Young Writers discussion

If you're stuck on what to name your character - be it first, middle, or last name - or if you've got a great name for a character that you want to share, come by here!

Some good general websites for character naming:

Baby Names World. My personal favorite. It has an easy meaning-to-name search and a name-to-meaning search, as well as an advanced search that you can really narrow things down with. Be warned, if you go here you will be bombarded with parenting tips in the sidebars.

Last Name Generator. Feed it a first name and hit "generate" until it gives you a last name you're satisfied with.

Behind the Name. If you're specifically looking for something with meaning.

Behind the Name is my fave. I like that you can search for things by meaning.

There's also 20,000 Names which is pretty good, but I don't use it often because it's so ugly. (Shallow I know, but ... really, the colors are just so awful.)

There are a few random name generators I like to use if I'm not feeling particularly picky:

http://www.kleimo.com/random/name.cfm
http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/gen-...

(The second one's kind of sketchy because it's supposed to be used to make a fake identity or something, but it's still pretty useful.)

Seventh Sanctum has a lot of random generators for a variety of different things, including names. It's mostly for sci-fi/fantasy type stuff.

I also like to use this Pseudo-Elizabethan Place Name Generator for naming places.

http://springhole.net/ is pretty good too. It has a ton of different name generators as well as other kinds of generators and miscellaneous musings.

EDIT: However, the results can be quite silly and you'll have so much fun generating names that you'll forget to write.

Ok, can anyone help me name this character:

She's been longing for a sister for ten years. And when she's eleven, she finally gets her wish - a beautiful baby sister named Hollie! However, the excitement is short lived. Hollie is checked over and the nurses spot something. It doesn't look good. A specialist doctor is called in and after running a few medical scans on Hollie and diagnoses her with cancer. She's seriously ill and isn't expected to make it through the night. Big sister is distraught - her wish has finally come true and yet it's not going to last a day! She could be an excellent big sister, and she knows it.

CHARACTER PROFILE:
Name: ???
Role: Big Sister
Age: 11 (at start of book), 19 (at end)
Hair colour: Medium brown
Eye colour: grey brown
Personality: Caring, loving

Please help, guys!!
xxx

So, "this character" has been wanting a sister since she was 1 years old?!?!

So she starts wanting a sister at age 1?!?!

Kayla, Courtney, Kylie? Or Kenzie? Or, (just for good measure XD) Violet?

@Dana
Thanks! You definitely gave me inspiration.

I mean, yeah. Loads of people want siblings from when they are really young. It's just the person she is.

I have trouble with making names for characters...I just look up online on most common boy/girl names or baby names :)

Okay.

At the moment, I think I'm leaning towards either Kayla (thanks Dana), Jasmine or another flowery name. Can anyone think of any flowery names?

I also like Phoebe but I am stuck for a nickname. Help?

I'm getting the impression that she's a Clare. With or without an 'i'. I don't know why, that's just the name I think of when I think of her.

Yes! Phoebe is such a pretty name! Okay for nicknames:

Phoebe-- Bee?
Kayla-- Kay (maybe)
Jasmine-- Jazzi? Or Jazzy? I do have a friend named Jasmine but I don't call her a nickname.

If you're still looking for flowery names:

Lily
Poppy
Daisy (I don't know, maybe this name might sound childish, but it might be used for a nickname)
Ivy

Thanks guys!!
I am going to go with Phoebe. Dana, your nickname gave me an idea - instead of Bee, I took the first part of the name (Phoe) and I turned it into Fee. Then, because Hollie needs a cute nickname to call her, I made Fifi. Pretty cute, huh?

Oh, that is really cute. I like it.

:) Thanks

So I've decided to name my main character Jeremiah, but he's a two syllable kind of guy so I nicknamed him Remi.
He has a best friend (18 year old male) who is sort of like his partner in crime and the only one he fully trusts.
He's extroverted and has black hair, and carries a lot of people's secrets.
Idea for a name, at all?

Is this set in the present?

Yes, it is. Like within the last 5 years.

Blah, I am so bad with names. I keep trying to think of names for him but it never works.

BUT. I finally have a bunch of great last names for the characters in The Weight of All Things based on their ethnicity because I was bored in Chemistry today.

Bethany Allison
William "Will" Wyatt
Samantha "Sammie" Arai
Aaron Novea
Theodora "Thea" Christopolous

Christopolous! Greek names rule all (is it actually greek or have I confused myself? Regardless, it sounds so fun)!

Yeah, it is. :D

I feel like I'm always getting names from people on this website. My current novel is coming to a close, and I want to put it aside for a while after I finish because I am overthinking everything and don't want to see it for a month or two. So, stupidly, I'm starting something new.

I have a bunch of names for all the mainish characters and secondary characters (no last names):

Logan
June
Will
Naomi
Theo
Aurora (Grace, really, she's sort of an experiment at this point but she's basically a little kid who tries to convince people her name is Aurora like the princess and... I'm still in the developmental stages).

But after searching many a baby name website, I haven't been able to find the perfect name.

She's a sixteen year-old girl who's just moved into this new apartment complex with her mom. Her mom's a perfectionist, especially about numbers, so her home life has always been kind of uptight. She's really reserved and shy due to this, and has started to develop something along the lines of a panic disorder. As the story progresses, it gets worse, and she finds herself less and less comfortable with her surroundings, especially once summer is over and she's forced to enter a new school. She starts to retreat into the apartment complex more and stay there (developing a sort of beginning of agoraphobia, which I've been doing lots of research on) and through this, she gets to know a lot of the people living in the apartment very well (named above).

Well that was a long introduction, but I figured giving her story would make more sense than listing a bunch of character traits.

So far for names I've thought of: Cara, Sadie, Maggie, Milly (for Millicent or Mildred, which both mean "mild strength" which I like), Kylie, and Cassidy. I'm having trouble picking one. Any thoughts?

And Lav - I was writing character profiles in chemistry just the other day. Definitely my least favorite class :P

EJ wrote: "I feel like I'm always getting names from people on this website. My current novel is coming to a close, and I want to put it aside for a while after I finish because I am overthinking everything a..."

Holly? Sara? Beth? The first name that popped into my head was Holly. As a rule, when I'm looking for character names, I'll run a few through my head and pin down the one that stands out the most.

It's not a very reliable method, but it hasn't failed me yet!

Woah, that sounds like a really interesting story. I can't wait to read it! And I think it's a good idea to a break after finishing a draft of a novel. It'll clear your head for editing later.

I like the names Cara and Sadie.

Thanks guys! I think Cara, Sadie, and Holly are definitely in my top few right now.

EJ wrote: "Thanks guys! I think Cara, Sadie, and Holly are definitely in my top few right now."

I like Holly or Beth (which was mentioned before). I also thought of Hannah, or Hana, when I was reading.

I'm needing a name for a character and I can't think of anything.

she's a girl, about sixteen, straight brown hair, not really pretty but not ugly, just average. She gets transported to another world and finds out that she's the lon awaited savior, the child of Dregan, who was an ancient king in this other world.

Ruth wrote: "I'm needing a name for a character and I can't think of anything.

she's a girl, about sixteen, straight brown hair, not really pretty but not ugly, just average. She gets transported to another w..."

I thought of Bree (possibly short for Breanna) when I first read that through.

I also think Ariana, or maybe Dana/Danie.

I also like something along the lines of Tania/Tiana.

Thanks! I think I'll go with Bree!

Can anyone come up with a catchy last name for my character Zippo? I want it to be a Star Wars like name, for example: Obi-Wan-Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker.

do you want a longer last name or a shorter one?

Tell me about his personality.

Ruth wrote: "do you want a longer last name or a shorter one?"

Longer than the name Zippo would be great, a less simplistic name as well.

Hmmmm, puts little thought into things, brave, forgiving, self-made. That's all I got so far. You can read what I've written here: http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/3...

If you are writing a steampunk story or other Industrial age themed story, http://oobleck.org/steam/ is a good site. It lets you choose the social status of your character, from commoner to aristocrasty.

Also, http://www.seventhsanctum.com/ has all sort of generators for all parts of the writing process. I'm still exploring that sight more myself.

I'm trying to think of a new name for character in my apocalypse novel. She has a name now but as I keep writing I really don't think it fits. I want it to be unique and kind of futuristic sounding.

She has auburn hair to her middle back and green eyes, pale skin, no freckles. She's fairly skinny but healthy. She has a pretty cold personality. She doesn't believe in charity. Her best friend from before came to her asking for help and she refused. If you want to red some more about her, click here: http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/2...

@Stephanie
My secretary and I are on a steampunk kick, so that first site sounds excellent. :)

@Sev
Something short, with very tongue-heavy phonetics. Anna or something. Nothing longer than two syllables to get across the coldness, but avoid throat-based sounds to avoid making her sound...evil.

Anna is my real name and a lot of that description fits me. O.o

Not the coldness and lack of faith in charity, though.

I think Addie or Margo might sound good

Hm, I think I'm looking for less traditional names.

What genre is this story? You could pull from popular names in other cultures. :)

Taylor [formerly Timothy] wrote: "Not the coldness and lack of faith in charity, though."

ehehe you might be surprised

Taylor [formerly Timothy] wrote: "What genre is this story? You could pull from popular names in other cultures. :)"

It's kind of dystopian. Kind of apocalyptic. Well, they're awaiting the apocalypse but things are already screwed over.

I recommend looking at names from a variety of foreign cultures, honestly. One aspect of dystopia is that people are brought together, and if you have names that sound Middle-Eastern, European, African, etc., then you convey that aspect.

As for specific names, I can come up with hundreds of made-up ones, but I think it needs to be your call.

Okay, thanks!

I need a last name for someone named Avaticus, and someone named Cecil. Weird last names would be nice, like Selfia, Breila, etc.

Avaticus Wurdlebush?

Jack Goldberg (cuz of the hair hehe)

Abel Manning

Griffin Stuart

Kellan Mitchel

Clay Mitchel/Harcourt

I more or less came up with these off the top of my head, so feel free to reject all of them, haha. Btw, if you're writing something with so many pretty boys, you must let me read it!!