How do you decide on names for your characters?

i feel like im in the minority when it comes to generators? they just seem to smash letters and make a word (this is okay if its for a fantasy thing or shitposting but legit names? never imo.) and its just really weird?

i literally take a normal name and slap it on a character. thats it. no meaning or anything. just put it on. this is only for my characters that are completly new and not "rebooted" from my past so its easy for me to name my original kids. it kinda helps illustrate that a majority of my characters are still normal people and theyre not automatically amazing because her name isnt derived from "holy sweet angel who shall cleanse the world of sin"

it gets a little more complex with japanese names but its still pretty simple. i just google a word, stick it through translate, maybe add something, done. like one of my characters is named fuyu sabishii and how did i get it? i just stuck "winter" and "lonesome" in google. thats literally it. the names come out basic as hell sometimes but it works!!!

tl;dr: just.... dont overthink it i guess?? your names dont need to be derived from something to make it work. just have fun with it and dont make it harder than it is!!

 

I have a really hard time deciding on names. Although when it comes to Japanese names, I look into the meaning of the name and usually decide on which best fits their appearance/personality. I tend to stay away from generators because like you said, they smash together letters to make words.

 

For me, I usually think of a word that describes the person/Pokémon, then translate into another languages, and then romanize it using 'cool' letters (j,q,z).
Examples:
a Gengar: 'Qishin' (Korean 귀신, ghost).
a Grovyle: 'Zyljonov' (Russian зелёнов, of green).
a Torchic: 'Pyra' (Latin pyre, fire)
a Mudkip: 'Swampy' (obviously English)
an Absol: 'Sakun' (Tagalog sakuna, danger)

So basically that

 

I like theming them, or using a different character as inspiration.

 

Like a couple other people here, my favorite way to name characters is looking up words in other languages. I'll pick a defining trait about them (usually to do with their power/background), then google "how to say ___ in different languages" that brings me to an amazing website with translations galore. That's how I got names like Sinn (meaning mind, because he was originally a mind reader) and Quiel (meaning sky, because he's from the sky). If my character is particularly cultural, I might search up "(heritage) (gender) names" and check out some websites with meanings. Other times names just pop up out of nowhere, like with Maximillian Saint-Pierre.

Depending on how I'm designing a character, they can stay unnamed for months or seconds. My OC Dariya was pretty much completely designed before I finally decided on a name for her (and the only reason I had to choose one was because I was putting her into an RP). Characters I'm making up on the spot (for RPs, usually), are generally named when I only have a vague outline of the person.

 

Something I often do, particularly in fantasy settings, is to dissect 'normal' names, and Frankenstein them back together. For example, from Tristan and Alexander, you can get Trisander and Alextan.

 

I use a couple of different methods based on what I want to achieve. Two of my characters have names that are literally translations for what I think represents them. Apoleia (the greek word for loss or destruction) and Tod (the german word for death). I'm not good at making up entirely new names, but for characters that I've created that live in a fictional, magical world, I wanted names that sounded unique and somewhat mythical. So I started looking through baby names to find ones that I liked (Gale, Horatio, Selina, and Anissa). It can take me a long time to consider names, but when I find one that I like, it really sticks.

 

I feel you. I have also struggled to come up with names for my characters. I often use their background, personality, and physical attributes to determine a character's name. Sometimes I translate words into different languages to create a less common name. Latin is my favorite right now. Sometimes, I use words that sound nice. For example, I have a Pidgeot named "Aurora", which is based off Aurora Borealis, the technical name for the northern and southern lights.

 

Most of my characters have weird names like fishtail or beetle. I usually just pick random names, or I pick one thing from their appearance or personality. For example, null and void are just black and white so I thought those names were fitting based on their color scheme.

 

For minor characters, I usually get a random name generator and choose whichever ones sound nice. For main characters, I typically throw around a bunch of names and stick with the one that sounds as if it suits the character the best. Occasionally, I search up names that have specific meanings.

As for fantasy names, I either base them off words in different languages, or I mash together a bunch of letters that sound nice together.