companion on your journey to crafting compelling and believable characters, with a world of names and meanings at your fingertips.

[Dwayne]

There are lots of interesting names and name meanings in here. For intance, did you know Lolita is a form of Charles in Spanish, and means "manly"? And Humbert is Teutonic for "shining support". I reference these two character names because--given the nature of the characters--the meaning of their names seems odd. I'm left to wonder if Nabokov was aware of the meanings of the names he chose for his principle characters, or if he just liked the way they sounded.
One thing I did not like about this book is the fact that certain names popular in the U.S. are not mentioned in it. Marilyn--my mother's name--springs to mind as one example. I was able to break that name down into Mari (a form of Mary) and Lyn. Mari is Finnish for Bitter (and Mary means bitter in Hebrew) and Lyn means Cascade in Anglo-saxon and English (or, in Welsh, Attractive). (My mom says the only meaning she has ever found for her name is "hurricane", and that's certainly appropriate.)
All-in-all, this is a good book, especially useful for those who do most of their writing without a computer. For those of us with 24-7 access to the World Wide Web, not so much.

[Amy Kline]

The cover looks a bit different, but if this book is the same one I have, it's a great resource for a writer who thinks way too hard about naming characters (like me). In it, names are categorized by cultures. I say "cultures" because it is not limited to modern day nations. It lists old names, new names, surnames, and even goes so far to suggest what sort of a character the name should be given to. It's both extremely useful and informative!

[Meaghan]

Meh. Not worth it. The advice was really generic and the lists are not very extensive or very useful, in my opinion. If you want help naming your fictional characters you'd be better off looking at a few baby name books that talk about context as well as meaning (like Linda Rosencrantz and Pamela Redmond Satran's books) and, most importantly, using the internet.

[Karen Docter]

LOVE this book! I have several quality baby naming books to help me choose character names. However, this one also include surnames...my bane. Already used this one several times!

I recommend to every writer I know!

[Erin]

I discovered this book after years of plowing through baby name books, which were the only name dictionaries I was able to find. The problem with baby name books, though, is that they're intended to... well, help people pick out baby names, which I suppose is great if you're actually trying to pick out a baby name, but to an aspiring writer trying to name characters, they can be a bit lacking. This is one of those cases where one doesn't necessarily realize how lacking until one actually tries to use a baby name dictionary for anything other than its intended purpose—after all, a name is a name, right, if you have the meaning what more do you need to know?

Except there's a very large difference between trying to pick out a reasonably unique, reasonably nice-sounding name that won't embarrass your kid, and trying to find a culturally-appropriate, time-appropriate name for a fictional character that's also meaningful for their character. If that's what you're trying to do, especially if you're writing in a setting other than your native culture, odds are you're going to need something a bit more expansive. And that's exactly what this book is: a name dictionary compiled by writers, for writers. I liked the various genre-specific tips that were spaced throughout the book, as well as the explanations of different cultures' naming traditions that were included at the beginning of each subsection.

My primary complaint is that most of the sections covering names from non-Western cultures are significantly shorter and less expansive than the ones dedicated to Western cultures: there are massively long subsections for Anglo-Saxon and English and Irish and Gaelic names (each), yet "African" and "Native American" names get one measly subsection each? For one thing, there's simply not enough there to populate a whole fictional world; for another, there's no such thing as a lump of monoculture simply known as "Africa"; Africa is in fact a whole multitude of cultures that are very different from one another, and I don't feel at all confident that this book alone would be sufficient to help me avoid making a faux pas involving, say, accidentally giving two characters from the same village names that come from cultures at opposite ends of the continent.

[Katia M. Davis]

Unless you are happy to trawl random name generators and old census listings on the internet, this the go to book for character names. It starts off by giving a decent run down on why naming things in fiction is so important and the various rules/trends associated with different genres, complete with examples. Then there is a mega list of names broken down by country, surname, female and male names complete with meanings. There are also explanations about how certain names are written in different cultures, such as name endings and what they mean, which is not only interesting, but essential if you don't want to make a naming mistake.
If you don't want to go through the lists by country, there is an alphabetic index at the back listing all names.
After reading this book, I have ditched my excel file of census data names (well, not completely, but it is now a secondary resource), and will use this book. I would recommend.

[Timothy Bateson]

A wealth of information

Forget the baby among books, or delving into name searches online. If you're a writer, thus book is possibly one of the most useful resources on naming characters that I've ever used.
Nor only does it discuss the details of how to pick names, but it goes way beyond that.
Inside you'll discover naming conventions from around the world, examples of names from different languages and cultures, indexes of names by meaning, and so much more.
Because it contains so much, it's a very thick book, but contents page and index make it easy to navigate to the sections you really need.

[Carrie]

I love this book. It is an absolute must for anyone who needs a naming guide.

[Joseph Teller]

A decent reference tool.

[Ayesha]

wish there was more diversity

[Lola Berry]

Good source book.

[Gerard C. Klug]

The mist valuable resource for a writer

I have used the hard cover version of this for 24 years. It never leaves my writing desk. Amazing and wonderful.

[Riziki Ní Néill]

Cramming the whole of Africa into one short chapter (and not doing the same for any other continent) is a surefire and immediate way to lose all your credibility as an onomatologist.

[Kathrynn]

An excellent resource book for genealogy research, character naming, children, etc. The author includes various Internet sites where you can cross-reference a selection as she is careful to mention mistakes are often made in naming. The book is separated into three parts:

Part 1: The Craft of Naming
- Neat (short) section with some wonderful ideas for each genre; includes naming places, settings, animal names, etc. Also, some clever "setting" ideas--other than naming.

Part 2: The Lists
- Wow!
- Includes neat sidebars from various authors that talk about their writing style(s)...

Part 3: The Indexes
- Reverse lookup, etc (this area is squashed together, but I understand the alternative would have been a book twice as thick).

[Kathleen]

I am keeping this book on the shelf closest to my computer so it's always ready to roll whenever I want a fresh name for one of my characters. I like that there are numerous ways to look up names, and a good index. I own the first edition, and have checked out the second edition at the library -- it's even more amazing than the first edition. I still also use baby name books, but this is my main source for names.

[Robin]

I am not sure what I expected from this book but this was different. Kenyon gives us two chapters on the art, philosophy and skill of naming fictional characters. The rest of the many chapters are a resource for the names, meaning of names, and naming practices of numerous nationality and peoples (such as Celtic and Anglo-Saxon). Chances are any given writer will use only a handful of these chapters, but it is a very good resource.

[J.M.]

This is an excellent resource for character names, sectioned off by ethnicity. If you write historical fiction or are looking for a specific type of name (Irish, German, French, Native American), this guide will gives you not only a list of common names for each ethnicity but also provides some insight to the naming conventions used by each. Highly recommended.

[Liaken]

Wonderful reference book for naming characters. Includes a "reverse lookup" index where the names are sorted according to meaning. Throughout the bulk of the book, names are categorized according to culture/country and divided into female names and male names. There are short tidbits throughout about different authors and how they pick names for their characters.

[T.M. Carper]

The best naming resource I've come across. I'm very glad I bought it. It separates names by ethnic origin (Greek, Irish, Latin, Russian, etc.), has several useful indexes, and includes some last names. I've never come across a naming guide with last names in it. I use it all the time and I highly recommend it to anyone working on a novel.

[SmarterLilac]

At first, I was going to write this off as a derivative, unimaginative bill payer from largely commercial writers (many of the contributors write mass market romance, fantasy and mystery novels.) But the tips and tricks in here seduced me. Also, it became obvious after reading a few of their thoughts that the authors who contributed here put a lot of thought into their 'process.'

[Nicole Galloway-Miller]

A must-have for any fantasy writer. A great resource when it comes to developing names for people and places in fantasy worlds. I open to a random page, pick an interesting name and start rearranging the letters until I get something that will work. I couldn't live without this reference book. Thank God, Writer's Digest printed it.

[James]

Handy for writers and just plain interesting to browse through. The book lists names by culture of origin and gender, and provides the meaning of each name. This is handy for all fiction genres, periods, and places, but I find it especially helpful for naming SF characters so that they don't all end up sounding like Midwestern Americans.
And as a bonus, you could use it to name your baby, too!

[Andrea Evans]

This book is extremely helpful for a writer. For naming character's you are either forced to look on the internet(which most of the time can just be useless crap), or get a baby naming book (Oh joy, especially if you are checking it out at the library and you are under 18). This book is helpful if you want to know the origin of the names.

[Jens]

This book of names and their meanings is an invaluable resource. But it shouldn't be your only resource for naming characters. The writer proceeds on a simple alphabetical order within each ethnicity, with no regard for whether it is a given name or a family name.

[J]

This is by FAR one of the best writer's sourcebooks I've ever used. It has an absolutely FANTASTIC breakdown of every name you could ever think of. By ethnicity, popularity by year from 1880 on, alphabetical index and by meaning. Freaking fantastic.

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides]

As a starting point this is an impressive reference. But I don't think it should ever be the end point unless you are just refreshing your own memory. I also felt that the front matter could have used more material.

[Judity]

This is a great reference book for any serious writer. I used the book often to find names for characters in my "1,000 Words or Less" collection of short stories.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0074B57EW

[Caleigh Cohen]

Euro-centric, but within those limits it was quite helpful. I would have preferred more practical info on namees, such as common nicknames or which classes used which names. The book is most helpful for naming slightly-above-walk-ons.

[Anthony Ragan]

A useful book containing a good variety of names (personal as well as family/clan) from various cultures useful for both writers and roleplaying game enthusiasts. Lost one star for the absolute lack of Turkic names, a surprising omission.