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How Do You Create/Choose Names

Discussion in 'Creative Zone' started by Weedle Enthusiast, Sep 16, 2016.

  1. Weedle Enthusiast

    Weedle Enthusiast Resident Weedle Enthusiast

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    Except under certain circumstances, if you are writing a story, you need names. What do you do to get your names?

    I really dislike using names more than once. I generally avoid giving un-important characters names, so that they don't take up a name slot. I also dislike using really common names (hence why the one time I used the name Steve, it was a complete joke character that was a team grunt). I used to use names from games (Endrew, Oran, and Seth), or names that I have a fondness for. Then I ran out. Now what i do is create the character, take different aspects of them, and translate those words to Latin (like Malrex, the evil king). I then take bits and pieces from those words and combine them for a name. The other thing that I do occasionally, is grab a name from the suggestions in the D&D Player Handbooks.
     
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  2. Morgaine

    Morgaine Goddess of Shinies

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    I tend to gravitate to Anglo names, on occasion Japanese ones. It comes with waves and it all depends on if I like the sound of the name. How easy it is to pronounce and the meaning.

    Especially the meaning of the name is important for my characters.
     
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  3. Aiko

    Aiko Anti-Shadow Weapon

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    It really depends what i'm doing, but i usually go with something japanese. Recently i've been using more latin names though.
     
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  4. EchoSouls

    EchoSouls Contributor

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    I never write about humans - mostly mythical creatures and intelligent animals ( Animals with human emotions and the ability to communicate with language, but no other humanoid qualities )

    Most names are like this -


    Echo, Snow, Mira, Tempest, Storm, Frost, Midnight, Dusk, Necromancy, Noir, Aurum, Mercury, etc etc. Usually named after magic, nature and metals / gemstones. I may use human names sometimes (Usually for creatures who are pets)
     
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  5. Megarai111

    Megarai111 Elizabeth 3rd

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    Whenever I create a character, I tend to stick to names that just pop up in my mind and feel like they would fit the character. Most of those names are just common English names of which I don't know the origin, but lately, I've been starting to use Japanese names as well. In very rare occasions, I take advantage of my knowledge of the Latin vocabulary or the Greek alphabet to pluck pretty-sounding words out of those languages and turn them into names :3
     
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  6. Cadbberry

    Cadbberry Dad: 76.... Or Cad: 76

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    I don't like to reuse names either, a lot of the time I take what they are wearing for based of and make that their name. Some times it is totally random, I think of a weird pronunciation for someone's name and spell it kinda wrong (I have an OC Sirius but I always pronounced it Sear-us, not Sear-E-us). Sometimes when I can't think of one I will rapidly generate names until one sticks in my head or I will get a translation of an English idea and use that (I have an OC named Nuria Serafine which means Gods Fire Burning Fire).
     
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  7. ~Nova~

    ~Nova~ Birby Friend

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    Normally, when I can't think of a name, I got to Behind the Name, which is an awesome website with a lot of names.

    Mostly, I just reuse the same characters, and I rarely have to come up with new ones. When I do, sometimes I'll take it seriously. If they're a minor joke character, they'll get a name like "Bob RannGuy" or "Jimbob JusAGuy".

    Of course, I normally write comedic stories, so a lot of ridiculous names pop up. One of my favorites is Augentsumathopolindo, a pink, intelligent cat from space.
    But he gets called Space Cat. :3

    So normally, I can be lazy when it comes to names.
     
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  8. Strytho

    Strytho Giveaway Enthusiast

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    Sometimes I just create them and try to make them sound unearthly EX: Xel' Tassadar Akhali Shrike from the first book I ever wrote.

    Other times I use mythology, favorite characters, friends, or famous people in some combination EX: Jason Tyler Monroe (Power Rangers/ An old friend from church/ Alexander Monroe from Star Trek Elite Force) See how that works?

    Sometimes you just need a name to fit a character and those situations can be really hard especially when this happens: "You know this guy just doesn't sound like a Zack to me and friend sure as heck ain't gonna work. hmmmmmm... how about Kyle?", "I WANT JIMMY!" "But Kyle sounds..." " I W-A-N-T J-I-M-M-Y!!!"
     
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  9. TheOtakuTiger

    TheOtakuTiger Bug Catcher

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    You can always use a name generator, or I just search a list of names online meaning a certain thing that relates to my character in someway; like what they are, what their role in the story is like, what their personality is like, etcetera.

    Example; A Dragon type Pokémon oc- 'Names that mean dragon'.
    An typical cliché evil antagonist- 'Names that mean dark'.

    And sometimes, I just have my characters' name be a reference to another character from a popular series or something, and see if any gets the joke or reference.
     
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  10. Wiso Altred

    Wiso Altred Dragon Tamer

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    I mostly start off with just hitting my keyboard with full force, nearly breaking it, and see what i get Doing that the firsst time i got a AYT, so i put my nickname and it became Bodayt(little me didnt know Name.youtube was a thing) and i had always said it Boda-yet , but then one of my freinds misspelled my name, so he just said "wise guy", whcih i then tried to go into other sites with, but it was taken, now due to that, i begin to think of alternatives, untill I Found out "Wiso", thats basically how i do it, every new forum/game, repeat, not a sceintific one by all means, but it works, HJDIJWDIJWUIJ is probably not a taken name anyway.
     
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  11. Dusty

    Dusty Banned

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    Sometimes I use the names of people I know/have known and like as tribute, sometimes spelled differently. Sometimes I'll sit and play around in a text document or on a piece of paper and just muddle about seeing what sounds good. Sometimes I steal the convention of using actual words for things as names if I feel it fits, a concept taken from Final Fantasy games (although it's been done in things besides including novels). I also always try to avoid the cliche of random apostrophes in names to make them look "exotic" or fantastical because nine times out of ten it makes me roll my eyes and I think it looks dumb. It might seem odd to include something I make sure not to do but it's always in my mind when making up names for anything or anybody.
     
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  12. Shada

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    Personally I use a name generator, and after a couple hundred attempts of finding a perfect name for that OC, I'd probably find it. I usually look for names based in English or Nordic origin, (although I do look at really fantasy cliche names a lot.) I don't like to reuse names, but I have combined OC's before, which wasn't that bad at first, but then it got really annoying distinguishing the two...
    Worst case in a story, I'd leave them nameless, or change their names a lot until I find the perfect one.
     
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  13. Pirate Captain

    Pirate Captain Nightmare Tala

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    I actually sometimes pick the first name that pops into my head, sometimes I just make names up or if I really do not know what to do, I choose from several websites. I usally do that for usernames

    I got a whole bunch of oc's, unfortunate just a couple has the same name :(
     
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  14. TheBlazingInfernape

    TheBlazingInfernape Gone, probably forgotten

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    I know it sounds creepy, but I base my story's characters after my friends at school. My books are mainly unfinished graphic novels but a story is a story no matter how you tell it.
     
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  15. Pirate Captain

    Pirate Captain Nightmare Tala

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    Thats cool
    My stories usually go about what I met that day or seen. Or even in anime. Movie show etc.
    But mostly more extreme and tweaked
     
  16. Clipsy Chan

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    Sometimes I just pick a name that I like the sound of, but I try to find names that are relevant to the character in some way. For example, one of my OCs is an uneducated little orphan boy who doesn't seem all that special, so he just has a normal, common name (Jake), whereas my few characters who come from wealthy, important families have more fancy, less common names, such as Lance and Alexander. I also like using Japanese names/words that reflect the character's personality, traits, etc., such as sweet, innocent little Tenshi (which means angel). When I can't think of anything that fits my character, I ask for people to suggest names and pick whichever one I like best. I don't usually like using name generators, but I have used them once or twice, just to get some ideas.
     
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  17. Salad

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    I don't really think about it all too much. A name usually will just come to me eventually. Like I'll just be like "okay well now I have this person, what are they called?" and then suddenly I'll have an idea that I can tweak if I need to. :P It's really interesting seeing how everyone else does it, though! I'll admit I've never given it much thought until now.
     
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  18. HyperChaosLugia

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    Hmm...it sometimes would depend on the character itself as it can be either related to looks, be it human or a mythical creature, personality or plot (such as a prophecy in the story naming a character). Now as for the name choices, it can be anything: any language based names, sometimes combine a few words and pronunciations ( eg: Zero but with an X spelling: Xero). The steps to take comes naturally to me. *Derp* As long as it fits or works in the end. Sometimes even an ironic name is used for the character it is given to.
     
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  19. Getus

    Getus The Senate

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    Usually to start of I would just make random noises in my head then try to spell the noise out on a piece of paper. When I get a good amount I just put stuff together, hell that's how I came up with Getus.
     
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  20. Koi

    Koi Youngster

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    I think about the personality of my characters and pick names with meaning that describe their personality. I also like to pick names that can be chinese, korean, and japanese at the same time. But sometimes i'll name a character what it is... like for an archer, I would name the character Archer, because that could be a name...
     
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