Knowing how much time of my life I’ve spent thinking of names for characters, places, and titles would most likely shock me. I don’t even write much sci-fi/fantasy. I have no idea how those writers decide on names and stick with them.
For titles, I give up easily and ask my sister. She will always send me a one-lined email as a response and it’s the perfect title. It must be a gift she was born with.
Character names are challenging. There’s a feeling that the name should be as unique as the character. When you’ve lived a long time and have been in contact with a lot of people (in my case, I’ve taught over 4,000 students and have associations with certain names that make me unlikely to choose them for characters), a fitting name is difficult to find.
The good news about naming characters is that if the name is wrong, the character will reject it after you’ve written them for a while.
The bad news is that the character who rejects the name probably won’t suggest a better one. You have to continue to guess.
Maybe it’s wise to always avoid the most common names and names that have a negative cultural connotation for whatever reason (for example, the recent meaning given to the name “Karen”) unless the character’s personality fits and that’s a point you want to make.
Also, it may also be a good idea to simply change the spelling of a common name to make it appear more exotic. You’ve seen it. Changing the Is to Ys, the CKs to Xs. (A disclaimer here for the sci-fi/fantasy writers–your trials in this area are completely different. Rearranging alphabet soup to concoct a word is necessary and must be time-consuming. Good luck to you guys.)
Here are some ways I’ve found character names:
- Browsing baby-naming websites. I’m partial to those that show the origin and meaning of the name.
- Browsing baby-naming websites in other languages.
- Reading news websites, preferably international.
- Mythology–this is one of my favorites, especially if I have a character who is supposed to be seen as one-of-a-kind from page one.
- Character-naming generators, although I’ve rarely used a name from one of these. They are very helpful in that they ask for time periods, gender preference, type of work, socio-economic status, etc.
Sometimes I find a name that almost fits. That’s when I make a list of names that could work and combine syllables from them to make a new name.
As for naming places, the downside to using a real place is that it will involve research, and any reader from that place will be annoyed if you get it wrong. You may be able to escape this if your real place is in the past (although there’s always a historian who will complain) or in the future. If you live where you’re writing, that’s also a plus.
Fictional places are easier to control, obviously. The name will matter if the atmosphere of the location is a major influence on the plot or the characters (and it usually is). For places, I’ve had the best luck taking city-naming conventions and recombining what is expected. (Once more, it isn’t so simple for sci-fi/fantasy.)
The rumor is some of you find names with ease. I will never understand. I’ve suffered with a short story for weeks and the main character has had three names. I still don’t have a title.
