Choosing Character Names For Your Fiction

Try these name-finding methods when you’re stuck

As a fiction writer, one of the hardest but most important parts of my job is character creation. I recently had a conversation with a fellow writer, who has been in the job for many years, and who was still struggling with finding a name for the protagonist in her new novel. The novel itself was half-written but the name she had chosen just didn’t click. It didn’t feel right to her. I found myself advising her on how I choose a name and that gave me the idea for this post. So, here are my top five tips for choosing a character name when you’re writing fiction.

Baby name lists from the year your character was born

This is always my first port of call. If my character is 19 years old and the book is set in 1999, I’ll do an online search for the most popular baby names of 1980. Similarly, if the book is historical, for example, set in 1940, I’ll look for the most popular names of the 1920s. This way, you get a list of possible, realistic names to choose from. On a list of 50 or 100 names, there’s bound to be at least one that could suit your character.

Baby name lists from this year in the country of your target market

This is actually how I chose my pen name, Lacey Dearie. I was writing women’s fiction when I started out and so my target market was women in the UK. So, I did an online search for the most popular girl’s names at that time. I reasoned that if women were naming their daughters Lacey, that meant that they liked the name and it appealed to them. Women of childbearing age were my target market!

This method can be very effective when choosing a character name if your genre is romance because you’ll be picking a name that your audience think is appealing. They’re more likely to devour a book with two lovers who have names they currently like than a romance between two characters with old-fashioned names their grandparents had.

Popular movie protagonists or song lyrics from the year your character was born

I was born in 1980 and I know a lot of girls who are 2–3 years younger than me named Eileen, no doubt named for the Dexy’s Midnight Runners song, Come On Eileen. I also know a couple of Sloanes who are a few years younger than me and were probably named after the character in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It makes sense that people would be named after popular actors, actresses, musicians, and characters from around the time they were born. Their mothers maybe went to the cinema to see a movie while pregnant or they heard a song repeatedly while expecting. It makes sense and is a realistic choice for a character.

Stereotypes

This isn’t a way to trigger any ideas, but something to keep in mind, all the same. If you have a character whose name seems out of place, it can change the tone of the story and make it less believable. Maybe Quentin is not the best choice for a sexy stripper, but Josh or Troy is. Apologies to anyone called Josh or Troy. They just seem like more suitable names than Quentin!

Something like Edward or Henry is a good name for a prince in a modern story but Kai or Archer isn’t, unless it’s a fantasy novel.

Also, think of how one name can be adapted for different personality types. For example:

Nicolette is a sophisticate living in London who knows what wine to drink and plays to see. She always wears Louboutins and eats quinoa for lunch. She is an old school friend who thinks she’s too chic to speak to you now.

Nicola is your hairstylist. A single mother who works hard and plays hard and has a heart of gold. She keeps your secrets and always knows the right thing to say when you’re upset.

Nikki is a goth who works in a call center and has a five-year-old child who loves Slipknot and shaved her doll’s heads. Nikki’s parents worry about her lifestyle choices but she and her partner are doing just fine.

Do you see how a similar name being presented with an altered spelling can change the vibe and create a completely different image for the character?

Remember to choose something distinct from other characters

It really makes no sense to have an Andy, an Alan, and an Alex in one story. They are too similar and your reader may get mixed up. Penny, Polly, and Paula will just confuse people. It makes much more sense to have names that vary in length and begin with different letters of the alphabet so that there is no confusion.

Don’t ignore names from different languages!

I have a cousin who named his son Dmitri. My cousin is Scottish, has no family outside Scotland, and would have been expected to pick a traditionally Anglified name. But he chose a foreign one because he liked it. I also have a friend whose sister named her son Diego. Although it’s a Spanish language name, she liked it and wanted it. There is nothing wrong with that and it’s becoming more common now. You can choose a foreign name for your character if you like, especially if it’s not well-known and feels like a good fit.

Of course, certain names conjure images of different ethnicities and that’s something to keep in mind. If I call a character Abdul, he is immediately pictured as someone with Islamic heritage, not a little white boy from Scotland.

If you have any tips for creating character names, I would love to hear them. Please share them in the comments section.

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