Reply With QuoteI spend forever looking at the picture (Or description) of my character trying to think of the right name.
"That which we call a Rose. By any other name would smell as sweet."
This line, this beautiful line, tells us that a name is not important. It is not who we are that matters, but what we are. Yet when I start a RP or a Story, for that matter, I find myself obsessing over names for my characters. To me a name defines us. Not exactly in a definite way, but a name gives life to the character. At least that's how I feel.
What is your opinion on naming a character?
On a Final Note, do you have favorite names?
Last edited by Bela; 02-05-2012 at 10:47 PM.
I spend forever looking at the picture (Or description) of my character trying to think of the right name.
Guide l Contests l Suggestions/Problems l Ask a ComradeOriginally Posted by Sophistikit
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You know, I also really like Shiloh.
Names I tend to use a lot
-Things from Shakespeare
-Things from 120 Days of Sodom
-Things from other "classics" I've read, like Crime and Punishment or A Clockwork Orange. The only time I take my character's personality into account is when I'm referencing something. You can bet if I'm naming someone Alex he (or she) is going to be a rebellious transgressor, if I've got a Roman or Rodian he'll be a well-intentioned egomaniac, if I've got an Edmund he'll probably be a manipulative bastard (who may or may not know his father, incidentally).
When it's not a reference though, I usually only take into account:
-Nationality
-What the parents are like. Conservative? Eccentric? Adventurous?
And I go from there.
Names I especially like and tend to use a lot:
-Derivatives of Alex (for both genders)
-Derivatives of Elizabeth
-Derivatives of Catherine
In fact, the character I've put the most thought into on here has derivatives of both Elizabeth and Catherine in her name.
Hey guys, if you like my dry, sarcastic wit, y'know what might be a good use of three bucks? Buy my book.
I don't really care much about the name specifically. I mean it's a forefront kinda thing, so it's not like it isn't important -- but I don't typically obsess about it. I want a name that isn't brutal to type or look at, or say... Two syllables usually is better than three, one is kinda weak but I'll do it from time to time. Action-hero names should start with J if you're going over the top (James Bond, Jack Bauer, Jesse Ventura, Jack Sparrow, Jasmine, Jennifer Garner, Angelina Jolie, etc.), but if you want him/her to have a soft side, avoid the J.
Onomatopoeia matters more than anything else for me.... I'm not gonna call a guy Brock if he's supposed to be a poet, and I'm not gonna name my gunslinger Leslie unless deviating from the norm works in my favor.
The one guy whose name I spent a long, long time working on was a character in my first novel "Richmonde." "Rich" has the obvious connotation, but "Richmond" wasn't ostentatious enough. Saying "Richmonde," you have to emphasize BOTH syllables, which is exactly how this guy would want it.
Names are important to me when developing characters. I like to use names that mean something.
I often look up the meanings behind names, and then compare them to my characters personality before choosing.
Respect of a Galaxy: A Nation Roleplay
Will Humanity survive the last great frontier; space?
Status: Starting out in the IC. Still accepting.
Plan of action;
- google a naming site
- enter random trait in search function
- go wild
That's one half of how I usually do it. I typically care about the origin and sound of the name more than it's meaning. Alternatively I pick a random name I want to use while writing up the profile.
Place-names get a lot more attention. I like naming places, so take a lot of care in figuring out a universal language and style. While usually they don't mean anything because I just think "This has to sound Italian." and all I do is make it sound Italian, upon creating more places there'll be similarities, indicating they were named by the same group of people.
The above paragraph is relevant because it's also how I create fantasy-names. Y'know, nobody would really name their kids Legolas (don't google that) so instead we disfigure the roots of the language used by the GM, or create one of our own base, and run from there.
I never really got into naming characters all that much and usually just go to a random name generator to find one that I think is fitting. The only time I ever really put a lot of thought into it was when my character was Japanese since I felt it made it feel more authentic.
All credit for this awesome set goes to Lillian Thorne!
I break down syllables for names in various languages then program them into a generator (like www.rinkworks.com/namegen) that allows for programmable variables. Then I let the name generator take these various prefixes and suffixes and spit them out in combination.
You often can get the sound of a culture's naming practices, convey the sense of what sort of root the name has, without using a name that shows up in literature somewhere...or sometimes you get matches for famous names.
I have a few favorite "real" names that exist in different cultures, but I suppose I tend to lean toward the Anglo-Saxon or Italian in my favorite names. Or maybe even some of the French ones. Women's names? Greek, as often as not, tend to be my favorites.
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"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."
- Bertrand Russell
behindthename.com is my life saver. :P
I've never felt that names are unimportant since, obviously, I and any reading about that character are going to be seeing their name a lot, but I've also never thought that it required extensive pondering and philosophical debate. A name's a name. That being said, I do like to keep from mixing nationalities, or languages. And if one language spells a name differently than another language I'd look into that, if it has relevence. Or if I know the char's last name (or their first) but not the first (or the last), I might try to find one that would give the full name a nice ring to it, or, conversely, one that would make it sound funny. Then, of course, if I want to make a character pretentious and noble, I might give them several middle names.
Generally though, I find that it's more a matter of my own tastes, and how much time I spend thinking of a character with a certain name that ends up naming them. Like, I ended up naming someone Guy just because they didn't have a name at first while I was making them so I called them 'that guy', then shortened it to 'guy' and it stuck. :P
I really like older names, or maybe biblical names and their different spellings. And sometimes it's how the name is spelled that makes me like it or not. Like Nathan-Nathaniel, Raphael, Matthew (I like just about any variation on this one, Matthieu, Matteo), Luke, Tomas (but only for just the right person would I spell it Thomas), Aidan-Aiden. That sort of thing.
Girl names are harder cuz I don't have as many girl chars. lol But I like them simple. Or at least, with simple shortenings. Like Margaret to Meg.
Personally, I think names are only somewhat important. Personality definitely drives the car, and the name is definitely just the license plate of the vehicle. A method to recognize something as an individual; and thus why we place so much importance on the topic. It's our own "marker," something we all use to let people know "__________" was here or that "__________" did this.
However, philosophy aside, I really like to take time on my names. I enjoy placing some kind of symbolism in them, so that someone else who knows what I am referencing can look at it and go "huh, that makes so much sense..." or "ohmygawsh I totally didn't see that before!gnleirfna.wenflkrbgsejgjoy"
Just one of the many nuances of writing ^_^
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