Now, I know there are about a thousand baby-naming websites out there. In fact, while I’m at it, I have to mention Baby Name Voyager. This is my favorite baby name website because it tells you the popularity of names over time. For instance, Mary was a super popular name for babies in the 1920s. It’s much less common now. Writing a character born in the 1950’s? The name Taresa saw a huge jump in popularity around then. (My husband and I wasted hours on that site while trying to name our kids.)
While the baby naming websites are not to be overlooked, the Scrivener name generator should definitely be on your radar as well.
What I like about it:
- You can choose the name’s heritage
- There’s an option to include “Literary” names (book nerds rejoice)
- You can set it to produce simple names, or really elaborate ones
- It will play with alliteration if you tell it to
Find the Scrivener Name Generator
Go to Edit -> Writing Tools -> Name Generator.
Just click your way through and have a little fun playing around with the settings.
My next book has a Spanish character and I love long Spanish names. They sound so regal.
Here’s a few from the list generated by Scrivener:
Xènia Matilde Àngela Bardera
Helena Xènia Llúcia Mountain
Blanca Marina Sara Harpoon
Matilde Helena Isona Virago
Sara Alba Isona Homs
Violeta Sara Alba Mate
I’m pretty creative, but there’s no way I would have come up with Matilde Helena Isona Virago on my own. That’s a great name.
Do Your Due Diligence
Whatever name you land on, please, please take a moment to google it and just make sure it doesn’t have any associations you’re unaware of. You really don’t want a kindly old hotel proprietor named Henry Holmes (unless of course you’re writing horror, in which case, the nod to history is kind of cool).
My character has a very common name, and I feel I need to change it. It’s not in the title, but it appears a lot in chapters. There are a lot of other exotic names in the book, she has the only common one. As the main character, should it be common or special?
I’m having a hard time with my character because, even though I love her name, I’ve seen it so many times this last past weeks that I’m thinking about changing it because I don’t want it to be repetitive.
I need new ideas and maybe the name generator will provide the name that I need.
(Although I’m thinking about naming her Penelope. What do you think??)
I love the Penelope. That’s a tough one. Is the name in the title? I recently changed my title because it had my main character’s name in it and I felt like I was seeing it everywhere. But I kept her name, because I love it. I say go with your gut.
I did not know this! Great found! Thanks for sharing!
No problem. I keep finding cool things that I didn’t know about Scrivener. It’s fun. Happy writing!
Thanks! 🙂
Any time!
I was using the website Behind the Name until I found Scribeners name generator around Christmas. I love it!
Another great resource. Thanks!
How do you name your characters?
In my current novel I named one of them after a fish: The Jack Dempsey. I picked Dempsey. It sounded cool.
The lead character is named Gibson in honor of my favorite teen comedy (vintage 1984) The Sure Thing. John Cusack played Walter ‘Gib’ Gibson.
The lead female is Gail. It’s a nice name and I knew some nice people with that name.
Naming a character is a story onto itself. I cannot give a character a name if it gives me a bad memory. I’ve tried that once and I ended up with a negative character. That’s a bad thing when they are suppose to be the hero.
It’s really hard. It’s not unlike naming actual people. There’s this weight of responsibility, and yes, memories attached to any given name can totally sour an otherwise great name. The main character in my current project is named Tallulah – frankly because I wanted to name my daughter that and my husband wasn’t going for it.
I often find that naming a character after someone in real life who evokes an emotion can be really handy. For instance, there was this girl Colleen who use to beat me up in seventh grade, so any time I need a really bully of a girl, that name helps me evoke all the right memories. I named the grandmother in my current story Helen, after my own grandma, who was so dear to me.
Funny you should mention Helen. That was my grandmother’s name and like you, she was dear to me as well. I like the reason for naming your character Tallulah. That name now has a second life in your world. Bully’s are another great source. I too remember a kid from years back and have used his name as well. It makes the character development easier when a name has a history to the writer.
Recently I was struggling over a name when a song came on the radio. The song was called Iris by the Goo-Goo Dolls. I convinced myself that was a sign and it went from there.