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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2014 16:47:39 GMT -5
I tend to use www.behindthename.com/ as I like to match characters' personality traits to their name meanings. I always imagine the personality of the character when choosing a name, and go for something that sounds like they would look (if that makes any sense whatsoever)! One of my favourites is a character in a sci-fi short story I wrote. He is part of a private endeavour mining resources on Mars, and his name is Ray Swanson. I always liked Swanson, and Raymond is a friend's middle name. Sounded strong, I thought. |
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Post by Daniel on Apr 28, 2014 19:40:55 GMT -5
One of my favourites is a character in a sci-fi short story I wrote. He is part of a private endeavour mining resources on Mars, and his name is Ray Swanson. I always liked Swanson, and Raymond is a friend's middle name. Sounded strong, I thought. Ray Swanson is a fine name. And it does sound strong. "Brian" might have been a good choice too, as that name supposedly means "strong." However, I'd never use it because every time I hear the name I'm tempted to shout, "Wewease Bwian!" |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2014 19:51:05 GMT -5
One of my favourites is a character in a sci-fi short story I wrote. He is part of a private endeavour mining resources on Mars, and his name is Ray Swanson. I always liked Swanson, and Raymond is a friend's middle name. Sounded strong, I thought. Ray Swanson is a fine name. And it does sound strong. "Brian" might have been a good choice too, as that name supposedly means "strong." However, I'd never use it because every time I hear the name I'm tempted to shout, "Wewease Bwian!" ROFL! |
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Post by Becca Mills on Apr 28, 2014 20:00:55 GMT -5
It's funny, I didn't even think of Barak. Of course, it's been twenty years since I read any of Eddings' stuff. I found it when I re-read the Belgariad last year. My mouth dropped open and I'm sure my face turned beet red. At least the spelling is different.  Pft. A subconscious homage -- the highest form of flattery! |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2014 6:10:16 GMT -5
Depending on the type of story I'm working on and whether something pops in to mind automatically or not, I've got a couple of methods.
If writing a fantasy, there's YAFNAG (Yet Another Fantasy Name Generator). I'll set it to spew out the largest number of names and go through until I find something that fits and isn't difficult to pronounce.
If something more realistic, like someone above said - Behind the Name or similar sites. I'll find a name with a meaning that fits the character's personality.
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Post by Rinelle Grey on Apr 30, 2014 7:11:56 GMT -5
I like to make up names for my characters, usually by picking a starting letter, then stringing vowels and consonants together until I get something that sounds good. I have to be careful not to have too many names that end the same though, or it gets confusing. Since I write fantasy and sci-fi, they're rarely real names.
I find naming spaceships the worst though. I still haven't thought of a name for the one in my current book, and I really need to!
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Post by Victoria on Apr 30, 2014 7:56:41 GMT -5
One of my favourites is a character in a sci-fi short story I wrote. He is part of a private endeavour mining resources on Mars, and his name is Ray Swanson. I always liked Swanson, and Raymond is a friend's middle name. Sounded strong, I thought. Ray Swanson is a fine name. And it does sound strong. "Brian" might have been a good choice too, as that name supposedly means "strong." However, I'd never use it because every time I hear the name I'm tempted to shout, "Wewease Bwian!" I'm Brian and so's my wife! |
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2014 10:19:40 GMT -5
Part of my problem in naming characters is that I want the name to feel like the character. Perhaps this stems from being adopted. I found out that my "birth" name was Marcy Lee. I am so seriously not a Marcy Lee. Jennifer was THE name for girls in the 70's & 80's. It's kind of the "Smith" of girls' names. But I fit Jennifer much better than Marcy Lee. Of course, even I couldn't stick with Jennifer, having changed it in high school to Jenn with two "n's". I swear I was the first!
So I try out names until I feel like they fit the characters. This is why - I suck at naming characters!!
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2014 14:33:07 GMT -5
2. Lucia Meduse Rimbaud - The MC's love interest. She went through even more permutations than he did. She started out as a Becca (not named after our Becca, but a Rebecca I knew from years ago who was a fabulous writer and has a very successful fishing blog www.outdooress.com/ ) But her personality doesn't mesh with a Becca. So I went through the Writer's Digest Book of Names at least three times, and finally found "Lucia", an old Portuguese name (I always thought it was Italian)that means "light", it fits. I needed a middle name for a transformation of her personality at the end, and I was wanted something scary. I went to my book of Etymology to find if there were any old versions of the word "gorgon" and that led me to an old version of the word medusa. Her last name was de Conoczso for a long time, Spanish for "I know you", but I finally decided it was too funky, and went with the last name of the poet Arthur Rimbaud. Was she related to Arthur Rimbaud? I just have names magically appear in my head, on the spur of the moment. I don’t think I’ve waited longer than a minute to have one appear. Especially the secondary characters. Two words can be all you need to characterize someone. Like Floyd Swinburne: " Floyd was a nervous and excitable character, which he must have inherited from his British ancestor, Algernon Charles Swinburne. He also shared his infamous ancestor's devotion to alcohol, and maybe also his sexual predilections. How he ever got into politics, and elected, I never figured out. He had a milquetoast personality and looked it. When I asked him where we stood, his reedy, tremulous voice barely cut through the waft of Listerine that accompanied it." |
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Post by Suzy on May 1, 2014 14:36:17 GMT -5
2. Lucia Meduse Rimbaud - The MC's love interest. She went through even more permutations than he did. She started out as a Becca (not named after our Becca, but a Rebecca I knew from years ago who was a fabulous writer and has a very successful fishing blog www.outdooress.com/ ) But her personality doesn't mesh with a Becca. So I went through the Writer's Digest Book of Names at least three times, and finally found "Lucia", an old Portuguese name (I always thought it was Italian)that means "light", it fits. I needed a middle name for a transformation of her personality at the end, and I was wanted something scary. I went to my book of Etymology to find if there were any old versions of the word "gorgon" and that led me to an old version of the word medusa. Her last name was de Conoczso for a long time, Spanish for "I know you", but I finally decided it was too funky, and went with the last name of the poet Arthur Rimbaud. Was she related to Arthur Rimbaud? I just have names magically appear in my head, on the spur of the moment. I don’t think I’ve waited longer than a minute to have one appear. Especially the secondary characters. Two words can be all you need to characterize someone. Like Floyd Swinburne: " Floyd was a nervous and excitable character, which he must have inherited from his British ancestor, Algernon Charles Swinburne. He also shared his infamous ancestor's devotion to alcohol, and maybe also his sexual predilections. How he ever got into politics, and elected, I never figured out. He had a milquetoast personality and looked it. When I asked him where we stood, his reedy, tremulous voice barely cut through the waft of Listerine that accompanied it."OMG! Love it. |
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Post by vrabinec on May 1, 2014 14:46:09 GMT -5
Was she related to Arthur Rimbaud? No, her unnamed ancestor selected the name upon boarding the first passenger ship heading to populate space. The family's history on Earth was pocked with crime, infidelity, and touches of insanity, and he wanted to leave it behind with the name. |
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Post by shawninmon on May 1, 2014 15:29:07 GMT -5
Well, good! I though I was the only name-impaired person. All the characters in my little serial I am writing have very whitebread names - Elizabeth Coleman, Steve Larson, etc. My editor was giving me a hard time about it and challenged me to come up with better, more original names. So, in Rock 'n Roll Heaven, I have a Hezekiah Smith and a James Andrewezski. He leaves me alone, now.
I don't know why, but my favorite character name is Pertime, an angel. I dreamed it and it is now the name of my publishing company.
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Post by Becca Mills on May 1, 2014 16:37:51 GMT -5
Like Floyd Swinburne: " Floyd was a nervous and excitable character, which he must have inherited from his British ancestor, Algernon Charles Swinburne. He also shared his infamous ancestor's devotion to alcohol, and maybe also his sexual predilections. How he ever got into politics, and elected, I never figured out. He had a milquetoast personality and looked it. When I asked him where we stood, his reedy, tremulous voice barely cut through the waft of Listerine that accompanied it."Awesomesauce.  |
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2014 9:02:20 GMT -5
I used to write a humor piece for a magazine on the Rules of Golf. They didn’t care what I wrote, so I made up outlandish names, like Osmandias Putsch and Takahashi Van Bibbi.
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Post by Suzy on May 2, 2014 9:14:15 GMT -5
I used to write a humor piece for a magazine on the Rules of Golf. They didn’t care what I wrote, so I made up outlandish names, like Osmandias Putsch and Takahashi Van Bibbi. Funny! I collect names. There was several men called Cornelius in my husband's family. I love that name. I even made it into a female name in my last book- Cornelia. Older names are very interesting. |
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Post by Becca Mills on May 2, 2014 10:28:21 GMT -5
My husband likes to make up weird names, like Wibfidek Pernisifoggi.
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2014 11:42:26 GMT -5
National Lampoon put out a spoof high school yearbook from the fictitious C. Estes Kefauver H.S. in Ohio. It is a priceless, end-to-end knee-slapping riot. www.amazon.com/National-Lampoons-1964-School-Yearbook/dp/1590710126The class pictures (all circa 1964) contain names, every one of them laughable. I think out of the hundreds of them, my favorite is OLGA FOCKYRSELF. Or her friend, Amanda B. Reckonwith. Some of them had first name initial, like the lovely I.V. Dripp, or her boyfriend, C. Spottrun. (As two examples of the “groaners,” including the iconic “I.P. Daley”) The chief writer and all around quarterback for the issue was none other than P.J. O’Rourke, author of A Parliament of Whores, and Don’t Vote It Just Encourages the Bastards (among many hilarious works).Some of the material in the yearbook was used to write Animal House. A great piece of cultural satire. |
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Post by Suzy on May 2, 2014 11:56:28 GMT -5
I'm at the airport thinking about names. Irish female names. It's difficult because a lot of the names here have weird spellings,like Niamh,pronounced 'nyev) or Sinead, pronounced Sheenayd or Aoibhean- pronounced Ayveen... and so on.
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2014 13:50:42 GMT -5
I used to write a humor piece for a magazine on the Rules of Golf. They didn’t care what I wrote, so I made up outlandish names, like Osmandias Putsch and Takahashi Van Bibbi. Okay, it's been hours since I first read this, and I still can't stop giggling over Takahashi Van Bibbi. |
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2014 14:31:51 GMT -5
I'm at the airport thinking about names. Irish female names. It's difficult because a lot of the names here have weird spellings,like Niamh,pronounced 'nyev) or Sinead, pronounced Sheenayd or Aoibhean- pronounced Ayveen... and so on. I always liked Sioban, but it’s too hard to read. |
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