An Easy Method for Naming Your Novel Characters
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- Опубликовано: 1 сен 2020
- The secret to naming your book characters is to make their names reflect who they are as people. Having characters in your book with names that help build their character and personality will make them more memorable for readers.
In this video I show you how I name the characters in my novels and stories, and show some examples from popular books of characters with great names!
Authors can hide a lot of meaning in a character's name. There's lots of depth to names like Albus Dumbledore, but there's also loads of meaning to names like Jon Snow.
If you want your character names to be more than just generic tags used to tell your characters apart, if you want their names to really be a part of who they are, follow a few steps to help come up with a fitting name.
Think about whether your character's name should be long or short? Are they a complex character, or have you written them to be fairly simple? Are the a harsh, action-oriented person, for example the hero of your story, or a quieter, softer underdog character? Using a lot of consonants leads to a name with more bite, whereas a lot of vowel sounds tends to lead to a softer character.
Whether you're writing a flash fiction, short story, or a novel, thinking through your character names can have massive influence on whether your reader feels attached to them, or feels nothing at all.
Try it yourself next time you're naming characters!
MY WEBSITE:
www.kierenwestwood.com/
The most important thing when you're new to writing, or a beginner at anything really, is to keep writing. Keep putting down words, paragraphs, plots, characters, you will learn as you go, and you can use the experience of the writing community to fill in the gaps where you're not sure.
Writing is my passion, and I love to support other writers and help them develop their writing along with me. I want to help you tell your best stories.
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Thanks for watching!
For examples of my writing, feel free to visit my website. There's a short story, flash fiction and a novel excerpt there to read:
MY WEBSITE:
www.kierenwestwood.com/
#characters #names #authortube
"There's rumors of a werewolf in hogwarts? I wonder if Professor Wolfy Dogman knows anything about it..."
Hahaha surely not. Probably just a coincidence? 😂
I've noticed this trend in SF/fantasy that has a lot of characters. When the villains and minor characters are named things like "Voldemort" or "Baron Harkonnen" or "Viserys" the protagonists have names like "Harry", "Paul" and "Jon". It makes them 1) instantly relatable and 2) distinctive in a world where everyone else has an unusual name.
In my SF I use a mix of strategies, in part to signal different cultural values but mostly to make the names easy to remember. For example: "Halifax, Smokin' Jane, Meep, Larry, Zircon-4, the Contessa and Blue". With names like that, you'll never confuse them. It's easy in SF, but it works with contemporary settings at well.
Those names are easily distinguishable to me for sure. The only time I really find unique names a problem is when they're so 'invented' that they don't stick in my mind, if they're too long, or have too many As and Es so it's difficult to shape the word.
All of those names are also instantly pronounceable, so you're avoiding that effect where a reader kind of mumbles the name in their head while they're reading it and never really learns it 😂 which I've done before...
I'm so dense when it comes to names in books 😂 I read The Hunger Games and then my husband read it. He remarked on how a bunch of the names draw on Latin roots to indicate a deeper meaning. And there I was, the one of us who had taken four years of Latin in high school, looking at him like, "wait...what?" LOL!
Naming characters for me is either really easy or really difficult. Sometimes I know the name immediately while I'm writing and it fits perfectly. Other times, I'm trolling baby name websites.
I like your idea to pay attention to the vowels and consonants--you're right, it can immediately give a sense of a softer or harsher type of character.
Haha did you!? 😂 I don't think I really thought about it much at the time either, other than thinking like 'Gale Hawthorne', yeah that dude sounds like he knows how to hunt etc.
I get a similar thing happen, some names just fall out of my brain, other times...nothing. Recently it's the former, which is good because this book idea I've got is going to have more characters than I'm used to and I can't be calling people 'Character 3' for the next 80k words 😱
Yess! I also get hung up on names. I'll always remember during one of my college workshops, someone disliked that I had used unique names in my story ("why does everyone have weird names?") In actuality they weren't that weird! They just weren't the first things you'd see on baby name sites, and there wouldn't be five people with that name in your class 🤣 I personally want them to be memorable! How awk is it when a booktuber starts talking about a book and then goes "well I don't really remember the main character's name"....eep!
If you're going for realism, men's names tend to be much more conservative than women's. Parents know if they name their son "Leslie" or "Braylon" they're bound to be bullied in school. (Unless the parents are celebrities, in which case it will seem strange if they >don't> have a bizarre name). You can ignore the trend. It's a stylistic choice. But people will notice if there are a lot more unusual names than standards like James and John (or Pyotr/Ivan, Ibrahim/Muhammad, etc. depending on national origin). You can get around this by using nicknames, though, which can be literally anything pronounceable.
I like using nicknames too, or shortened versions of more ordinary names.
Absolutely agree! Generic names tend to go hand in hand with generic characters I suppose. It's definitely worth the time to think about who they are, and name them from a place of meaning. Oh college workshops, how I (don't) miss some of the...discussions 😂
@@nehukybis that's a great point I hadn't considered! Very true indeed.
@@KierenWestwoodWriting right!! Oh workshops, at least you get used to taking what you need, and leaving the rest behind.
Vernon is by no means an ordinary name! I never met any person with this name. Even in fantasy there is only one more character named this. But you realised an important detail that together with the last name it becomes a mumble. But otherwise I would say it's the character that colours the name with certain assossiation. In contrast to Dursley I know Vernon Roche from The Witcher games and it's such a vibrant character that his name makes a totally different impression.
Anyways, I appreciate your analysis. Overall it's true that the name is a good place to hint characters traits, features.
I love making up names :) Can you tell I write ssf?
My best trick is to take a familiar name and twist is just enough so that it is different, yet familiar! This usually works best by swapping or adding vowels.
e.g. Melissa -> Melossa, Malissa, Melossa, or even Meliza;
Sometimes, I even merging two common names together.
e.g. Aubrey + Isabel = Aubriel
Andréanne Lavoie Thats a good idea that I hadn’t though of trying, seems like a neat way to find unique names ☺️
I like this a lot, especially looking at vowels and consonants to reveal character. In my current WIP, at least for the minor characters, I definitely went the baby names website route 😂 as I’m writing, I am aware that some of the names are a bit too similar (I have a Reese and an Eric for example and when I say them aloud they’re hard to distinguish). I think I might try to be more deliberate with their actual names when I’ve finished the first draft. I really like the name you came up with here because it still sounds realistic but it reveals a lot about the character!
Nicole Wilbur I was so worried people would be like ‘umm that doesn’t work’ about the name 😂 that’s a funny thing I hadn’t thought of, accents make a difference because Eric and Reese sound totally different for me as a Brit 😂 I feel like I learned a lot about character names this past week!
I like collecting names.
End credits of old TV shows are a great source.
I have no problems naming characters, stories, locations etc but struggle with writing past page 30 and keeping my attentions on one story at a time 😳 too many ideas and I need to become a planner
I have the opposite problem, the more I plan things through, the less interested I then am in actually writing it. It's a fine balance for me between discovery writing and having a proper plot worked out 😣 Having a lot of ideas is definitely better than having not enough though!
Kieren Westwood I’ve been watching a lot of your videos, and the one where you talk about planning opened my eyes to it. I’ve downloaded the planning sheet (thanks by the way!) and I’m going to give it a go. Going by the seat of my pants has been fun but I just run out of steam eventually/end up with no real plot. Sometimes I wonder if I should carry on with some of them though, I find myself writing quirky characters in strange situations and I wonder whether the plot is even necessary for some of them. Maybe there isn’t a full novel in these characters, maybe just short stories 🤔
Thanks so much for watching them! I'm really glad they could be in any way useful.
The thing I try to remember is that planning doesn't have to be 100%, you can absolutely plan only a basic structure or just plan the parts of the story you already know, then try to fill in the gaps.
Honestly, I think interesting characters are better to have in the first instance than a firm plot. For me personally, I'd rather see an interesting character do something ordinary than an ordinary character doing something interesting. Depends on genre though I suppose. What kind of stuff do you write?
As a fan of flash fiction and short stories, I think there's so much value to writing them, but I know the feeling of wanting to start a longer story. I've been wrestling with that for a few weeks now!
@@KierenWestwoodWriting Why I prefer "architect vs. gardener" to "plotter vs. pantser". If you're a gardener you still have to prepare, just in a different way. I usually decide how the story will end really early in the process. The falling action is one of the first scenes I write. But I let the characters find their own path to that ending.
Kieren Westwood Yeah, I watched your videos on flash fiction and the Idea really intrigued me. I may try and work some of these ideas into that format. Seems like a good way to get some quick satisfaction out of your writing.
They are all sorts of genres - A Fantasy, a western, some crime, some mystery. I get bored if my characters are too normal. For me, writing dialogue for regular folk isn’t as exciting, I have to find some angle that makes them interesting to write about.
Brilliant video. Highlighted some things I had never thought of, thanks Kieren
Thanks mate :) Appreciate the support as always!
This is brilliant, I will be absolutely using this for my current novel in the making.
Good choice of name for your character and some good tips! I always look up the meaning of names and use that method quite a lot.
Thank you! 🙂 I do struggle with names
Oh I really liked the name and how you got there. I've been pretty lazy with the majority of my names but some have hidden meanings
Thanks! I was nervous people would be like...well that doesn't work 😂 Sometimes a good name just comes to you, and in that case it's totally fine not to have any meaning I think, but at least this type of thing might be good for a prompt if I get stuck with an awkward one.
Hmm, I’m actually really struggling to come up with a character name for my villain right now, if any of you have any suggestions. He is a well respected rune crafter, alchemist and tech and business mogul, his reputation is impeccable with lots of charity work and new inventions. His biggest fault is hubris, and he turns to evil to try and prolong his own life under the presumption that his life is worth more because of all that he has already done, even if that means killing off hundreds of innocent victims and risking the enslavement of humanity. He is scared of death but refuses to admit that, or that something could go wrong with his plan. He is a genuine narcissist who believes he is the greatest, worth the most, and can control every situation, even those that are beyond him.
Clavarice or Clavaric?
(Like avarice, meaning greed?)
Ignatius Depp
Or
Bernard Sifilus
Funny thing, I've been helping my friend with his character names, I gave him the name of a character who also is into the occult, his name is "Damascus Colt"
Cheers KR ~ Another well thought out episode with some clear and precise content, and something for us to work on at home.
As a follow on to this piece, how do you feel about characters having a name... yet they go the entire book (just about) with a nickname?
I've got this for my MC, but not with secondary characters for my draft.
Dacre Wordsmith Great question, considering one of my absolute favourite books (The Road by Cormac McCarthy) doesn’t name the characters at all and just refers to them as ‘The Man’ and ‘The Boy’, I’m totally in support of nicknames and general name unusualness in stories 😂 I like it!
I'm writing a regency romance so first names are pretty standard for the era. However, finding a fitting last name is always fun. My main female character is from the gentry, but i wanted a name that sounded refined and romantic. She's a Lovell. The male protagonist too comes from a good and imminent noble family. He's an Appleton (apple, good apple, ton, partof the "ton", the wealthy). :)
They work really well I think!
The best names are the last names for Roald Dahl’s characters like WormWood or Truncbull or like Slugworth
Yes! Roald Dahl had a fantastic mind for names. Veruca Salt is another favourite of mine.
@@KierenWestwoodWriting Augustus gloop is good too!
I’m writing a book and the only things I need is character names and a name for a town, I really like the type of towns what is just like one word like “A Place Called, Perfect” and I’m reading that at school.
@@alfieeexx oh of course! Amazing how he managed to sum up their character in that way.
And that bit about baby names is how I realized Silas is a good fit for one of my characters.
One more idea: instead of baby names, look at the names on the gravestones - or, easier still, parse websites of the cementaries. Bonus points if the cementary is not of dominant denomination in the region. This way, you can find names that are slightly, but not overtly unusual.
That’s a really good tip!
Vic Gainesbridge does sound like someone from an old Humphrey Bogart film...
If you think of Dursley you think of like doughnuts and chocolate for some reason so J.K Rowling really has a good mind of names for characters as in The Dursley family they are really greedy and selfish, it’s like Harry needs to stick to there opinion instead of having his own. So Dursley is a really creative name.
Im ready to write but can't nail the names for my main characters. Until I do that I CANT DO SHIT
I have this one character in mind. he's a detective. hes young, average, he's a bit frustrated, flawed, grumpy oil drinks a tiny bit much a bit pessimistic but also he has a loyal and very sweet side to him.
200 subscribers - WHOOP!
It snuck up on me! 😀 😀 😀 Honestly just grateful anyone would show up at all hahaha
@@KierenWestwoodWriting no, your content's great!
My names for my idea for cartoon
Female protagonist-Arlena Wizards
BFF Belle Frost
2nd friend Ruby hoods
Male friend love intres
Jim Grey
Mentor Merlin Moon
Villain henchmen Lumino Inferno Gust Heat Torch Blaze or LIGHT Blaze he is phoenix antagonist crew Drake Blank,Nemesa Warlock,Morgana Shade,Sabrina Nora Isabela Glory Holy Trenton or Queen NIGHT Brendon Larry Anthony David Edward Noirs Or Noirblade and so many more...
I name my character like old names like Will/William violet or like Edward or something like that
They never go out of style :) I like the older names too.
Is Ms Vita a good hero name?
What impression of the character do you get from the name Jezebel Kessler?
Hmmm I feel a little divided on this one! I feel like I've often heard Jezebel be used in a pejorative way, usually by angry little men, to describe a woman they can't control, so that part I'd say suggests a wilder or more headstrong character? And I'm not sure why but the surname Kessler makes me think of someone especially capable, or quick-witted maybe?
I may be way off, and apologies if so! Character names are just the beginning of what goes into building a character. Their words and actions do much more I think!
@@KierenWestwoodWriting Lol, you're right on the money. Headstrong, capable, quick-witted, and people mad at her because they can't control her. That's almost exactly what I'm going for with this character. It's an urban fantasy story and the main character is a hybrid, half-hunter half-supernatural, which in her world is almost unheard of.
I really appreciate your channel helping me with my writing. Thanks 😁
Wow that’s amazing! I’m so glad I got it right, you did a great job naming her ☺️ I appreciate the support for the channel, thank you!
Very helpful, missed the important aspect of using name to imply or work with race or ethnicity of character, otherwise readers may assume all characters are white.
is Mendes a good lastname for an average person?
well its a average lastname here in Portugal so I guess XD
Is it necessary to include last names
No! I think it's down to you and your story I think. If you don't want them, you don't need them.
I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one. I think a lot of it is genre driven - in fantasy / Harry Potter a lot of the names tend be playful in a melodic way and they are part of that style of writing. But if you look at other genres and character names - Ian Fleming's "James Bond", Frank Herbert's "Paul Atreides", George Orwell's "Winston Smith" - in many cases the names work but it is the story that makes them memorable. In HG Wells The time Machine the protagonist didn't even have a name and was called "the time traveller". Certainly a bad name can ruin a good novel - and a good one make it. But generally they do need to be plausible (fantasy novels aside) and "work" on the page, in the mind and on the tongue.
This is very much true.
I wonder if someday we'll ever have an answer to who DID write those Harry Potter books?