Hi, welcome to my minor breakdown over names lol.
Basically, I'm struggling to pick a name for one of my characters so to make myself feel better I wanna know if anyone else obsesses over names as much as I do or what problems you guys might have while naming all your lovely characters. Bonus points if it's a weird problem.
For example, I always find the perfect name for a character and then realize it's been used in a popular film/book/show already and immediately start doubting that name.
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when I name my characters I always google the word even if it's something like "Abnermgheinsteinstausus" because what if this word is a name of an existing company or a mass murderer or this word means "booty" in a forgotten dialect? I don't want to name my character Booty Smith and I don't want my character to be associated with a criminal, so I google and check evey site that pops up because I have to know
and then after some time I do it a g a i n because what if someone already took this name to their character and if I give this name to mine I'll be accused of theft and no one will ever want to read my book? and I think "what if what if what if" and it never ends
I feel like the only writer who doesn't really put much thought into my character names. I just find something that sounds nice and if it fits, it fits. Sure I may end up accidentally giving my character the same name as a serial killer, or something in a dead language but realistically, how many people are going to know?
I don't even look into name meanings, which I feel is something that a lot of people do. If I spent time trying to find a name that perfectly describes my character most of my characters wouldn't have names, or might have names that don't fit their nationality. Sometimes I end up with names that are like… the opposite of who my character is but I'm not gonna lie, I find it kind of funny.
I feel like the only writer who doesn't really put much thought into my character names. I just find something that sounds nice and if it fits, it fits. Sure I may end up accidentally giving my character the same name as a serial killer, or something in a dead language but realistically, how many people are going to know?
I don't even look into name meanings, which I feel is something that a lot of people do. If I spent time trying to find a name that perfectly describes my character most of my characters wouldn't have names, or might have names that don't fit their nationality. Sometimes I end up with names that are like… the opposite of who my character is but I'm not gonna lie, I find it kind of funny.
Oh my god, I wish I could do that! I'm way too fussy with character names. I'm guilty of obsessing over name meanings…you could probably guess a lot about my characters just from their name. It's a problem lol.
when I name my characters I always google the word even if it's something like "Abnermgheinsteinstausus" because what if this word is a name of an existing company or a mass murderer or this word means "booty" in a forgotten dialect? I don't want to name my character Booty Smith and I don't want my character to be associated with a criminal, so I google and check evey site that pops up because I have to know
and then after some time I do it a g a i n because what if someone already took this name to their character and if I give this name to mine I'll be accused of theft and no one will ever want to read my book? and I think "what if what if what if" and it never ends
'Booty Smith' Glorious name. 10/10.
I always get scared of being accused of theft as well :(((
I think it's good to check that the name hasn't been used before by somebody else who's famous (or notorious) and we just happened to miss it. One time, I accidentally stole the first name and profession of a character by an author that I admire and read a lot of, I just managed to…honestly, forget the first name and profession of a character in one of his many books, that I can't claim to have not known because I actually read those all. So I'll do my best to reduce the risk of that happening again.
Most of the time, though, I blame the fictional parents. It's not Me, Source of All Destinies, bestowing The Name upon This Hero… it's this parent or guardian character who I imagine watched Bedknobs and Broomsticks one time and thought Eglantine was a beautiful name, or decided to name this baby after deadbeat rock star uncle Guy not knowing that the namesake would grow up to really dislike their namegiver. It's their fault, not mine! The character mustn't blame me for being called Eggy all their life!
Seriously though I think I also just really like the idea of having been given a name the character dislikes and so later on they determine to choose what others call them.
I feel like the only writer who doesn't really put much thought into my character names. I just find something that sounds nice and if it fits, it fits. Sure I may end up accidentally giving my character the same name as a serial killer, or something in a dead language but realistically, how many people are going to know?
I don't even look into name meanings, which I feel is something that a lot of people do. If I spent time trying to find a name that perfectly describes my character most of my characters wouldn't have names, or might have names that don't fit their nationality. Sometimes I end up with names that are like… the opposite of who my character is but I'm not gonna lie, I find it kind of funny.
Same! Though I do sometimes see if the name of one of my characters isn't the same as an actual person and change it afterwards.
I too obsess over names. I actually use google translate but pick obscure languages. Sometimes I use popular baby names from…like… 1890 census. Depends on the character and who I want them to be. I also like fantasynamegenerators.com, but usually change the spelling to something phonetical. I've got a couple of character from a not fully developed plot named Miss Isis Ippy, Gnu Hampshire, and Minnie Sota.
Miss Isis Ippy, Gnu Hampshire, and Minnie Sota.
I see what's going on here! 🤣
My MC used to be named Yamatsukami until I pulled my middle-school nostalgia glasses off and realized "Wait a minute, why would a character born in the equivalent of the Saudi Arabian mountains have a Japanese name?!"
He is now Sulaiman, the half-dragon.
