I am trying to write a novel; but my problem is that I can’t think of any good character names (the name I always use in English class is Bob, no clue why). I don’t understand how some people do it! Is there a website anyone can give me (I already have the Fantasy Name Generator) or some hints on how to come up with a good character name? Please note that I’m trying to figure out names that aren’t really used on Earth, i.e. science fiction, names like Wedge Antilles, Tycho Celchu, Fliry Vorru, etc…where do the authors out among the Teeming Millions get ideas?
"No job’s too small, we bomb them all."
-Ace Wrecking Company
I risk losing my SF writer’s permit, but here goes. Just take any old normal name and spell it backwards. Jason becomes Nosaj, Malcom becomes Moclam. Linda becomes Adnil. Bob becomes…well, you get the idea.
I hope this method serves you well. Harlan Ellison is likely to have my legs broke for revealing this tightly guarded secret.
Get yourself a good atlas. Bangui, Lusaka, Praia, Accra. And those are just major cities in Africa. Tons of other great, exotic-sounding names have been made up already, you just need to steal them creatively…
Dr. Fidelius, Charlatan
Associate Curator Anomalous Paleontology, Miskatonic University
Homo vult decipi; decipiatur
I get name ideas all over the place. Some places to try:
A baby name book, especially one for names uncommon in the US. If you can only get hold of one with common names, try looking for names that seem “almost right” and altering them to look and sound more alien. Especially good are books that also list meanings, because then as you flip through you can scan the meanings for something that fits the character and checking the corresponding name.
Atlases, or something with geographical names. Some cities and towns have names that would work wonderfully.
Typos. Seriously. 99 times out of a hundred, they’re useless or neutral, but that last time in the hundred will give you a great name.
Okay, that was fun, but I’m stopping now. I’ve already taken over a half hour to write this post and I’m not going through all 200,00 Web pages that Alta Vista found, especially since none of the last three pages looked useful.
I just listed you all in a file that will be added to the story i am typing; though it will probably never see the light of the day, it has my thanks in there. =)
"No job’s too small, we bomb them all."
-Ace Wrecking Company
I just listed you all in a file that will be added to the story I am typing; though it will probably never see the light of the day, it has my thanks in there. =)
"No job’s too small, we bomb them all."
-Ace Wrecking Company
Since I do write (and publish) SF stories, let me chime in.
I often use a book 3000 UNCOMMON NAMES FOR BABY, which is a wealth of off-beat names (though there are plenty of times it hasn’t worked for me).
Mix up the letters of a word that has some meaning to you and fits the story. (Don’t just reverse them; someone’s bound to try spelling them backwards and it’ll give everything away.)
Apply Grimm’s law of phonetic change. In one case I changed “Bill” to “Pyr” by this method.
Let your typoes work for you. One name came about with starting with “Feb” for “February” and adding “-rin.” I misstyped it as Fedrin and liked what I saw.
Find an obscure name from an old novel. The main character in my first novel was named after someone in the murder mystery MALACE AFORETHOUGHT. It sounded futuristic, though.
Know the implications of sounds. G, K, P sound rough while L and vowels sound smooth. Korpik isn’t the name of someone you’d particularly trust. Loorina sounds much nicer.
Unfamiliar female names seem to work better if they end in vowels. Don’t know why.
I think ancient languages like Latin or greek are your best bet because they carry that certain feel about them. A latin word meaning bad news (mal edict) becomes a great name right away (Maledicta). Our language is derived from these languages, and therefore these names carry subtle meanings.
If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.
I would suggest Greek and Roman mythology. Alter them a bit, and mix in the right amount of Latin and Greek root words to carry a sybolistic meaning. Names that just look cool are fine in cartoons, but Sci Fi fans are smart and want a name that may inspire some obscure reference. The older the better, and Latin and Greek are nice because our language is filled with them, the common reader will recognize and be familiar with the sounds, but may not be able to place the exact meaning.