When I'm searching for the name of a character, real-world or not, I usually start by going to babynames.com and searching for names with a meaning that's related to the essence of the character, a nationality, and a beginning letter. The meaning is simply to narrow things down and provide names that could be cool Easter eggs just for my pleasure. The nationality is both for accuracy (if a character is Greek, she's not likely to have a Hawaiian name) and for the feeling of the name (Welsh, Scottish, and Russian names tend towards more harsh sounds and shorter names, while Spanish and French names are softer). Choosing a first letter might sound odd, but there is power to it. Start with W and English for the nationality, and you'll get names that tend toward Washington, William, Wolfgang, and Wellington. These have an air of aristocracy and snobbishness, which you can play up or turn on its head at your pleasure. Contrast that with names like Rob, Richard, or Ray, which in turn have a different feeling than Albert, Adam, or Archer. Try to find one with an air that feels right for your character.It comes down to syllables, consonants, and vowels. Simple character? Fewer syllables. Tough or mischievous character? Try names that start with consonants like "R" or "L" and have one or two syllables. Quiet, kind character? Try finding names that start with vowels or consonants such as "T" or "F."
That doesn't even begin to cover the full scope of naming choices. Delving into different nationalities provides a range of options that can go from exotic to harsh to just plain weird. Names can contradict norms or fit a variety of characters. A character might be named something that completely contradicts his personality, either for comedic effect or to illustrate that his parents wanted a different kind of kid.
But what if you're looking to name a blue-skinned teenage Martian princess? Patricia is hardly a viable option. But before you turn towards the alien name generator, you need to establish a few facts about her people's culture and language.
Maybe worldbuilding isn't you're thing, but there are so many things that can enrich your world and affect your choices that you can't ignore it. You don't need to develop a whole language, but try and establish a feel for what it sounds like. That way, characters from the same culture won't end up with wildly different names (unless they're from different cultures, in which case it would be a good thing if there's some difference in their names). Also recall that the first name-surname format doesn't apply to all cultures at all times. For Japanese peasants in the 1600s, many only had a first name. It was the noble class who had surnames. The same in England, which is why we now have names like Tanner, Smith, and Cooper -- they were occupations, which got tacked on to certain people's name to tell them apart from others with the same name. Sometimes not even royalty had official surnames, just titles (Alexander the Great, Henry VIII).
After you've done a little developing, it's a great help to turn back to babynames.com and search in languages that sound similar. In my fantasy novel, the warlike people from the north have names derived from Norwegian, Scandinavian, Russian, and similar languages, many of which were spoken once by real-world warlike people from the north. Those from more southern countries, where the MC originates, have names inspired by Hebrew, Welsh, and Scottish.
If that's still too real-world, try altering names. William can become Tillian or Willam or Wulder. Or try just simple syllables. Rik. Tess. Buk. Sal. Swap out letters. Kevin becomes Kelin. Nathan becomes Naran.
But with all these different options, there are four simple rules to follow when naming characters:
1. Feeling comes before meaning. Nobody will know and few will care that Character A's obscure, confusing name has a special meaning related to his ancestral history of arms dealing. Unless it's specifically important to the story.
2. Make sure it's easy to pronounce. Don't yanks your readers out of the story because they can't figure out if you pronounce Jealaraca with a silent "J" and a hard "C" or a French "J" and soft "C" or however many ways there are to pronounce it. Don't confuse!
3. Start names with different letters, especially with recurring characters. A lot of people like to give their twins names with the same first letter. If your twins are the same gender and you want people to be able to tell them apart, don't do it. Nobody will know who's who. Same goes for non-twins, especially when you're making up names.
And that's all I can cover in one post. Have a good week, and happy naming!
