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4 Tips for Incredibly Easy Name Creation
A lot of writers talk about having trouble coming up with character names. Since I never have this problem, I thought I'd share a few of my own tips for generating character names.
1) Be Observant
Start paying attention to all the words that are around you. Notice brand names in stores, company names on shipping trucks, business names on signage. Look for names in newspapers, magazines, web sites, and on TV. I especially like watching for street names. Notice what real-life name combinations already exist all around you.
2) Combine and Multiply
When you see a name you like, try to find another word nearby and combine them to see if they would make a good character name (or a company or city name) for your story. Try to combine the name or word you just found with the names of people you know. Use your new name as a first name, and then try it as a last name. If you use it as a last name, think of family members for that character; what names would you give the entire family with the new name you just found?
You can use combinations from any source that may be around you. Picking up a magazine in my living room gives me countless name ideas. I’ll list a few examples of names I can create by randomly borrowing first names and last names found in a magazine. (Source: Ode magazine, January/February 2009)
........First Name Examples: Shai, Ola, Karl, Martin, Willie, Amory, Lila, Robi
........Last Name Examples: Ahmad, Kass, Camargo, Rackstraw, Manary, Domini, Christern, Walljasper
Looking at these examples, I’ll combine first and last names and see what I get: Ola Christern, Karl Rackstraw, Willie Manary, Lila Kass, etc. It’s very easy and the results are solid. Personally, I wouldn’t hesitate to use any of them.
3) Be Unconventional
Once you have your name radar working, you may begin to notice odd words that might work as a name. Some of these words might not actually be human names but could be the names of objects or things.
........Examples: Alan Rake, Jarred Wall, Chloe Basil, Tricia Stone, Zeke Branch.
You can also combine objects or words to create new names.
........Examples: Seth Penwell, Marla Goldslate, Amber Sternhold, Elliot Rigford, Sia Fernfellow.
Even the names that I found in Ode magazine (see tip #2 above) were examples of common objects found in names, specifically, Rackstraw and Walljasper. Obviously, this happens in real life so why shouldn’t we also consider this for our fiction?
4) Reshape and Repurpose
It’s easy enough to take a name idea and tweak it a little to create something new. You can take ideas and play with the letter order to find something unique. If you created any character names that you feel are close but aren’t quite there yet, try changing some letters in the name and see what happens. For writers, this is the equivalent to playing with your food.
........Examples: Seth Penswell, Seth Tenswell, Seth Winstell
For more extensive reshaping, here are examples where I’ve taken some of the names from previous examples and changed letters and combined parts of different names to create whole new names.
........Examples: Marla Stenford (based on Sternhold and Rigford, which sounds like an attorney’s office), Sia Wellstern (Penwell and Sternhold), Amber Brank (based on Branch), Jarred Refrigerator (okay, maybe not this one), Asmer Godslate (Asmer is Amber, and Godslate is Goldslate minus the “L”), Elliota Dolhnrets (based on Sternhold spelled baskward), Bridgette Siaford (combined the first name Sia with Ford from Rigford), Alan Raken (based on Rake).
Keep in mind, however, that if you need a name of a specific ethnicity, you may need to select your source accordingly. For example, go to the BBC online to browse specifically English names. Try foreign news sites or browse through a book of baby names to create other culture-specific names.
As you can see, potentially great character names are all around us. And it’s really easy to tap into them by simply paying attention and playing around until we’ve created the right combination for our story. By trying these four steps as a writing exercise, you could end up with your own mega list of excellent character names just waiting for you to bring them to life on the pages of your best fiction.
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Note: I'm looking for help on a special writing project. Go here for details. Thanks.
1) Be Observant
Start paying attention to all the words that are around you. Notice brand names in stores, company names on shipping trucks, business names on signage. Look for names in newspapers, magazines, web sites, and on TV. I especially like watching for street names. Notice what real-life name combinations already exist all around you.
2) Combine and Multiply
When you see a name you like, try to find another word nearby and combine them to see if they would make a good character name (or a company or city name) for your story. Try to combine the name or word you just found with the names of people you know. Use your new name as a first name, and then try it as a last name. If you use it as a last name, think of family members for that character; what names would you give the entire family with the new name you just found?
You can use combinations from any source that may be around you. Picking up a magazine in my living room gives me countless name ideas. I’ll list a few examples of names I can create by randomly borrowing first names and last names found in a magazine. (Source: Ode magazine, January/February 2009)
........First Name Examples: Shai, Ola, Karl, Martin, Willie, Amory, Lila, Robi
........Last Name Examples: Ahmad, Kass, Camargo, Rackstraw, Manary, Domini, Christern, Walljasper
Looking at these examples, I’ll combine first and last names and see what I get: Ola Christern, Karl Rackstraw, Willie Manary, Lila Kass, etc. It’s very easy and the results are solid. Personally, I wouldn’t hesitate to use any of them.
3) Be Unconventional
Once you have your name radar working, you may begin to notice odd words that might work as a name. Some of these words might not actually be human names but could be the names of objects or things.
........Examples: Alan Rake, Jarred Wall, Chloe Basil, Tricia Stone, Zeke Branch.
You can also combine objects or words to create new names.
........Examples: Seth Penwell, Marla Goldslate, Amber Sternhold, Elliot Rigford, Sia Fernfellow.
Even the names that I found in Ode magazine (see tip #2 above) were examples of common objects found in names, specifically, Rackstraw and Walljasper. Obviously, this happens in real life so why shouldn’t we also consider this for our fiction?
4) Reshape and Repurpose
It’s easy enough to take a name idea and tweak it a little to create something new. You can take ideas and play with the letter order to find something unique. If you created any character names that you feel are close but aren’t quite there yet, try changing some letters in the name and see what happens. For writers, this is the equivalent to playing with your food.
........Examples: Seth Penswell, Seth Tenswell, Seth Winstell
For more extensive reshaping, here are examples where I’ve taken some of the names from previous examples and changed letters and combined parts of different names to create whole new names.
........Examples: Marla Stenford (based on Sternhold and Rigford, which sounds like an attorney’s office), Sia Wellstern (Penwell and Sternhold), Amber Brank (based on Branch), Jarred Refrigerator (okay, maybe not this one), Asmer Godslate (Asmer is Amber, and Godslate is Goldslate minus the “L”), Elliota Dolhnrets (based on Sternhold spelled baskward), Bridgette Siaford (combined the first name Sia with Ford from Rigford), Alan Raken (based on Rake).
Keep in mind, however, that if you need a name of a specific ethnicity, you may need to select your source accordingly. For example, go to the BBC online to browse specifically English names. Try foreign news sites or browse through a book of baby names to create other culture-specific names.
As you can see, potentially great character names are all around us. And it’s really easy to tap into them by simply paying attention and playing around until we’ve created the right combination for our story. By trying these four steps as a writing exercise, you could end up with your own mega list of excellent character names just waiting for you to bring them to life on the pages of your best fiction.
----------
Note: I'm looking for help on a special writing project. Go here for details. Thanks.
Comment
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Comment by Lilly on July 21, 2009 at 9:59pm - nice post. as always helpful and useful stuff from J. Scott. Thanks.
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Comment by J. Scott Milford on March 31, 2009 at 10:59pm -
Caroline,
You very welcome. Creating names shouldn't be a chore so I hope you have fun with it from now on.
Scott
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Comment by J. Scott Milford on March 31, 2009 at 10:26pm
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Curt,
Once you begin to notice the potential names all around us, you can get so many ideas, it's hard to shut it off. LOL
Scott
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Comment by Caroline on March 24, 2009 at 3:34pm -
Thanks for the great advice! When I started my book, I never planned of actually making it public, so I had lots of my friends names, and people I knew in real life in my book. So now that I'm editing it, I've had to go back and change names for politeness sake. Its been hard for me to do that! So I like all the ideas of looking in magazines, and changing letters. I always just sat there and tried to think of something randomly. Thanks!
-Caroline
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Comment by Curt on March 23, 2009 at 11:49pm -
Scott...
I do pretty much the same thing when coming up with names. With a couple of my characters though, I took it a bit further and used a significant event to name one and a former lifestyle to name the other.
Curt
Events
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