What’s Your Name, Again?

Writing memorable characters. Now that’s a tough one.

How many of you struggle to create a name for your character that’s original, but also appropriate and fits them just right? There is a fine balance in creating a character who has a name that’s so perfect it’s unbelievable (I won’t even begin the list of people who have names like this), and creating a character who’s so ordinary that they’re forgotten as soon as the page is turned. I’d make a list, but…I’ve forgotten them all.

So how do you create a character’s name?

I don’t think that there’s any special formula, and there are plenty of blogs that have great suggestions on how to name your character. Usually, I pick names that I like and I go with that. But there are times when you like a name and it doesn’t fit the character that you’re writing. Or you choose a name and realize halfway through that you don’t like the name itself anymore. Or you realize that the name doesn’t fit the age, gender, genre, time period…whatever.

Below are some tricks that I use when I try to create a name for a character that I want people to remember. Not all of your characters can be the brightest star in the sky when it comes to being remembered, but you can create characters with unique names that reflect what you want them to be.

What tips and tricks do you have for naming a character? Feel free to share!

1. Make sure people other than you can pronounce the name. Nothing is worse than creating the perfect name with the perfect spelling, and then handing it to your best friend to read and have them look at you with a deer-in-the-headlights stare and ask how to pronounce the name of your protagonist. If your best friend can’t figure it out, chances are that your readers might not be able to as well. You can do several things: change the spelling, add a glossary in the back on how to pronounce character’s names, or suck it up and let your readers pronounce the name wrong and then proudly correct everyone when your book gets made into a movie. I’m personally leaning towards that last option.

2. Baby name websites are your friend. When I taught a creative writing class to an amazing group of 7th and 8th graders, they said they all got stuck on coming up with names for their characters. One of the suggestions that I gave them was to Google top baby names. Also, because they were in 7th and 8th grade, I told them that they needed to warn their parents about what they were doing ahead of time so that ‘best baby names’ didn’t show up in the internet history and create cause for worry. But seriously…baby name websites are the best. Just don’t choose weird celebrity baby names. Or do. It’s your book.

3. Name characters after your friends and family. But don’t do this too often! While it’s nice to give a shout out to your biggest supporters, you want to be careful that you don’t end up writing what could be considered fanfiction about your family or friends. First, that’s just awkward. And second…well, it could just get awkward. So feel free to name characters after your sister, your best friend, your dog, whatever…just make sure that you don’t use so many names that you have to avoid any weird relationships between your characters because of your names.

4. Trendy names are great…but they’re trendy. I won’t lie. Some of the popular names of this current day and age are catchy and I like them quite a bit. The problem is that because it’s a trend, and if you like it, about four other people have decided they like it and are going to use it as well. Your readers don’t want to be bombarded with yet another novel where the hero and heroine are Elsa and Jackson or something like that. It’ll get boring. Do some digging to find some fresh names and delight your readers with the fact that you’re being original.

5. Don’t lift names off of another novel/story. Okay, this shouldn’t be that difficult. But it’s hard not to look at a successful book series and want to lift the names to put into yours. You’d be surprised at how tempting this is to do. DON’T. You don’t get to name your four siblings Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. Because copyright. You don’t get to name your paranormal couple Bella and Edward (or Ana and Christian, for that matter). Because copyright. If you want to write fanfiction, go write fanfiction. But don’t try to pass it off as your own original characters. I love Katniss and Peeta as much as the next person, but I’m not going to use the names for my own characters because then they wouldn’t be mine.

6. Use names that work with your genre. Certain names fit well with certain genres. This shouldn’t be too hard to figure out. And while you can overlap some names into other genres, you need to be careful when doing so. Your readers are going to know when a character’s name doesn’t fit their surroundings, and unless your character is a tourist in the world you’ve created, they’re not going to give them much credibility.

7. You can’t really go wrong with the classics. Or some of them, anyways. Names like James, Henry and Michael for boys can really be used across the board. Same with Mary, Elizabeth or Margaret (Maggie) for girls. Classic names might not always work in a fantasy or science fiction setting, but generally speaking, they’re fairly safe to use in just about anything.

8. Don’t get too hung up on the meaning. I’m a sucker for the meaning of names. There, I’ve admitted it. And I like the names of my characters to match up with the roles that they play in my story. Googling a name that means “protector” in a thousand different languages in an attempt to mix it up a little ends in disappointment and realizing that you’ve wasted quite a bit of time when the name George would have been just fine. It’s fine to have a name that matches your person or what they stand for, but don’t get so obsessed with the name that you forget about the rest of the story.

9. Make sure your names aren’t too similar. Laura, Laurel and Lauren might be cute for triplets (OR NOT). But not when you’re a reader trying to get through a book. It’s annoying to have to make a flow chart to keep track of them all. Your reader shouldn’t have to do that. Don’t start all of your names with the same letter, or that there aren’t tons of repeat letters for your characters. That makes it look like you just grabbed the nearest name dictionary and picked from your favorite letter.

10. Names that end with the letter ‘s’ are a pain in the… You get it. Why? Because writing the possessive with a name that ends with the letter ‘s’ is confusing and difficult and results in the reader sounding like a snake if they ever try to read it out loud.  But if you have your heart set on it, go right ahead. Just make sure it’s a really, really good character who’s worthy of the possessive ‘s’ struggle.

Finally, don’t be afraid if you can’t come up with the perfect name right away for a character. You can always change it later. Sometimes, putting a generic name in all caps as a place holder is the solution so that you can get on with the story. You can come back to JOHN later.

And who knows? You might decide that JOHN happens to be just the name that you wanted in the first place.

Ha. Wouldn’t that be nice?