The Task of Naming
Naming characters in a story can be daunting. There are so many names to choose from! There are plenty of blog posts out there about naming fictional characters. Many people use baby naming sites where you can search by nationality or name meaning. Below are a few of the more unique ways that I have named characters.
Real Life - Okay, so this one isn't so unique, but I've named characters after real people. It's a great way to honor someone. One character in my novel-in-progress is named after a student who was one of the first to be supportive of my writing. She was a big reason I changed the ending to one of my novels and made it so much better. I've also named a bully character after my real life nemesis from fourth grade. So, be careful not to get on my bad side...not that I hold grudges.
Sound-Alikes - One way I've masked the identity of real life people who inspired my characters is by choosing names that have the same sound or same feeling. "Billy" became "Bobby" and "James" became "Jake." A couple of times, the real life person's last name became the inspiration for the first name of the character.
Famous People - The love interest in my novel-in-progress got his name from a famous person. I took the name of...ahem...someone I knew in high school, searched for famous people with that name, then took the famous person's last name and gave it to the character. Sounds like more of a process than it actually was. This one is my favorite method.
Translate - I've taken the role a person plays in the story and translated the word into another language. For instance, "villain" in Czech is "darebak" which became the last name of an evil character in my latest novel. JK Rowling famously used Latin roots for many of the names and spells in Harry Potter. There's also Darth Vader. Spoiler alert! Vader=Father.
Real Life - Okay, so this one isn't so unique, but I've named characters after real people. It's a great way to honor someone. One character in my novel-in-progress is named after a student who was one of the first to be supportive of my writing. She was a big reason I changed the ending to one of my novels and made it so much better. I've also named a bully character after my real life nemesis from fourth grade. So, be careful not to get on my bad side...not that I hold grudges.
Sound-Alikes - One way I've masked the identity of real life people who inspired my characters is by choosing names that have the same sound or same feeling. "Billy" became "Bobby" and "James" became "Jake." A couple of times, the real life person's last name became the inspiration for the first name of the character.
Famous People - The love interest in my novel-in-progress got his name from a famous person. I took the name of...ahem...someone I knew in high school, searched for famous people with that name, then took the famous person's last name and gave it to the character. Sounds like more of a process than it actually was. This one is my favorite method.
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