How Do You Create/Choose Names

on this moment I have more trouble thinking of new names, includes my username DX

 

Honestly, I don't know what I base my characters' names on, I just choose the names that I like for them. I just go with my feelings and choose what I feel would be a good name for the character.

 

I throw letters at the screen and hope something sticks. No jock, my most recent name that I came up with was Olipta but I also came up with a name Tenow using this same logic. I just throw random letters on the screen and hope they fit the characters. It often gets me the most unique names ever.

 

I'll try to choose a name with a sort of meaning behind it whether it's different language or something archaic.

 

All this passion and creativity and then there's me.

Draws a character concept and shows it to my sister WHAT IS HIS NAME oh hey I like that name thx fam

 

I always try and find a fitting name for a character. Usually, the name's just come to me but sometimes, it takes ages to find the perfect name. With human characters, their names tend to have Anglo origins since most of my stories take place in western countries, though it entirely depends on the character I'm writing. With non-human characters, I either name them after a noun or a random assortment of letters that look and sound cool, e.g. Kyrane.

It also depends on the genre. In stories set in the present day, people will have more common names while in a high fantasy story, the names will sound ancient and in sci-fi, they'll sound alien.

 

I find that I use English names for my ocs, as I have some on the back burner right now. One is Keith, and another one is Paul. I also have a very special oc that I love the name. Daniel, or just Danny for short. He will not be appearing in any story of mine as far as I know. Last names are a bit harder, as I haven't really made up a last name for Bianca.


If and when I have a son one day, his name will be Daniel James.

 

I usually tend to look up my favorite things in different languages and then go from there.. Or I may even take it from other games/novels.

I.e (Favorite thing in different languages) When asked what should I name my farms /town in any kind of farming/life simulator (Stardew valley, Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing) I always go for "Uvah"
Uvah, why?
Because I really like Grapes. Grapes=Uvas in spanish. and I wrote it how it sounds. xD


Other games or novels:

One of my OC's name is Yabe. I took his name from a manga named "Gacha Gatcha" :>


And so on and so on..

Sometimes I even name something with the first word that comes to mind (Made up word or not)

 

I have a TON of weird ways of coming up with names, which is bizarre, since I can count the OCs I have on one hand. It works when I nickname Pokémon, though.

Sometimes the names just come to me which means that they are not real words/names at all, but who cares
Some of the time, I just literally...look left. Because my bookshelf is there. And the first book my eye lands on is the book my character will be named after/from. Works pretty well. Plus, it means that I can slip even more hidden references into the story that literally nobody will notice.
But mostly, I poke randomly at the keyboard until a good Goggle search comes up or I've accidentally thought up a good idea. Then I use something of the search.
Once, I have tried to name the character after a poison, but I was too lazy to Google 'poison names', so I tried remembering one. I was aiming for cyanide, but the first word that popped into my head was 'clouride', so that character's name was literally born out of laziness.
#MissingNo

 

I try not to think about it too much. Most of my stories are about youtubers whenever I write them anyways but, whenever I do make stories with oc's, I try to use names that I really like a lot personally or names that I think fit their personality.

 

I saw my friend do this: she wrote down names for each letter of the alphabet, so she would never run out of names, and categorized them by personality. I've never done it, but it sounds like a good writing exercise!

 

I usually use name generators like Behind the Name or Fantasy Name Generator. Other times I just mash the keyboard and add in some vowels and see if it sounds good, then look it up to make sure what I named a character isn't something really offensive in another language or hasn't already been used for a popular series before. Then there are the random conversations I have with friends. One of them asked me once what he should name a character he was making. I said "I don't know" but didn't really enunciate, so it sounded more like "I unno" and he named her "Ionna" and has been one of his most used characters since.

 

I definitely hate reusing names. Whenever I need to get a name I usually look for a meaning that I think will fit the character, or I'll try to find names from certain countries, like French names or Greek names. Once in a while I go for Japanese names, or try to translate a word to another language and see what comes up on Google translate.

 

I Usually Create A Character's Name Based Of The Personality But Sometime,I Fusion Names.
For Example,My Username(Geroniny-It Is Actually A Character's Name) Is A Fusion Name Of Snivy And My Favorite Character(Outside Of Pokémon),Geronimo Stilton In Animated Version.The Name Reflect Geroniny's Main Strength As Calm And Intelligence Rodent

But I Am Agree With Everyone,I Also Don't Like To Reuse Name.I Want To Make Each Character's Name A Unique.

 

I also agree with everyone about reusing names but IF i am writing about a specific world i.e FairyTail ,Pokémon etc

I have only made 1 OC for a current fanfic i am in the middle of writing and it is basically me but with the name April coz ma bday is in the month April

Generally when thinking of a characters name i make the character 1st and then think of a name based on what the character looked like
Saying that if u guys are stuggling for names for ur OCs i can create a thread where u describe your character ot send me a pic and i will help you think of a name!
I will do this if majority agrees.

 

Sometimes I make names up (Cloe, Deka, and Shadria come to mind) while others have meanings from different languages (Muni, Angeni, Adir for example).

 

Browse through countless lists of names until one resonates with the personality of the character. So... Intuition + trial and error, I suppose.

 

I often look at baby name websites if I need normal sounding names but I look to legends and myths a lot for other names.

 

I just think of something off the top of my head, and if it works, I'll use it. Lol

 

Most of the time, I obtain inspiration from names of other characters and people I've met.

For instance, my Pangoro OC, Lin Lin, was named after a panda NPC from Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon. My Houndoom OC, Penelope, was inspired and named after my late dog. And my Kangaskhan duo, Nana and Rue, were named long ago after Winnie the Pooh's Kanga and Roo.