how do you decide what to name your characters?

names hold so much significance in the worlds we're creating. for my first novel, i knew i wanted to call the main character 'star' (which then became nova). from that, i decided on luna and sol for the next two novels to keep with the celestial theme. for other fairies, i searched for names that meant specific words in any of the celtic languages (since i'm drawing on celtic mythology for these novels). if they're a forest born fairy, i chose words that meant wood or tree or green. for river fairies, it was water or shore. for the humans or half-fairies, it turned out just to be names that i liked.

so how do you decide? do you search for names with specific meanings or just choose names you like?

At first I chose names based off of what I thought would sound good for a character, but then I began to look into name meanings. Usually my names aren't exactly perfect for a character, but they are close. For example, one of my characters is named Ashlynn, which means dream. Her dreams end up being an important part of my story. So for me, it's kind of a combination.

I usually use the site "behind the name" to randomly generate some names from certain backgrounds. then I stick with something I like (usually just a piece of the randomly generated name) and look up it's meaning. If it doesn't have the meaning I want, then I go back to the generator. Eventually, I've built up a solid sounding name that has the perfect meaning for my character. My most recent universe is called "The Crown Universe". My character is subject to a sort of prophecy, so I ended up with the name "Simone Adebowale", which means "she has heard" and "the crown has come home". So that's my technique.

I pick a random name, thinking that it is the perfect name, and then rename him or her three to four times until it finally feels perfect. It took me five years until I finally had the right name for my mean character. not the most efficient technique I guess

I used Latin (google translate) for many of my names. My world is set in a fantasy universe so the names are suited. The evil queen is named Marmoria

for me, its whatever the characters personality will be then I just find names that mean this or that and I mash two of them together.

I usually generate names that fit the character's background or gender until I have a decent size list that I like, then run the ones I like best by a friend. It doesn't always work out the way I want it too, i.e. Both of us liking a name, but it does help a lot to talk it over.

Unless I have a name that I absolutely must use for a character (like Évariste Lavath ^^; ).

I look into name meanings to find names for my characters. For instance, one of my characters, Paisley, is really supportive and people can go to her and have someone who is judge-free to talk to. It works out because in some languages, 'Paisley' means church or sanctuary.

For me I have some names that I like more than others. Usually some name fits better. (For example, in my head, Georgina and Violet could be completely different people) You should go onto a website for naming babies and pick out a name there.

I decide how to name my characters by their appearance usually. For example, I have a book about a wolf pack, and a new wolf was found and Alpha named her Blue Moon, for her striking blue eyes. In another story I wrote, Sky, a simple name that I randomly decided on, ran away from her abusive father and decided to change who she was. Within that decision, she decided to change her name. It was dark out, and the moon was shining brightly through the cloud, and it was then that she found her name; Moonbeam.

If you happen to be opting for more eccentric names, I find that Google translate can often be a huge help! Each of my stories usually has a certain place or culture it's based around, or even just a feel to it, which often helps me decided what language to try. From then, I usually just translate certain words that fit the character into one or more languages and try many many words until I find one that I can modify to fit. For instance, a last name of one of my supporting characters, Cantatia (pronounced can-tay-shuh) was a modification of a word translated to another language. Even random words and random languages can sometimes create names that fit! Even so, first attempts at names hardly ever stick

Well when I first started writing books, I'd always use names like Diana, or Lunaria, or some really pretty name that meant something in a different language. But then if you think about it, names like that sound kind of weird on your character. You can't have a normal girl named Destiny. You have to admit it sounds weird. It's better to stick with simple names. Search it up online, there are tons of rarely used but simple names that mean other things in different languages. It's okay to use a name like that once in a while for your characters or if you're writing a book on people whose names are given to them once they discover their true destiny or whatever. That's fine. But sticking with simple names makes your book a little more realistic. But that's just my opinion :)

Personally, if I have an idea for what the character's personality is like, I will search for names that reflect that. Otherwise, it's usually another aspect of the character, such as their favorite color, or even names that just sound nice to me.

I choose a lot of unique names for my characters. Names with an edge, like Ophelia, Atticus or East. Sometimes I choose celestial names, like Vega or Costello, but I also think it's important to balance some of those more daring names with simple ones. I'll have a Theodosia and then an Emma, or an Atlas with a Kate. That's just my opinion though.

Primarily I search for the name that feels right. To narrow my search for a name that simply clicks and feels like my character I determine what sort of things would have influenced how they were named in my story. For instance, one of my characters would have been named by his mother, his father having no input in the name, and as such I asked myself what sort of name would feel right to his mother. Her personality, the time period, and the feeling of status she desired to display resulted in him having a pretty unique and important/wealthy sounding name. I also like to make it mesh with the personality of my character unless I wish to make it a bit of a character point for them by making them ashamed/dislike their name.

Given names/first names, always are a bit easier for me to come up with than surnames since they really are dependent on the tastes of their parents or guardians. With surnames, I determine if I want them named after a region from which they hailed, an occupation some past member of their line had, etc.

For the surname especially I end up looking up words in other languages for inspiration, searching for something that sounds right and meshes with the general idea of their family history that I've dimly brainstormed.

For me depending on how I come up with my story plot and idea, the names from a baby book are picked depending on what seems the most fitting.My present story though I came up with in a dream, and in that dream the name of the character appeared, Oregano.

I use two methods (usually combined) one, think about their family. What names would the people naming them like ?are they particularly close to their heritage? And two, look for names everywhere and I mean everywhere. For me, my medical textbooks have a lot of examples with names, first and last. Maybe you'll see an ad or read something that has a name. Write down names you like.

Whenever I see cool names I write them down. Even if I just hear a word that sounds cool, or a combination that I like, I'll write it down and save it. I've started getting names from the credits every time I watch a movie, but playbills, textbooks, historical records, book acknowledgments, and even scientific classifications can also be really inspiring and a great place to look. I also like to dig name meanings to give another layer of depth to my characters.

For some of mine I took ideas from my friends Mincraft Usernames because you can make up a culture based off some of the more interesting usernames

You could use names of specific stars for the celestial names.
EX. Alula or Alya

I like to base my characters names off of their characteristics, or maybe if the name sounds cool. Also I like to look at the meaning of the name. For instance, one of my character's name is Eirwen, which means "snow" in welsh (I think, I'll need to double check myself). This fits PERFECTLY with her, since she is a snow elf.

It depends for me. Sometimes I create a character, and a certain name just jumps at me, and I can't ignore it, so BOOM that's their name. Sometimes I'll think of the characters traits and things like that and choose a name that has said meaning. And there's no going wrong with a good old generator

Usually when I come up with a character I just know what name I want to use for them. On the occasions which I don't have such a name, I use a name generator or I comb through baby name sites. I've only looked into finding names by meaning once or twice because I'm boring and I just like picking names that I think sound right. :)

Baby name sites, or I like to search up names with certain meanings. Or I create my own crazy name I guess.

I search for names with meaning, or ones that are common in the region they're in, but nowhere else