I’m in the process of writing a first draft. Actually, it’s a second stab at a first draft (transforming a novel in verse into a narrative form) so it could be considered a second draft?!?!? I dunno. But what I do know is that recently I’ve been thinking about character names.

A common question I get while leading writing workshops and presenting for school visits, is how do you come up with character names? And the answer is … not concrete. A name has to FEEL right to me… and so, often times, I do a little searching… try a few names on… and sometimes change them. More often than that though, a name will have a specific layer of meaning for the story… sometimes significant, other times just tongue in cheek… but either way, for me as a writer, names “come to me” or are chosen… if not in a meaningful way, in a way that has meaning. Am I making any sense?!?!?

To actually help you, rather than just ramble about my own writing process, here are four websites I use when on the hunt for a good character name.

Baby Naming Websites

Despite the fact that I have zero plans to birth more children, I frequently visit baby naming websites. These sites are a treasure trove for categorized names and name meanings. For example on Babynames.com you can search for names by origin or see what names celebrities are choosing for their children. On Nameberry.com you can search for topic specific names, including niches like botanical and biblical names (think Ivy and Zion), or city and musical names (think Brooklyn and Harmony). Honestly, thinking through this lens will tell you more about your character’s parents than them as an individual… unless that you decide their name truly shapes the person they become and you lean into all their chosen name implies. Or, the character could totally rebel against their parent’s namesake wishes and become the complete opposite of what their name stands for. Either way, it’s a lot of fun.

Fantasy Name Generator

I haven’t written a fantasy book for a long time. My most recent attempt (actually not so recent… you can read about my break up with this manuscript in this past blog post) was in 2018. But, despite the fact that I haven’t been naming fairies or dramatic landscapes for almost five years, this website is the one I most frequently recommend for naming characters… mostly because it’s fun! From the main page you can click the type of character or location you’d like help naming and then, the website will generate a list of ten options for you to choose from. Don’t like them? Click refresh and ten new ones take their place. This site also gives you the possibility of searching names by nationality, which is really stinking cool. Bonus, the creator of this website is an enviro-geek like me and uses donations made to the site to plant trees.

Social Security Name Database

Okay, this one is particularly helpful for those people writing historical fiction or who are creating a story world that leans heavily on pop culture and trends. On the social security website you can search their name database to learn the most popular names during a given period of time. Why should you care? Well, for example, the -aden names are super popular right now. My own son’s basketball team has a Caden, Aiden, and Brayden. 3 out of 10 use this currently popular suffix. If you were to use these names in your 1970’s thriller fiction, they might seem out of place. For that you might (according to this website) be better served if you named your characters Michael, Christopher or Jason. Or if you were writing a pre-WWII 1930’s era story, then you’d be better off to choose Robert, James and John. I’ll be real honest, the searching possibilities on this site have the potential to be a time sucking blackhole. Must be the social studies minor in me… there’s just so many good applications of the information it has to offer!

100 Most Common Surnames in the United States

Just like when choosing the name for a child, I want to be sure that my character’s names sound good all the way around. Many of my books live in the realistic fiction genre and so this website, with the 100 most common last names of United States residents, gives me a bunch of last names to choose without relying on people in my own life. Many people assume authors sneak bits and pieces of their real life into their stories and it’s true that I do too… but I don’t necessarily want to call out that fact by using the actual names of people I know. I don’t want readers who know me in real life to think, oh, she picked the last name fill-in-the-blank, because she must have hated her third grade teacher of the same name and so made that the villain’s last name. Am I thinking too deeply about this? Maybe? But like I said, a name has to feel right and so choosing names from the cast of real life characters I’ve encountered doesn’t (for me) feel like a good fit. Thus, I’m grateful for a website like this that will allow me to pick a common name, familiar to the wide world of readers, but emotionally unattached to me. I also like that this website lists the nationalities associated with each last name so I can be authentic in my character portrayals.

One final tip. Do NOT let the act of choosing your character names consume you. While this can be a fun activity that leads you towards writing… some people can get caught up in the act of these pre-writing activities and never actually get to the WRITING. Have fun, but be sure this step adds value to your work rather than detract from the actual creation of the work.

Just for fun, tell me one of your favorite character names in the comments below. Either one you made up or one of your favorites from another author. Also, if you’ve got another character naming tip, technique or resources please share it. I’d love to learn from you too!

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