One Way to Write

Naming Main Characters

Don't stress about middle names.

Okay, now that I got that out of the way... Names are very important, but here are a few things you should not stress over when naming your characters:

- The names being a portmanteu or something of their parents names.
- Middle names.
- Nicknames.
- Middle names.
- No celebrity/other character in the universe of TV, movies, and books having that name.

This is not to say these are things you shouldn't consider. But my advice is to not focus or stress over them. They are not the most important things about naming your characters, typically.

Here is a list of things I do consider... considerably more key:

- ease of pronunciation (I don't shy away from non-English names, though. This mostly applies to unique names invented by you. Avoid a jumble of letters… even if it looks cool.)

- whether it's a name someone would actually have (Key with names of cultures you're not familiar with. Always check with someone from that culture. Sometimes you can get away with just Googling and seeing if it pops up)

- last names matching up with the character's lineage (If the character's dad has Scottish ancestors, last name would sooner be McCoy than Vanderbilt.)

- going off of the above, keep in mind certain cultures' historical backgrounds that may influence name choice. For example, a Black American might have a Scottish last name. Lots of different people owned slaves and lots of people have intermarried once it became legal. Not every black character's last name has to be Johnson. Another example: most Filipinos have Spanish last names because the Spanish once colonized and forced Spanish names on them. However, some Filipinos have Chinese ancestry and have Chinese surnames. And Tagalog surnames do exist. Your Filipino character does not have to have a Tagalog name to be a "real Filipino." Just be culturally aware.

- know the culture's naming practices. A good search is "(culture) naming practices" (In some cultures, kids take their mother's surname. In some cultures, they take both the dad's and the mother's last names.) Again, research and be culturally aware.

Here are some quirks to my naming main characters:

- the visual aesthetic of the first and last name

- if it's a romance book, the visual aesthetic of the love interests' first names.

- the ease of pronunciation (I don't mean "how do you read this," I mean "My tongue just cramped." I don't want my tongue to cramp. I do not choose names that cramp my tongue.)

- whether the name matches up with the character's personality (yes, this involves judging. Ironic names are fine―for example, a kid who is considered ugly being called Romeo. This would be addressed in the story. But if a name sounds soft and sweet I will probably not give it to a harsh, mean character. Fukbois get fukboi-suitable names. Etc.)

My process, considering all this:

1. Pick a first name
2. Pull up a list of surnames with the origin I want
3. Filter to the initial letters I think would go well with that name
4. Go down the list, picturing then saying the first name with the surname. If it looks and sounds good, type the pair into Notepad.
5. Take the finalist names and see which pair looks and sounds aesthetically best

✧✧✧

I'm not going to use an example from my books this time because, while I used this process, I don't have the details tracked. So let's start from scratch: Lilly

Lilly, the character, has Irish lineage. I think a last name beginning with a hard C would sound nice after the liquid L sound.

Lilly Connelly ← looks nice but it's a mouthful. Tossed.

Lilly Clancy ← Also doesn't feel amazing on my tongue. I should avoid last names with L in them. Tossed.

Lilly Cassidy ← Not the prettiest.

Lilly Collins ← This does have Ls but I realize that the balance of the short "i" as the initial and final vowel makes pronunciation flow better. There's not too much distance between the Ls like in Lilly Connelly, but there's not too little like in Lilly Clancy. I like this. It's going to the finals!

Lilly Cody ← passable, but nothing special

Lilly Casey ← borderline two first names but it is kind of cute. Lily Casey is also easy to say. It can go to the finals!

Now let me Google these two names to make sure there aren't any famous neo-nazis with the same name!

Well, while not a neo-Nazi, there is a celebrity named Lily Collins. I don't know who she is but it looks like she was in some popular movies so I'm sure the rest of the world knows who she is.

I do not see any famous Lilly Caseys.

Now I can either choose between having everyone ask if it is a Lily Collins fanfiction, and having everyone ask if it's some other Lilly that exist in the world of fictional characters (not Collins).

I'm going to choose the latter. So Lilly Casey it is!

☆☆☆

Takeaway: Focus on the important parts, and Google is your friend.

Hope that helps! Leave any further questions in the comments.