aspiring authors discussion

any ideas you have for people who are stuck on names for their characters can be shared here! feel free to ask for inspiration. personally, coming up with names is one of my favorite things to do :))

ahh im having a lot of difficulty with coming up with names.
I have a Pinterest board with character art https://www.pinterest.com.au/Zamziii/...
If you guys have any names you think match characters- let me know!

oh my god i love that board!! here’s mine https://pin.it/6Yh0aF3

those are my characters & their names & aesthetics

sofia wrote: "oh my god i love that board!! here’s mine https://pin.it/6Yh0aF3"

your boards amazing!!

Katie wrote: "What’s the background for MC 2?"

background as in race or just like his life story??

I have a lots of names for characters. But I just have a question. My book has 43 characters. I'm planning it to be a series of 7 books. Is the number too many or too less?

Ok,here's what I do when I'm stuck finding out a character's name or a country's or anything!!!
1)My favourite thing to do is check their personality and find the characteristic tha best describes them and translate it in another language!For example,if a character is very proud then I might name him Fier,which means proud in french.
2)Another thing I do is create different syllabes and then connect them.I first got this idea from a video with Veronica Roth and even if I'm not a huge fan of her books,I found this tip quite helpful. For example,there's Fe and Hie and Van and Nair. So,what I'll do is connect Fe with Nair(Fenair) and Hie and Van(Hievan).Basically the one's that sound better in my head

Katie wrote: "Story :) I think it’ll help with name. Or at least personality lol"

As long as they're not main characters I think that's a fine number.If you have trouble with writing so many characters,try to merge one or two into one

Wow thanks. And Of course they're not main characters lol. I'd be nutz to have that many Lmao

I usually go on name generators haha

Alice wrote: "I usually go on name generators haha"

Same haha

I mean, I typically sit on it until I find one that speaks to me. If I were artsy enough, I would have a little notebook full of cute first and last names and just go there when I'm out of ideas. Buuuuut I'm not cutesy like that.

smhmh

smsmsmhmhmh

I go online and look at unique baby names. They have some really good ones for characters haha

https://nameberry.com/ is super helpful because when you select a name, it gives you similar names with the same vibe? I also usually just pick a vague idea (Zenith, for example, needed to have something to do with the sky and have heavenly or magical feels because he's ~magic~, so I searched "baby names that mean sky" and "celestial baby names")

Alex wrote: "https://nameberry.com/ is super helpful because when you select a name, it gives you similar names with the same vibe? I also usually just pick a vague idea (Zenith, for example, needed to have som..."

awh my chromebook banned it :(

😎banned chromebook gang 😎

(forgive me for the emojis, they just seemed right)

From what I've researched, the book name must be appropriate to the genre and indicates to potential readers a clue as to what the story is generally about to attract their interest (The Lord of the Rings, Pet Cemetery, Jaws, etc.)
An easy way to do this is first describe your story idea with as few words as possible. This will help you nail down the critical elements of the story that are not replaceable. Next, take what character names, places or phrases that are left and generate a list of potential titles. Show this list to your friends and people you think would like to read your book and see which titles they like best.

Katherine wrote: "From what I've researched, the book name must be appropriate to the genre and indicates to potential readers a clue as to what the story is generally about to attract their interest (The Lord of th..."

thanks!

my favorite names are unisex names. like logan or blake stuff like that. idk i think it’s cute. obviously when i do a fantasy world, i cant have like “susie” as the MC’s name though lol

sofia wrote: "my favorite names are unisex names. like logan or blake stuff like that. idk i think it’s cute. obviously when i do a fantasy world, i cant have like “susie” as the MC’s name though lol"

Haha Susie sounds like a total badass - would be a wicked plot twist if she turned out to be the villain, I guarantee no one would expect it

Whitney wrote: "sofia wrote: "my favorite names are unisex names. like logan or blake stuff like that. idk i think it’s cute. obviously when i do a fantasy world, i cant have like “susie” as the MC’s name though l..."

LMAOOOO

i like the name delilah a lot for some reason

penelope

ugh i love nico

I've always been a big fan of Alexander (Alex, Alec, Ace, etc.) Cleopatra/Cleo, Felix/Felicity, Josie, Delta, and Jayden. I also like color names a lot? (Scarlet, Cobalt, Cyan, Jade, Olive, Violet, Azure, etx.)

YES COLOR NAMES!

i like iris too

Ooh Iris is really pretty- after posting my comment I looked up more color names because I couldn't resist and found Zinc, Ivory, Cerise, Sable, Citron, and Cerulean.

What about nicknames? How do people feel about shortening character names to make them more digestible or having nicknames given by other characters?

Alex wrote: "I've always been a big fan of Alexander (Alex, Alec, Ace, etc.) Cleopatra/Cleo, Felix/Felicity, Josie, Delta, and Jayden. I also like color names a lot? (Scarlet, Cobalt, Cyan, Jade, Olive, Violet,..."

Azure! Citron!! thank you, im saving those namesss

Hmmmmmmm my preferred way of coming up with names for places is probably not the most reliable, but just kinda do that thing where you type some random nonsense on your keyboard

ajkhesfluy

and then add and take some letters to make it pronouncable

ahesfly

It doesn't always turn out the best, but y'know, sometimes it turns out amazing.

Also a good way to come up with sci-fi character names is to just say random regular names with oreos in your mouth

Katie wrote: "How do you come up with names for places???"

Ask a litte kid to write seven or so letters. Get creative and use Jumbled words we learnt in kindergarden lol. Seriously, it works!

I like to kidnap draw inspiration from real places and cultures. If my world is Italian-inspired or has roman architecture, I might google roman city names or do some google translate and then make it sound like a place name.

Alex wrote: "I like to kidnap draw inspiration from real places and cultures. If my world is Italian-inspired or has roman architecture, I might google roman city names or do some google translate and then make..."

um odd question but are you holding these names hostage? haha

Alice wrote: "Alex wrote: "I like to kidnap draw inspiration from real places and cultures. If my world is Italian-inspired or has roman architecture, I might google roman city names or do some google translate ..."

lol, probably, ngl. I have a bad habit of just stealing random names and putting them into the I-hope-I-will-use-this-at-some-point part of my brain.

omg same.
This name has been stuck in my head for days now.
Konstantine?
Constant?
Im not sure but it sounds so nice

halima 🤍 wrote: "My main character is named Ayat, a Pakistani name, which is usually associated with the verses of the Quran and can mean proof/miracle"

Omg when I read Ayat the first think that came to mind was Ayat al-Kursi xD. It's a nice name!

aliyah is a nice name :))

Omg thank you!! You have a great name too! I wrote a short story a few years back and it was about a girl named Alice :))

I find searching up a certain concept on pinterest, such as "fire names" or "princess names" often brings up lots of great and diverse names, oftentimes they have their meanings too.
If anyone wants examples shoot me a concept and I can look for some :)

'Zadie' means princess :) That's the name of my neighbor's dog!

@Alex that’s a great idea!

I have a whole pinterest board of first names, and for last names I just use a random name generator :)

i found this name generator quite recently: www.blog.reedsy.com/character-name-ge...

you can generate by language, type (medieval, fantasy) and archetype! plus it immediately shows you the meaning as well!

i think it's good to try a name even if you're not fully satisfied with it and just treat it as a "working" name until you come up with the right one. actually, after a long time, i finally settled on a name for my character, but just a couple days ago i came across one that possibly sounds way better and now i'm conflicted haha

edit: also this is not an idea for those who seek immediate inspiration, but i have a file in my notes app where i write down names that i really like. sometimes i read or watch something and i'm like, oh! that's a cool name! i even group them by what kind of story they would fit in

If yours is set during a certain timeline, i would suggest looking up popular names from around that time. the area should also matter. if it's a very church-y setting then probably something religious, yknow?

Alice wrote: "If yours is set during a certain timeline, i would suggest looking up popular names from around that time. the area should also matter. if it's a very church-y setting then probably something relig..."

yes definitely. i despise medieval fantasy books with a MC named like “jillian” or something. like historical context please?

rowan, jules, riley, finley :)