Book Writing 101: How To Name Your Book Characters
Hello readers and writerly friends!
Three friends sitting on a rocky hill at sunset at Joshua Tree. Photo by Cynthia Magana.
What’s in a name? It’s a question Shakespeare asked and many other writers today find themselves pondering because sometimes character names are a very crucial part of creating compelling characters. A name can make or break a character’s believability and so, authors should always chose carefully when selecting names for their characters. However, this isn’t something to get too in-your-head about. While there’s many factors that can influence a character’s name, it’s really up to you to chose something you feel best represents that character. If you’re just starting your novel or still in the first draft phase, consider using [Main Character], [Supporting Character 1], and [Main Antagonist] as placeholder names while you get the first draft completed. Names aren’t something to interrupt the writing process over. You can always come back to your characters later and change their names during the editing phase.
If you’re in the editing phase, this blog post is for you so, let’s get into it!
So, what actually is in a name?
As mentioned, there’s a lot of different parts of picking a name for your characters from etymology, to genre, to time-period, etc., and its easy to get overwhelmed with the sheer research you must do to carefully curate names for characters that you want to be compelling and memorable. Names are incredibly important because they tell the reader a lot about your story—cultural background, genre, influences and worldview, time-period, setting, and identity. However, picking a name that doesn’t suit your characters can do a lot of harm to your story, from distracting the reader, to losing relatability and connection between the reader and characters, which is ultimately the most important part of storytelling—the reader-character-connection.
Parents, experience, upbringing, and worldview
I go into this a little bit in my blog post, “How to Develop and Write Compelling, Consistent Characters” but when crafting a character, you have to take a lot of external factors into consideration including family trees. If you have a female main protagonist in your story, its important to note that her parents are going to have a direct effect on her name, her upbringing, and her worldview.
If you’re trying to determine a name for this character you might ask yourself the following:
Does she have both or only one of her parents and what is their situation like?
What are their names (if you have picked already)?
What kind of upbringing did they have?
What kind of names would they name their daughter?
What is the setting like and what kind of names would be prominent in this setting?
When was the character born?
This information is all, lower portion of the iceberg and doesn’t necessarily have to make it onto the page, as long as you know the answers and how they inform characterization. These kinds of questions should be at the front of your mind when considering what to name your characters.
Genre
Contemporary, historical, and time-period pieces
First on the list, let’s look at genre as a starting point for coming up with names for characters. If you’re writing a contemporary novel or historical fiction, for example, you could use a baby name website, or modern name generator to try and spark inspiration for names. Essentially, contemporary works would encompass anything that seems realistic and plausible today and the names should follow that. Historical fiction would require some research —such as looking up popular names in certain countries during a specific year to get an idea what names were in use in the setting of your novel.
Science Fiction, High Fantasy, and invented names
I think a lot of the naming struggle comes from writers who’s works fall into the science fiction and fantasy category because they feel as if they have to completely make up new names from scratch for world building and immersion and that can be really overwhelming to both new and experienced writers alike. While you can pull names out of the air, its typically easier to base your characters and cultures off of real-world people and cultures and use real names as a starting point. For example, in short story, The Sieka of Sahn’Jatar, is set in the middle-east in Terrae Forrh and this setting is based off of the Sahara desert and the middle-east on Earth and the cultures are also based off the cultures of those locations, i.e., Iran, Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, Sudan, Morocco, and India. Names, appearances, mannerisms, language, and accents are inspired from these cultures as well. However, the Nelnaiian elves in the southern part of the continent are inspired by France and their language is mildly derivative of both French and Spanish.
Essentially, if you had to compare your fantasy/sci-fi characters and cultures to that of the real world, which ones would the be most like? Once you determine this, research the language and names of that real-world culture and see what minor twists you can put on existing names to tailor them to your world while keeping with a general theme for consistency’s sake.
For example, if I wanted to name a young elven girl that would have lived in Sahn’Jatar, I might pull names from Syria. One I found was Amira. To make this more suited for my fantasy world and less like I found it in a baby names list, I might add or remove vowels/consonants until I have something new. Aamira or Amiira could work. Or I could even use Ammira or Amirra.
If I wanted to keep the pronunciation but change the spelling, I could use Emira or Amire. If I wanted to make the name or masculine I could tack an “o” to the end of the name or change out the “a”s for “o”s such as in Amiro, Omiro.
I could swap letters around altogether to end up with Imiro, Omira, Imira, or Amiri.
Pro tip: Always double check that your result isn’t something that exists or is widely popular in your inspo culture or another culture. For example, if my result from the name exercise above was Omar, then I’d simply be back at square one. It would be okay to use this name because of its origin in Muslim culture, but I would have to be cognizant of the fact that this is a real name/word/concept in an existing culture. It might be better to tweak it again if I didn’t want readers to think “Hey, that’s my name!” or that I simply pulled it out of a list. Instead, I might use Omaar and so on. Just know, that you might have to go through this process a few times to come up with the most perfect, original names. Certainly, cross-check your work.
The main takeaway here is that you’d use existing names and cultures as a starting point and tweak them until the become x) as original as possible while y) fitting the characters and setting of your story.
Consider these things when trying to invent your own character names:
What language and culture are the from? What are they inspired by?
How are vowels and consonants pronounced?
Are male and female names/words conjugated differently?
Are their honorifics such as with Korean or Japanese?
What do your names suggest about society, class, and privilege?
Use the answers to these questions as a rule-system for naming your characters, so that you can ensure consistency and uniformity among members of specific societies, groups, and kingdoms. Of course, there will always be exceptions to the rules, especially if you have regions that are sort of melting pots of culture.
And on the other hand, you do want to be careful when using real-world cultures as inspiration for your invented world. Try to avoid using stereotypes in your fantasy if they’re offensive, or harmful to the culture you drew inspiration from. For example, in my short story I mentioned earlier, the Saabuli, a warband and reigning power over Sahn’Jatar is inspired by militant Muslim culture, however I try my absolute best to avoid including stereotypes or mention of terrorist themes in the story. Just be mindful of whatever culture you’re drawing inspiration from and make sure to do your research.
Additionally, ensure your names all fit well together. Make sure your first names and last names both look aesthetically good together as well as sonically work well with one another. Take time and care to ensure your all the names in your entire cast of characters make sense together against the backdrop of your setting and genre. You wouldn’t have a high fantasy story where all the characters have intricate names except one, who’s name is Jerry, right? And of course, the same goes for Sci-Fi.
Naming places
As mentioned in my blog post about creating compelling characters, the setting/world is also a character in a sense, and especially in Sci-Fi and fantasy where a lot of worldbuilding takes place, it’ quite common to have to come up with names for universes, galaxies solar systems, worlds, continents, countries, regions/provinces/states, counties, cities, towns and infrastructure/landforms. I would argue that naming places in Sci-Fi and fantasy is pretty similar to coming up with names for people. The only differences are a) there may be several words/spaces/punctuation in the name, and b) infrastructure and landforms may be included in the name.
An example from my own writing— a river in Terrae Forrh is called the Lae’ir’nali river. There are also some tepuis in Terrae Forrh, a singular one called Kuketi Tepui, and a mass of tepuis, upon which a city has been formed, is called Asyanir, The Tabletop City. Another name for tepui is table-top mountain. So, you can see how I used the different landforms in their own names.
History and Culture
All names are rooted in history and culture and as mentioned before it’s a good idea to take inspiration from existing history and culture as a starting point, even if you’re not trying to make up your own names from scratch. Your challenge as the writer, is to come up with a fairly concrete historical and cultural basis for your names.
Of course, if you have various cultures represented in your book, consider how their names might sound different. I wouldn’t expect my French-derivative names to sound anything like my Syrian-derivative names. It all has to do with characterization, worldbuilding, and ultimately identity. If you’re writing a Sci-Fi story that takes place across multiple planets with different races, consider what various naming conventions may be used to give characters their names and how they fit in with those races and cultures.
Name trends
Something to keep in mind when naming characters is that names do rise in and fall out of popularity over the years and names do go through trends, especially first names, since last names are usually passed down through the family line or are adopted/dropped with change in marital status. First names are often affected by gender and tradition. Male names are often passed down in patrilineal fashion whereas girls may be named after a grandmother, aunt, or godmother instead. If the names in your book have been passed down through your fictional families’ bloodlines, consider how and where they got those names and why they would pass them down. Additionally, you should consider the religious and traditional aspects of inherited names as well.
US map showing states where the names Ashley and Jessica were the most popular in 1992 based on data provided by the Social Security Administration.
Graph showing the popularity of the name Ashley between 1970 and 2012, with prevalence peaking in 1988 at roughly 50,000 children with this name. Data provided by the Social Security Administration.
Names not only reflect culture, but they reflect character
It’s a sort of chicken versus egg cycle when it comes to characters and names—the name becomes the character, and the character becomes the name. Whether we realize it or not, our name is very much a part of our identity. Think about how characters might behave differently if they had a unique/hard to pronounce/read/spell name as opposed to having a common easy name. My name for example, is Payton and I was at least fourteen before I ever encountered anyone else with that exact same spelling and they were a guy! It was a relatively uncommon name when I was growing up and people would always ask me “Oh, is it Peyton with an e?” and I’d have to correct them. So, as an adult, I naturally have a complex about my name and the way its spelled. I take pride in knowing my name is somewhat unique, but I know I may never find my name on a Coke bottle and that’s just how it is. I am just as befitting of my name as my name is a part of my identity.
However, I grew up when the name “Ashley” was very, very popular and likely knew over 20 different Ashley’s throughout K-12, including one of my best friends and my older sister. I decided I was so sick of hearing that name in all my classes and with friends, I would never name my daughter that if I had one. I remember I had a music class one year where there were three different Ashleys in that class. We had to call them Ashley C., Ashley T., and Ashley H just to tell them apart.
Consider how names might influence your characters’ personalities:
Are they self-conscious about their name?
Do they feel like their name suits them?
Do they get picked on in school because of the spelling?
Do they have a thick skin because they’re used to people butchering the pronunciation?
If their name is really common, do they hate their name for it’s lack of uniqueness?
Do they get confused with other kids in their class (Such as with the Ashley example above)?
Do they change their name or go by a nickname to establish some sense of identity and individuality?
How are your character’s perceived and then treated because of their names?
Because of the “which one came first?” nature of the naming/character process you can really work backwards or forwards. That’s why I suggest writers use placeholder names while they get their first draft done. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, or green or experienced with characterization—the naming process can be tricky for any kind of writer. It’s a very experimental process with a lot of playing around with words and culture and language to see what works and what doesn’t.
Additionally, remember to do research within your genre to determine if the “popular” name you’ve chosen for your main protagonist is not the same or at all similar to other books in that genre. After you’ve gone to the trouble to find the perfect name for your character, it would be a shame for readers to just get him/her mixed up with another character from a completely different story by an entirely different author.
Examples of bad names
Anachronistic names
Nothing severs the reader-character connection faster than a name that distracts or annoys the reader or is so forgettable that the reader has to flip back through earlier pages just to remind themselves of the main character’s name. Try to avoid names that are just absolutely outlandish for your setting and genre. If you’re writing about a time in which you did not live through personally, do your due diligence and conduct as much research as you can to ensure your names fit the time period about which you’re writing. Names that stick out as being unrealistic for the time period are a dead giveaway that the author lacks experience in said time period. For example, if I was writing a story set in England in the 1800’s I might give the name Matilda to my main protagonist, but if I named her Maylee it would be a clear sign, I didn’t do my research on the time period. You just can’t give names that were popular in 2007 to characters that were born in 1943.
Distracting names or names that just don’t make sense
Likewise, names that are distracting in other ways—such as Jev, Patch, or Vee Sky in Hush, Hush, has always been distracting to me. I never felt like any of these names suited the characters they were given too and wondered if Fitzpatrick could have spent a little more time naming her characters. In the same vein you don’t want names that are going to be completely unpronounceable (ornate names are often best left for fantasy and sci-fi, but even then they need to be pronounceable and relatively easy to read.)
Forgettable names or names that sound too alike
Additionally, names that are forgettable or easy to mix-up with others are just as bad. When I read the Angel series by L.A. Weatherly, I found myself often getting the side characters names mixed up or forgetting them altogether. The supporting angel killer characters all blended together and the angel’s names—such as Paschar and Bascal—were very hard to tell apart (and imagine listening to those names on audiobook, you’d never remember the difference between them!) Likewise, you want to make sure that you don’t have too many characters with names starting with an “a” if the main character’s name starts with an “a”. Don’t be afraid to have some diverse names.
Resources for coming up with names and how to save names
As I mentioned earlier, for fantasy, I like to derive invented names from existing cultures, but how/where do I find these names? And what if you want to use names that do exist for a contemporary work, where would you go to find them?
Baby name websites and random name generator sites are key here. I wouldn’t use the fantasy name generator because it pulls fictional names from existing works which can be plagiarism if you’re not careful and aware of this. Additionally, you can use naming books such as LLewellyn’s Complete Book of Names.
If you’ve found some names you’d like to keep for later, I would suggest making a digital list somewhere, be it in Microsoft Word, Evernote, Google Docs, Scrivener, Pages, or what have you, keep a running list of Female First Names, Male First Names, Non-binary names and Surnames.
Also, on the topic of Non-binary and unisex names, consider the history of names that originally were male names but became popular for females and vise versa. Also consider how you can put a new spin on a traditionally binary name to breath new life into it and use it in a way it has never been used before. And while writing niche is important because you do want people to have some specifics to make connections to, you should consider if its possible to use unisex or non-binary names in your stories because they are more inclusive and will help a wider audience of readers connect with your characters and their story.
Naming Miscellany
Naming Villains
When naming characters, and villains especially, double check that your “perfect names” don’t actually exist in the world. This serves as a final pass on your part to ensure that no accidental libelous writing can be found in your book because your villain’s name is almost entirely made-up by you. I always Google my villain names just to ensure that no one is going to come knocking because they ended up as the bad guy in my book.
I had a friend who was named Katniss Everdeen (no, I swear I am not making this up.) and when Suzanne Collins’ dystopian trilogy, The Hunger Games came out, it was an absolute nightmare for her. She said she couldn’t travel or get pulled over without having TSA and Police grill her about her supposed fake name. She said she considered changing her name, but she doubted the process would be any less grueling than day-to-day life because wherever she went to change her name, they didn’t take her seriously. Finally, almost a decade after the hype blew over, she has found a little peace, but people still ask her about it to this day.
Four friends watching the sunset. Photo by Helena Lopes.
Using your friend’s names
Feel free to pay homage to you friends, family and people who have inspired you but using their names in your stories but try to limit it to only one of their names as opposed to full names, and again, don’t used these names for villains or characters painted in a bad light.
Taking inspiration from existing works of fiction
Be very careful when taking inspiration from existing works. Some works of fiction are just so, SO popular that the names of the characters in these works are just as famous as celebrities. It is very apparent when the name Edward shows up in a new writer’s work, that they were obsessed with Twilight growing up, or the name Jace for the love interest of the female, main protagonist, after Jace Wayland appeared in the fan-favorite Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare.
And that’s it for my guide to naming fictional characters and places! This was the fourth installment of my Book Writing 101: How To series. Let me know what you think of coming up with names and if this blog post helped you, leave me a comment down below! At the end of this post is a list of related topics including a link to my Story Binder Printables, and the first 3 parts of this series. See you next week for part 5!
Related topics:
Book Writing 101: Coming Up With Book Ideas And What To Do With Them
Book Writing 101 - How To Chose The Right POV For Your Novel
Book Writing 101: Everything You Need To Know About Dialogue
Book Writing 101: How to Develop and Write Compelling, Consistent Characters
Story Binder Printables (Includes Character Sheets, Timelines, World-Building Worksheets and More!)
Payton’s Picks —40+ of my favorite helpful books on writing and editing.
25 Strangely Useful Websites To Use For Research and Novel Ideas
