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McAnally's (The Community Pub) => Author Craft => Topic started by: Abstruse on January 13, 2007, 06:58:36 PM
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This is without a doubt the number one cause for writer's block for me. Right now, I'm trying to name the protagonist of my story. I wanted a cool sounding last name, so I went with Frost. I already gave him a first name in a previous version of the story I wrote years ago, which was Robert. I thought that worked well until I put the two names together.
My main character's name is Robert Frost.
I've done the same thing with the names Kevin Smith, Michael Jackson, Robert Smith, and Gary Larson. I've now wasted half an hour of productivity trying to come with a new name for the character. Does anyone else have this trouble? Am I overthinking things? How does everyone else name their characters?
The Abstruse One
Darryl Mott Jr.
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Two things help me in this. First, I tend to do more fantasy, and so I look at the culture the person is living in and see what kind of name fits that culture, as well as gives perhaps a subconscious inkling of what that character is like. Some people, and I've done this at times, go so far in their worldbuilding that they actually develop an alphabet and basic phonetics for their cultures, so it's easy for them to make a name, even a name with true meaning and grammatical structure.
The second thing that helps me is the knowledge that I can go back at any time in the writing, revising, 10th draft...and change the guy's name. Sure, I may always think of him according to the first name I started with, but sometimes it just needs to change. It is never going to be set in stone until you get the first book off the press, so don't hammer yourself into having to etch it in acid on your forehead, or think that a character's name is going to totally make or break the story (unless of course, you've got a system of magic where names are some sort of power or talismen...heh...then you might have to put a little thought into it).
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My method of coming up with non-fantasy type names is to have two lists: first names and last names. It hasn't been updated in a while but I went through my old year books taking names and the cast list of the old tv show Dark Shadows on a random whim. So now when I need a name I just go through and pick a first name then go find a last name that goes along with it. If it matching up with a name I know in real life, I find another name.
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Maybe I overthink things, but I feel that the name should reflect the character's personality. For one thing, I wouldn't have named that character Robert Frost anyway if I'd thought about it for another five seconds or so because his main magic is based on fire. Plus, I like having something that ties the character's name to the character's personality to make it easier for readers to remember. If I name a minor character "Aiden", then you'll think of fire (Aiden means "Flame-bringer" or something like that). If he is a very passionate person with his feelings always at the surface, this ties the name to the character and makes it easier to remember. However, if he was a very cool and collected person, then it would be the wrong name for him. I mean I could randomly look up the cast and grew for Day of the Dead and start matching up names, but then it'd lose a lot of meaning.
And I can't change names. I've tried, but it doesn't work. In one project I was working on, there was man and a woman who were originally siblings both from Houston, TX. I then changed the male character to being from Ireland and having moved to the US a few years previous to the story. However, I could not bring myself to think of the character as anything other than the name I had originally chosen for him. So now I'm forced to figure out a believable way to have her still be from Houston and him from Ireland yet still keep them siblings.
The Abstruse One
Darryl Mott Jr.
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What if you created a character whose name actually contrasted to their personality? Maybe it was a strong name, very bold, but in actuality they were quite weak and timid. It could even be something they are ashamed about, adding more to their emotional depth.
Look at Dean Koontz's character...Odd Thomas. That's a name and a character you aren't going to forget. Plus his girlfriend, Stormy Llewellyn (or however you spell it). Definetely characters that you can get a lot from just by reading their names. So, yea, it makes a difference.
Good luck with the Ireland/Houston didgeree-doo. That should provide some intriguing backstory. Sounds like the brother is quite the roamer. Or maybe he left to escape something...what could it be? Heheh.
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Maybe I overthink things, but I feel that the name should reflect the character's personality. For one thing, I wouldn't have named that character Robert Frost anyway if I'd thought about it for another five seconds or so because his main magic is based on fire. Plus, I like having something that ties the character's name to the character's personality to make it easier for readers to remember. If I name a minor character "Aiden", then you'll think of fire (Aiden means "Flame-bringer" or something like that). If he is a very passionate person with his feelings always at the surface, this ties the name to the character and makes it easier to remember. However, if he was a very cool and collected person, then it would be the wrong name for him. I mean I could randomly look up the cast and grew for Day of the Dead and start matching up names, but then it'd lose a lot of meaning.
And I can't change names. I've tried, but it doesn't work. In one project I was working on, there was man and a woman who were originally siblings both from Houston, TX. I then changed the male character to being from Ireland and having moved to the US a few years previous to the story. However, I could not bring myself to think of the character as anything other than the name I had originally chosen for him. So now I'm forced to figure out a believable way to have her still be from Houston and him from Ireland yet still keep them siblings.
The Abstruse One
Darryl Mott Jr.
I don't think you over think things, but maybe that's because I'm the same way. *Sweatdrop* I have to stick with the name I gave them, and even if I don't, the character radically changes to suit what I think of when I hear that name.
What I do is go to sites with histories or meanings of names and looking for one that suits my characters. I wander around the various baby name sites for first names and middle names, and then I go to a place called House Of Names (http://www.houseofnames.com (http://www.houseofnames.com))which has family crests and gives rough insight to what a last name's history and meaning is through the symbols on the crests. You have to do quite a bit of work to find what a symbol means sometimes, but I think it's worth it. I hope this helps.
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Depends on what kind of story it is, fantasy names are easy, I just take a modern name then bastardize it. :) Works well. Sometime I'll start with the Star Wars naming convention, first name ends in a consonant and the last name with a vowel then I'll mix and match. I've come up with some cool ones without much effort.
Terry Brooks is very adamant about names, to him a name means everything.
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Does anyone else have this trouble? Am I overthinking things? How does everyone else name their characters?
Don't worry, you're not the only one! Sometimes I end up taking day long breaks to think up a good name, and while it seems like a waste of time if you find a good name I don't think it is. How I name my characters? It depends, if I'm writing fiction I just think of all the names I know and figure out a good combinations. If I'm writing fantasy I do anything from twisting words and flipping them around, to just making anything up that sounds good. That's just me though. ;)
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I have a big book of names I use for naming some characters, if I'm looking for a unusual name. Also, I have another book with some more names. I have enough books onm my shelves to just reach up, pull one out and scan it for a good name. And every so often, I have a name pop into my head....
Craig
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Personally, when I need a name - especially for a minor, background character - I like to pick one with a hidden (or else obvious) in-joke. For example, once when I needed a last name for a single-appearance police officer, I chose . . . Gordon. ;)
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I myself look for words that I've misspelled while writing something, and write them down for further changes as I work on one of my other projects. I write mainly science fiction and fantasy, so normal names are whatever comes to mind. The other ones......heh. Try randomly making sounds in the back of your throat, or saying things several times fast. You'd be amazed with what you come up with. There is also writing a name which looks weird but sounds normal. That is quite fun to do, depending on the character.
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This is one aspect of writing (just about the only one) that has never been a problem for me. Interesting names frequently pop into my head at random moments and begin shouting at me in their various voices to tell their stories. I've heard that Charles Dickens used to take long walks around London, collecting interesting and unusual names of people, and writing them down in a notebook for future reference.
A good source of inspiration for me is street signs. Several years ago I was driving to Cape Cod when I spotted a highway sign that read Marion/Rochester. Wow! What a great name for a character! I've never actually done anything with Marion Rochester, but she's still there in my head, waiting for the right story to come along. Maybe she's the crime-solving headmistress of a girls' school out on the Cape. And then there's Levita Spafford, cobbled together out of a couple of contiguous street signs. She's the alcoholic matriarch of a dysfunctional family somewhere in the deep South.
Even the phone book or caller ID can be a helpful resource. Good luck!
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" For one thing, I wouldn't have named that character Robert Frost anyway if I'd thought about it for another five seconds or so because his main magic is based on fire. "
Actually, having a fire-magician named Frost sounds good. ;)
Names normally just come to me (or I stumble across something that would work beautifully, like Grady Niblo Rd outside of Dallas). Sometimes, they're homages and injokes (like changing the protagonist's name to Ellison in my first published story).
Maybe on the Cogni boards, we'll play a name game where I toss out a few names, and people write a random story where the names influsence the characters they create.
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Coming up with names has always been difficult for me, even back in the RPG days. I would want the name to say something about the character, but not be easily made fun of (yes, my college friends were 3 and made fun of characters names)
From that, I got to where I would come up with something that was usable, but may not be permanate. I went through several changes before my current main character, Brodie Hollister, got a name that felt right for him.
I think it takes time and some luck to finally find the one that fits.
-paul
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Coming up with names I find just varies from person to person. Sometimes you can easily come up with names that fit certain characters (like I have a character that's supposed to be an assistant and even though his name is "Gilbert" the name "Doc" became his nickname) but sometimes when it's an important charaacter I find it's better to find something that fits maybe a meaning or reflects them (at least that's how I see it). For example, my heroine's name was going to be Nisha (since it has to do with the night) but that was only because my male lead's name was supposed to be her opposite in meaning since the two characters were meant to contrast but since it didn't go over to well and the hero's name became Draven Maxwell "Nisha" just naturally became Shamara Grey (Shamara is arabic for "Ready for battle"). Since Shamara's name was that and fit a character another character that was supposed to become a parallel/copy from Shamara I named Xiomara since it sounds similar and has the same meaning but in Spanish.
And if I find myself stuck on a name for characters like I was my two other leads I usually look up babynames online for meaings/names that I think suit them and usually get something I like and flows. Like Tylia (derives from "Otylia" which means "Lucky") Parker or Hilliard ("Guardian of battle) Utara.
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Coming up with names has usually been pretty easy for me. Of course, as people have mentioned, writing fantasy means I can use pretty much whatever I want :) I tend to use my one foreign language (french) and mash it up with words or sounds that I like. I've been looking at more word meanings (latin, usually) to really describe the character, if I can. Then there's always the alphabet game: write the letters of the alphabet and make up a new name for each letter by putting together interesting combinations of other letters...I had a long list of names to pick from for my latest NaNo novel using that method...
Someday I'm going to be just like Tolkien, making up lists of grammar and names, I swear.
I'm also fond of the good old baby names websites. When I was writing my modern-day king arthur story, I looked up the classical names of the knights and tried to find modern names that evoked those. that was interesting, let me tell you.
I like the idea of a fire-mage named Frost.
~Cal
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There's backstory to a pyromancer named Robert Frost. Maybe he's the black sheep of a family that's been ice mages for generations, where there's always been a Robert Frost around to lead the family. Unfortunately his mother's genes kicked in....
" For one thing, I wouldn't have named that character Robert Frost anyway if I'd thought about it for another five seconds or so because his main magic is based on fire. "
Actually, having a fire-magician named Frost sounds good. ;)
Names normally just come to me (or I stumble across something that would work beautifully, like Grady Niblo Rd outside of Dallas). Sometimes, they're homages and injokes (like changing the protagonist's name to Ellison in my first published story).
Maybe on the Cogni boards, we'll play a name game where I toss out a few names, and people write a random story where the names influsence the characters they create.
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My main reason for changing the surname was the poet Robert Frost...
The Abstruse One
Darryl Mott Jr.
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So there's a famous poet of the same name. *shrug* That can be worked into the story as well. Being rabidly set against using a name because it happens to also belong to someone famous is throwing out a lot of good names, and some good banter thrown in.
For example my own first name is Jeb (short for Jebediah), and I always get this:
"Good to meet you, Jeff..."
"Its Je*b* with a B."
at which point it devolves to one of the three:
"Short for Jebediah? Did you know that's a biblical name?"
"Like Jeb Bush down in Florida, the president's brother?"
"Oh, you mean like Jeb Stuart. Now there was a general..."
Depending on circumstances, how I feel, the phase of the moon etc, the conversation will either go well from there, or I'll purposely make a farce out of the whole thing because I simply don't like them, or because I've decided they purposely got the name wrong in the first place.
Names are important. Its one of the reason's that the Dresden files is so good in my opinion, Harry was right in there that first book talking about his name, Jim handled Butters in much the same way. Names define who we are in a large part, how we react to society. A good name will help you out in places, a poor one can be a hindrance your whole life. Having the same name as a famous person can be both. Maybe Robert Frost the pyromancer prefers to be called Bob, or Rob, or Bert because of the onus of living under the name, maybe he's up front in your face "That poet guy is giving us a bad name" about it. Character names are quite often neglected by authors. They come up with a name for someone, but rarely do you ever see how that name affects the characters life.
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http://www.behindthename.com/random/
This is, in my opinion, one of the BEST places to find a name. Not only is it one of the largest collections i've ever seen, it gives you the meanings behind the names. And if you have a meaning in mind, you can do a search for name meaning and it spits out a list of all names with meaning similar to it.
I use it to name all my Role-playing characters, everything from WoW the LARP.
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I have to have the right name before I can write. The name cements the character idea, for me. Like when I wanted to write about a witch who is NOT uber-powerful/uber-sexy/uber-OMG-everything, I wanted to pick a nice, normal name. Something that would emphasize that she's basically just this woman who also happens to be a witch. Nothing named after an animal, a jewel, or a Shakespearean character. So I went with Rachel.
On the other hand, I have used Shakespeare from time to time. ;) When I wanted to contrast a strong, independent woman against peoples' first impressions, I gave her a name loaded with preconceived notions: Ophelia.
Also, I wouldn't fret too much over how the meaning of names is going to impact the reader. Abstruse said earlier:
If I name a minor character "Aiden", then you'll think of fire (Aiden means "Flame-bringer" or something like that).
No I won't. ;) Aiden, to me, is a soft-sounding name. A little feminine, someone who's sensitive and gentle maybe. If I knew someone named Aiden, the name would make me think of him or someone with the same general personality traits. The meaning of a name only matters if you look up the meaning of the name.
It can be a good tool for the writer. Abstruse, for instance, knows the name means something like "flame-bringer", so that's the association for him. But as a reader, I'm going by 1) anyone I know who shares the name (including famous actors or a well-known character -- say "Quincy" or "Angelina"), or 2) the sound of the word.
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Also, I wouldn't fret too much over how the meaning of names is going to impact the reader.
The problem with that is illustrated by such books as Diane Duane's Tale of the Fire series, in which a major character's name, an innocuous foreign-sounding monosyllable in English, turned out entirely accidentally to be an extremely rude word in Norwegian (I think it was).
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Terry Brooks is very adamant about names, to him a name means everything.
That's HILARIOUS because I always wondered why he got so much grief for naming a bad guy after a city in Washington... "What do you hate about Pe Ell enough to name the bad guy after it?"
My main reason for changing the surname was the poet Robert Frost...
The Abstruse One
Darryl Mott Jr.
You could use that to your advantage, as MaryJanice Davidson does in her vampire books. The main character goes by Betsy because her real name is Elizabeth Taylor. Lots of good lines about the grief she's gotten over that name happen in the books. Not that I'm suggesting you rip off how she did it, but if you can't think of him as anything other than Robert Frost, I'm sure you could work the name into the story somehow.
I do agree that names are important, so if it's a real name I need, the phone book or a baby name book or website often work well. I tend to write fantasy so my names aren't as important. The story I wrote for NaNo's main character is a dance mage, and the most powerful dance to her people is the Grey dance, so her name is Grey. Her suitor is a horse mage, so his name is Hup. I decided they take their names from what they do well, or are known for. Her old beau has beautiful eyes, so his name is Hazel. Sort of a take on Native naming stereotypes.
Grey's best friend is not of the same people, so for her I took a name I really liked (Alyssa) and stuck a C in front of it.
The sticking word sounds together also works well for me. I call it "Scrabble" naming. I pick out random tiles (well, when I had a scrabble set) and move them around til I come up with something interesting. Of course, that meant I inadvertently named a character "Inadrin" and by the rules I'd made up for their language, when she is in hiding as a man her name became Nader. Yeah, like the seat belt guy. Took me forever to figure that one out. Oh well, I still like the name and like you, I've thought of her as Inadrin/Nader so long I can't picture her as anything else.
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I guess I'm lucky, character names usually just come to me. Occasionally I'll need to do a bit of research, though.
For example recently I had the idea for a character of Russian descent who operated a bar. I knew I wanted to have the bar named after him, so I googled 'russian surnames' and came up with this page:
http://www.gaminggeeks.org/Resources/KateMonk/Former-Soviet-Union/Russia/Surnames.htm
I then went through and tried out each surname as a bar name until I finally settled on Zubov for the character's last name, and Zubov's for the bar. The character's full name is Anton Zubov. The Anton part just came to me and it sounded right so I kept it.
Maybe I'm odd, as characters usually spring into my head mostly formed. For example I knew as soon as I thought of this guy what he looked like, what he acted like, generally who he was, I just didn't have a name for him.
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I usually either find the names randomly or steal them from places. My characters' names are all over the place. xP!
Here's a few and their origins, for comparison.
Simon Murphy - 'Simon' or 'Si' as he likes to be called, is named after Sick Boy from Trainspotting, whose real name is Simon. The Murphy is from me being lazy about finding an Irish last name. It has nothing to do with the Lt.; I've been using that last name since before reading Dresden.
Taichi Schwartz and Yamato Seiburem - These characters' first names are after the two main characters from the first season of Digimon, because that show was AWESOME. 'Schwartz' means 'black' in German, which fits Taichi's insanity. 'Seiburem' was the mangled translation in a bad fansub of Rem's last name from Trigun.
Aleksei Tchaikovsky - 'Aleksei', to me, is just a really really sexy Russian name that fit my character. 'Tchaikovsky', of course, is the dude that wrote the 1812 Overture.
Severin - My favorite demon character, freaky as hell- ...the borderline luminescent, blue-tinged white skin is transparent enough so that all the superficial arteries and veins carrying black demon blood are visible. -was named, simply, after the Velvet Underground song "Venus in Furs"
Sünde Verrat - His name means, literally, 'Sin Betrayal' in German. This goes against his lovable and loyal self. xP!
I have characters named after biblical figures (A Cain, Abel and Seth respectively), rock stars and even movie/book characters. And then I have random translated words, and names I hear and think are cool. I really don't have any funky fantasy names, only random Japanese ones. I actually have a Maeve (last name is 'Slate', lawlz), who was inspired by Jim!Maeve except for the fact he is male, a cannibal, and enjoys stabbing people to death while having sex with them. 8D
...okay, maybe I should stop talking about my characters now. xP
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I then went through and tried out each surname as a bar name until I finally settled on Zubov for the character's last name, and Zubov's for the bar. The character's full name is Anton Zubov. The Anton part just came to me and it sounded right so I kept it.
I knew a Russian guy named Anton, so yeah--good choice! (He was adorable! And married... Then again, so was I. ;) )
And Abstruse-- I was tired when I made my post, so I didn't even think to ask if the story took place in the real world or your own, which of course would make a HUGE difference in whether you could use the Robert Frost name game thing...
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So, I'm in Chemistry class a few years ago, right? And the prof is making a list of elements for some reason. She writes on the board:
Ne, Na, P, Ar, K.
I went, "Nena Park. Good name!"
*tap forehead* Allllways thinkin'...
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I'm a huge believer in the feel of a name. How it sounds. The meaning doesn't mean anything to me, so I hate looking up names by their meaning and origin. Unless, of course, it's a real-world setting and they come from somewhere else. Then origin means something, but meaning still has no bearing on names to me.
For fantasy names, I normally select a letter to start with, whether it's a hard or soft consonant, or an uncommonly used letter. That starts the feel for the name and feel of the character. Then I just try out different letter combinations in my head to try piecing together a sound that fits. I've come up with names for several other people as well as my own characters this way.
As for the realistic settings, with normal names, I incorporate preconceived notions to names. Take advantage of that, to some degree. Depending on the character. As an example (I hated using it, but there could never be anything that fits better), I have a character named Jane that is, well, plain, simple, overlooked. To double-layer it, though, there's the Jane Doe aspect of the name. No one will realize she's missing if she disappears. Another name. Angelina. Now, I'm not up on celebrities and such (someone mentioned that back a few posts, I'm too lazy to reference), so Angelina, to me, sounds very regal. Long names like that take on a more sophisticated air to me. Of course, that might not be the same to all my readers, but you can never control everyone's reactions to a name.
In summary, the sense and feel of a name is more important than an actual name to me. It conveys a lot about a character, depending on how you handle it. Angelina, for example, might be far from a regal person. A loser in life who's been beat down at every turn. She hated it when her parents called her their "little Angel." So she cuts it down to Ann. People are entitled to hate their names or butcher them so it's nearly something else. On the other hand, people can love their names. Angelina could very well be a regal person who could walk with books on her head all day.
And I could probably keep ranting, but I'll quit. :)
AD
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A funny anecdote:
I've always liked the meanings behind names, so when I started getting more into my writing and into role-playing in my teens, I went to the bookstore. After looking through several baby name books, I chose one and took it up to the counter. The cashier looked down at the book, looked up at me, donned a slightly confused expression, and said, "Congratulations?" ...
Took me a second to realize she thought I might be pregnant! :D Then I laughed and assured her that wasn't why I was buying the book!
Anyway, I had a character walk into my head maybe 5 years ago. What with Real Life distracting me and being stressed, I didn't really start working with him until recently. And even then, I couldn't write, because he refused to tell me his name! I started paging through name books, pulling names off TV/movie credits, trying to find something that resonated with me. At some point, I decided he was an ex-pat Brit, so I started pulling names off the credits for Wire in the Blood. In one episode, there was a kid named Corran. That name followed me around long enough that I finally had to admit that was the first name.
But surnames are where I always have trouble. I finally wrote to a friend in London and asked her for help. She told me that "Corran" is Scottish (my book says Irish, and the kid in the show lived in north England, so I'm confused), and got it into her head that he's a highlander. She even hears his light-brogue accent (I still can't), and when she heard that same accent at work, she wrote me an email with that guy's last name. "What," she asked, "do you think of Corran McLaughlin?"
So, for now at least, my main character is Corran McLaughlin (middle name Rene, after his French grandfather, and as an in-joke). He's probably stuck that way, because I'm like some of you - once I have a name, I canNOT think of the character with a different name. If I start writing before I've decided on a name, I go so far as to put [C] as a placeholder for the main character, [P] for his/her partner, etc., so I can't get stuck on a name. :D