Names

Actually i don't find it that hard to come up with a title... well, i guess sometimes i go blank...

it takes me forever to come up with names at first, and i REALlY struggle with last names, because of it being way back in the 1100s-1500s. i've made little games to help me come up with funky names, but they dont always work. and i have taken words and spelled them backwards. EXAMPLE: Heaven turns into Nevaeh. i have also went to websites that have lists of names from way back when. they helped me get nice names. and i found websites with lists of surnames. Kiary is the main character in the series i am currently working on. Her name was originally Kiairy then Kiari and then i just went to Kiary. I have no idea how i got the name. i was just doodling in one of classes and i just wrote it. i also have the most trouble with male names. the list for them i have created is so much shorter then my females page.

I've only completed one novel, and I must admit finding names for all the characters did create a problem. I'd named the main players, but a lot of the smaller roles are a mixture of people's names from my family and past friends.

I absolutely love naming my characters, but it usually takes me a long time to find the "perfect" name, and make sure it hasn't been used before. I generally use www.behindthename.com, because it has a great database of names that you can search by meaning- and what a name means is very important to me. I'm glad to see that your guide mentions that site. I think the best name I've come up with so far is "Saira" (pronounced "sigh-ruh"). It's actually from Tolkien's Elven language.

I have heard of people using street names :-) This also may be an option!!

I let my characters name themselves. I'll start writing out a scene and use a blank or person a lol for the name. As I go on I'll start calling them something in my head and I'll run one that. I also do character sketches. I'll list everything I know in my mind about my characters then find them a name that fits. As for Orig names well I made up Ravette and a few others I'm not going to share due to theft issues.

I usually write my stories around my titles. The titles come first. The character names I usually take a baby name book and name my people according to their character traits and situations.

When I write I usally use my neices name or my best friends kid's names.

I actually have a book of names and a few websites with names I go to if I get stuck. Normally I can come up with the names on my own, after contemplating the character awhile. But sometimes, I just cant..that's when I go name searchin' and research'n lol. Hm..I've come up with Aislynne..a few others which Ithink aren't very well-used books-and-stories-wise. But that's probably the most original.

i have a hard time finding names for my female characters, i don't know why. But when it comes to my male characters, a name just pops into my mind, naturally. and i usually love their names. but when it comes to the females, i really have to push myself to think for a name that would fit the character.

Go to websites that list thousands of names. Pick two that you like and there you go. I hope that doesn't seem harsh, but I am working on a creative project and that's what I do. Plus, you could use street names or names of people from history. For example, "George Lincoln" or "Martin Luther Jackson" if you want your characters to have personality quirks like their namesakes.

I don't find it hard coming up with names.. usually I use my friend's names..

Oh, I used to write stories when I was a teenager. I really don't have a hard time coming up with names because we used to have a dictionary where I would just flip through and the first name that pops out, is the name that I use. I have a hard time coming up with surnames though.