Your Favourite Character Names

[Xyluss]

I like the names Amylisse (prnounces Amuhleese) for a female (no last name yet)
And Lanis Mars for my male character.
Tregard (Trehgerd) is another i like for male
and maybe Krad for maybe a bad character
im not good at coming up great with names

[LilyLunaPotter]

I like strange names, names you dont find everywhere. Like "Sirius" "Remus" "Albus" "Septuimus" But i also like really pretty names "Ginny" "Lily" "Luna" "Sarah" in one of my stories my two main characters are; twins, "Jessi" and "Kessi". and then there's a whole slew of names i just love! "Nick" "Johnny" "Kaye" "Irial" etc etc.

[Morning_Star]

Originally Posted by LilyLunaPotter

I like strange names, names you dont find everywhere.

Uncommon and/or a bit strange names is my favourites. It would be a bit boring if every story had the same character names. But sometimes I use common names just for the change!

[Marina]

Originally Posted by DancingMaenid

I think names should ideally fit the characters and story. Fantasy and science fiction writers often have a lot of leeway when it comes to names because, if they've created their own world, who's to say that more unusual (or even made-up) names aren't common there? Even in more mainstream stories, sometimes I like to choose slightly uncommon names.

The guidelines I use for naming:

* Should be appropriate for the setting of the story.
* Should work well for the particular character.
* Ideally, I also try to have names that can be pronounced fairly well, but I'm kind of flexible on this. I couldn't pronounce "Hermione" when I first read Harry Potter at the age of 11, but I think that's a good name for her.

I'm better now, but when I was younger, whenever I would start a new story, a lot of times I'd used the same names. For a while, all my main male characters were named Eugene. :P

My guidelines are quite similiar to yours; I find that some names fit a certain character whilst others do not. To me, for example, Caleb feels like it fits a character who is mature, quiet, but has strength in him. On the other hand, Thomas seems to fit either someone who is more serious and Percy-like, or, on the other extreme, someone who has a sense of humour and is overly outgoing.

I also try and fit it to their era they're living in (I tend to go for history), and also, perhaps their ethnicity as well. For example, my character, Thomas Seamus Eames is Irish, and both his middle and last names reflect that. Speaking of Irish names, Seamus is definitely one of my favourite names. I was going to add 'Patrick' to his middle name as well, but thought that it was Irish enough already.

My names also tend to be as authentic as possible for those from other countries like Asia and Africa (like I'd ever written anything yet set in Asian/African history!). If it's the USA, I tend to choose any name that pops into my head like Jasmine or Sarah. Jasmine's another of my favourite names: it has the feeling of one who means well, has a kind heart, but sometimes might not understand where someone is trying to come from.

Am I the only one who feels it uncomfortable to use the same names of good friends they know as the names of their characters? For example, I'd never name a character, say, Anna or Miriam because I have close friends by those names. Perhaps a middle name is okay, but first name is, for me, out of bounds.

[Morning_Star]

Originally Posted by Marina

Am I the only one who feels it uncomfortable to use the same names of good friends they know as the names of their characters? For example, I'd never name a character, say, Anna or Miriam because I have close friends by those names. Perhaps a middle name is okay, but first name is, for me, out of bounds.

It depends on which kind of story I write. I wrote a short-story once, where I used two of my best friends's names. I was the main character, and the story was told by me. As I didn't give any description of the characters (a short-story should have only those details that are important to the plot), it didn't matter if the people who read the story (that is, me, my teacher and my four best friends) knew the names of the characters. And it was my two friends that, when I asked them if they had any good name-ideas, came up with their own names and mine.
They didn't like the fact that they died, though... I told them I had had the plot ready, and wouldn't change it just because they wanted me to.

[lollipop]

My favorites include:
Hurkley
Oss
Desiree Hogsnout

Not quite sure of namin them after friends, only the good people though, imagine naming the evil characters after your best friends, that wouldn't work!

[Quinn]

The characters I've been using in my books all have very ordinary names, all of which I have RPed either in the past or are RPing right now. The characters I have in my first book include:
Jack Wilksinon - 23 (he is the main character in my first book)
Moira Grant-Thompson - 23
Adele Vasser - 22
Andrew Jackson - 23
Taja - 10 (she is a girl from India who is helping Jack)
'Bapu' - age unknown (he is the important man from India that Jack has to help)
Penelope Wake - 30 (she is Jack's cousin. The last time Jack saw her, she was 17)

[Lily_L_Potter]

Well, currently, I'm only working on one non Harry Potter related story. There are two main families:
The Stevens:
Dad--Peter
Oldest Son-- Aaron
Youngest Son/Middle child-- Andrew
Only Girl and Youngest-- Alexa

The Andersons--
Mom-- Rosiland
Oldest Son-- Mitchell
Youngest Son/Middle child-- Michael
Only Girl and Youngest-- Meagan

[LilyLunaPotter]

For the stories im writing so far:

Story A-
Main character- Mariah
Others:
Peter- Her "father"
Lei-Her best friend
Emily- Her other best friend
Adam- A suitor
Lucy- Annoying lady
Henry- Her dad
Ani-Her mom
Prince- nameless

Story B
Main Character- Lily
Rose- Her younger sister
Matthew-Her youngest brother
Tyson-Her younger brother
Benjimen/Ben-Her other younger brother
Annie-Her mom
Peter-Her dad
Edward- Her dad's friend
Thomas-Her dad's friend
Alexander- Other main character.

Story C
Casey Smith- main character
Lily Smith- Her 7-year old sister
Luke Smith- Lily's twin brother, and Casey's 7-year old brother(duh)
Vickie Smith- Casey's mom
Jaden Smith- Casey's dad
Samantha (Sammy/Sam)- Casey's best friend
Allison Brown- Evil popular chick. Queen of the school. Hates Casey and Sam
Adrian Gold- Foregin exchange student.....
Rose Gold- Adrain's younger sister, Lily and Luke's new friend



And now Im trying to think of a 1700's name for a girl....

[merzi]

Well, the story I'm actually writing has not title but takes place in a sort of magical world.
The main are:
Allan James Carter
Christopher John Evans
Lunette Evanna Lukman

I thinks just Lunette has a weird name but they come from the real modern day!

Let's continue:
The Langleys (guardian family) are:
Noahela (Noah)
Anna
Derek
Trisha

I'm working in the rest, but I have these weird names for this story I'm not sure to make:
The Rowe Siblings:
Zephyr (she's a GIRL)
Einar
Nilsen

The Fantasy and Hazard Sleuth Series are other thing:
Megan Dawson
Jason Rowell
Samuel Gunther
Lily Bradley

The New Fantasy Sleuth Team:
Zoe Dawson
Zeth Evans
Izabelle (Izzy) Rivers
Zack Levins


My old friend wrote stories with really weird names outta this world and took place in the modern days...now that's weird

Originally Posted by lollipop

My favorites include:
Hurkley
Oss
Desiree Hogsnout

Not quite sure of namin them after friends, only the good people though, imagine naming the evil characters after your best friends, that wouldn't work!

I named an evil character from a story called Dear Diary...
Jessica Lee in honor to my worst enemy since second grade
although that was the last year I saw her.

[Vig]

I love character names that lend something to the plot but that's not always the case. I have loved many common names, not for the name itself but how they fit seamlessly with the plot.

I love 'Florentyna Rosnovski-Kane' from Prodigal Daughter by Jeffrey Archer.

[PureBloodGirl]

I love using exotic and extremely non-popular names. Like names that no one has ever heard before. I also like using names that mean something. I've started to go to a English to Latin dictionary online for my names now. I think of a character that I want to write, think of a word that would describe her or just fits in with the story and have the dictionary translate it Latin. If the word sounds okay and could be used as a name, then it becomes my character's name.

I'm also in love with using the name Lily or Lillian. Don't know why... I've already named three of my characters in three separate stories Lily. Without really thinking, too. *headdesk* I need to be more original.

[dswendigo]

I'm starting a book that I have been planning for a long time, and my character names were chosen with both inspiration and care. Note they are Russian apart from one German one.

Konstantin Sarev (the protagonist and my fav character name)
Alexander Payari
Nicholas Payari
Andrey Payari
Viktor Polzin
Natalie Polzin
Edward Polzin
Anton Gass
Voddy (Dmitri) Ivanov
Oskar Budny
Karl Budny
Jasper and Kasper (twins)
Mikhail Krapin
and many more....

For me, choosing character names is fantastic. I love it!

[bellatrix93]

I certainly like unusual names, the stranger the name of a character is the more I get intrigued by the character. Giving characters, good and appropriate names, attracts the reader, to of me it was the reasons I liked many characters from different books, Artemis Fowl fro instance was a book I'd have never dreamed about reading, for all I knew it was a children's book, and had a boy who was named after a Greek Goddess, anyways, I decided to give it a go, and when I reached the third cool I was impressed when Artemis explained how he got named after that Goddess, saying that she was the archery's Goddess, and he was named after her because of his ability to hunt his enemies down.
When I try to name my characters, I usually give them names of thing and people who have significance in my life. My first character ever was named Crystal, and some people taunted her and called her Crasy (i.e crazy, but really she was intelligent ).

[houseelf25]

i have an entire list of names that i like, but i still keep with certain names. i tend to go for more "normal" sounding names, cause my characters tend to be very average. and my weird characters i tend to give average names so they're kind of the opposite of what you'd expect.
currently i'm working on a story (you can read the first drafts of the first 10 chapters or so in my LJ http://britreads4fun.livejournal.com) where there are several american characters and several international characters. i think i focused more on the names for the international characters than the amercians. for example:

Emma Marshall-Main Character/narrator
Anne Marshall-Her mother
Abby Brown-Pregnant College Student
Gunter Krause-German Traveller (oh, if you do read the story, PLEASE let me know what you think of his accent)
Jesse Long-Stage name of yet to be real-named Asian-American rocker guy (any ideas? the baby names site didn't really help...)
Alan Forrester-recently divorced father
Penelope (Penny) Forrester-His 7 year old daughter
Alyson (Aly) Forrester-His 6 year old daughter


The story's about the people in a boarding house that Anne and Emma just opened, fyi. These are the characters that have come up so far...i have a few more planned but they might change.

[luvlunalovegood]

I like to choose character names base don their locations. For instance

Fantasy worlds use more creative, unusual names:
FEMALE Sensai, Jadis, Eratina, Mauvis, Glycera, Vuola, Cianna, Receletta, Karris, Emangeline, Horitia, Fiorelina
MALE Olivski, Sontier, Jargosque, Shinon, Anec, Evan, Lozenger, Dushan

Real-life characters have more common names
FEMALE Nancy, Anna, Ellen, Casey, Donna, Bridget, Samantha
MALE Riley, Joshua, Steven, Raymond, Darren, Johnny, Felix, Keith

[EmmyRocks]

Zelda!

[Haplo_]

Lupinsangel: I think it's good that you use the names you want your characters to have. I like it when characters have a little odd names that aren't so normal. My username here "Haplo" Is a name from a book that doesn't have normal name and i like it very much. I'd rather read about Carita and Helios than about Sarah and Bob.

A name I like to have in my stories is Balthazar. I don't know why but I just like it very much.

[Love4Luna]

I suppose a few of those names are a bit out there, but its your story (not your friends'), so do whatever you want.

[Tonks_Animagus]

Hmm... I think that Lily is just awesome.