Character names are often the source of writerly stress; for new writers for sure, but even more seasoned authors can get stuck on what to call the people they are creating. Much like the naming of cats, christening your story folk is a difficult matter. The easiest method is to get the character to tell you their name, but sometimes they are very shy. And the writer feels they need to know the name from the start. This guide shares some parameters to convince the characters to share their moniker, and, if they won’t, find an effective name for them on your own.
Embrace the Placeholder Name
Eventually you’ll have to call the main character something other than “MC,” but to start out, MC isn’t bad. Or Love Interest. Protagonist. This placeholder name could be their role in the story or even a physical or personality feature that seems important. The Nosy Neighbor. The Beautiful Checkout Clerk. Especially if you’re a pantser (someone who writes to find out what will happen, following the story thread), this method might be just fine for you. As the story enfolds and you get to know each other, the character may whisper their name. Or another character will let it slip. Now you’ve got them!
Don’t Fall in Love With The Name
Some names might always pop into your head—Michael, Maria, Kofi, etc.—and that’s enough to get you rolling. You can give your character any name, knowing that it likely will not be the final version.
Or, the character may insist on a particular name, but you can foresee some future issues with it. You can humor that character along for a bit and find out more about them and the story, then work on the best name ever later. For example, a television show character inspired my concept for Runa, the main character in my book Wolfhearted. But I felt this TV name would be too recognizable to ultimately use in the book, although I did call her that for several drafts. It got me moving on with the important bit, which was working out the plot and relationships among the characters. (Paolo was always Paolo, so at least I had that anchor.)
Plausible Names
It’s easy for a name to turn out to be anachronistic. The writer needs to think about the common names of the book’s historical period, as well as the character’s socio-economic class, culture, family heritage, etc. In a fantasy story, a mass of consonants may seem like an easy way to create a name but think about the made-up language this name implies. Can you a choose a language or create a fictional one for this fantasy world culture and derive names from it? Or look at your world building. What heroes, rulers, or deities would this culture revere and honor in the naming of their children?
Practical Names
No matter how perfect a name you and your character come up with, it must work in the story. Characters with similar sounding names will be conflated by the reader. If a character is called by a given name, a nickname, a surname, and an honorific, all in the same story, it might be confusing for the reader. The writer will need to work hard to always make it clear who the story people are talking about. My character, Taylor Humphrey, in The Big Cinch, once upon a time had a hereditary title. (Which I don’t even remember now.) But, as you know, that wouldn’t have been stated as “Lord Humphrey,” but rather, Taylor Humphrey, Lord Something-or-other. I recognized I had a naming problem, and the easiest solution was to make him a commoner.
Name Tools
The internet is full of wonderful tools, from lists of the most popular baby names in 1920 to names inspired by heritages and cultures. There are even random fantasy name generators. Construct a search query and see what you come up with! Historical figures and geographic place names can inspire character names, as well.
The Unforeseen
Unexpected stuff happens with all aspects of a book, including character names. In my current novel draft, I have a character named Pearl. However, I just wrote a short story in the same story universe with a Pearl, a completely different person than the novel. Will this be confusing? Who knows, but I think novel draft Pearl is getting a new name.
When I was drafting The Big Cinch twelve years ago, I certainly didn’t imagine a female pop mega star would have the same first name as a gentleman in my novel. Such is life and the difficult matter of naming characters.
If you found Character Names: A Guide interesting, you might enjoy reading about Character Terms, Character Creation, and Character Creation Tools.
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