Character Names

[Kyuuketsuki]

Hello again everyone, I've been absent from the forum due to exams, but hopefully I will be back fully now.
My new question is, how do you pick your character's names? Are they random or do they signify something related to the character? Or is it an inside joke that only you understand?
If you search for the meaning for my characters' names in my fic, you will probably understand them more. But I don't recommend it if you're reading the fic as some of them contain spoilers.
So, how do you pick your names?

 

[Ultra Pidgeot]

Well, there is a significance in ToT's Xavier character's name, but otherwise I just try to pick something that sounds good.

 

[LightningTopaz]

I try to give my characters names that suit their personality and/or powers (so someone with water based magic might be named Umi, which is Japanese for sea)

 

[Sith Droideka]

Everyone in my 'fics, if not canon, has a significant name. Pericles is named after the famous Athenian tyrant (and will one day be a Tyranitar), Siber is derived from Siberia, Templar's name shows what he might become, and Solari and Helias are derived from the Sun. 100 points to anyone who can guess where Clarence is derived from.

In my other 'fic, all the Sableye have names meaning "black".

 

[Falconwing]

Dante Argento. It's Italian to go with Giovanni.

 

[Lugion]

Isis, Set, and Osiris are all Egyptian gods. The grunts Ton and To come from the Spanish word "tonto", which means foolish or stupid.

 

[Instrutilus]

Usually they're Mythology Gags I'd only get, because I tend to hide them as well as possible, or an official game name.

 

[Glitchipedia]

Colin Francis Harry Pierino "Twilight" Sonan:

• His nickname "Twilight" is actually what came first. My character in Diamond Version is named "Twilite" in contrast to the NPC "Dawn".
• "Sonan" is a corruption of the word "sundown" in reference to the nickname "Twilight".
• "Colin" was originally thought to be arbitrary, though in hindsight, it could be interpreted as a corruption of "clone".
• "Francis", "Harry" and "Pierino" come from Francis "Frank" Sinatra, Harry "Bing" Crosby and Pierino "Perry" Como, respectively.

Joan Teresa "Joanie" Aimes-Fulquard:

• "Joanie" is in reference to her original "target" in Knight Pokémon University, Hide in Plain Sight's character Jonny Walker.
• "Aimes" is a corruption of her original "secondary target" DarkDreams's character Akuji Amara's surname.
• "Teresa" is arbitrary.
• "Fulquard" is a pop-culture reference to the character Audrey Fulquard from the original 1960 version of The Little Shop of Horrors.

Colleen Sophia Angelyn Marie "Collie" Calloway:

• "Colleen" is a reference to her original "target" in KPU, Colin Sonan.
• "Calloway" is a reference to her original "secondary target", Spool's character Calvin Dersen. This no longer applies for obvious reasons.
• Her middle names are a reference to The Andrews Sisters.

Andromeda Persephone "Annie" Jameson:

• "Andromeda" is a reference to her original "target" in KPU, Rider's character Andrew Strickland.
• "Jameson" is a reference to her original "secondary target", Hide in Plain Sight's character Professor James Dalton.
• "Persephone" is arbitrary, primarily chosen to match the mythology theme of "Andromeda".

Isabella Evangeline "Bella" Austin:

• "Bella" is a pop-culture reference to her original "target" in KPU, Optimatum's character Edward Cirno. Since the application of Bella's new personality, however, "targets" no longer apply.
• "Austin" is a reference to her original "secondary target", Galactic Grunt ♀'s character Aurelie "Elly" Kaltberg.
• "Evangeline" is arbitrary.

Professor Wyatt DeForest Sonan, Ph.D.

• "Sonan" is the same as Colin.
• "Wyatt" and "DeForest" are both arbitrary.

 

[RaccoonGoon]

For Team Spade I made every memeber with a name have 3 letters, so you could try something like that.

 

[Erasmus]

I haven't posted any fics here (well, yet), but I understand the issues with naming characters.

Sometimes I'm caught between whether to make it meaningful or not. Because, let's face it, what someone is named reflects more on their parents more than it ever really does on them. Unless, of course, they chose their name.
But, as it's a such a common trope in fiction, I relent with some. Other times, I like to screw with it a bit. Name them something that has a meaning that has nothing to do with them. Or even the opposite of who they are.
For instance: Boghos Heller. A more evil sounding name is hard to find. It's also the name of the hero in one of my stories, and a pretty decent guy at that.
Frankly, I like toying with it more than ever playing it straight. Such as, perhaps, reflecting on the personalities of their parents. If they're parents name them something meaning "overwhelming strength" or what not, they tend to have certain views on how they're child should be. The person themselves will have to deal with that, which can be an interesting avenue for character development/growth.

 

[PK I'm BAAACK~]

I try to use names either I think sound cool, are well known, or have something to do with the character. Like hw Lightning Topaz said, I normally stick to Japanese names. There's one story I making where one of the characters is named Kioi. Kioi stands for "fight" in Japanese. Then there's "Aqua" which I just use since it's a well known name people tend to take a liking to.

 

[Oblivion]

I'm still trying to get better at writing fics, but generally I use words from various foreign languages, but try to find words that could actually be used as a name. Sometimes I make 'em up, and I have a belief that you can instantly make any name look and sound more menacing and ominous by adding boatloads of Zs and Xs and the occasional K in there. Which leads to names like Xarkone and really, really weird ones such as Zxurakoyako, which I normally use for deities and other mythical beings.

 

[sqwat500]

In my fic, the main charector is me, Aurora is the pearson i like, and I am going to change rick's name to Tony, my best friend. So basiclly I use names of people close to me, or like in the chapter "the nugget bridge, I use the names of people in the game

 

[Kayi Rowling]

Since I'm mostly dedicated to altering or expanding on canon material in my fanfics (which is the main thing I write), I rarely need to name people...

But, for example, in the case of the "tournament" fic I'm still working on, I had to pick the names for over eighty human characters, and I used one of the "top baby names" from Behind The Name to help me decide quickly. I'm not disappointed; they're pretty good.

 

[an illegible mess.]

Razayka: Fusion of Rachel(My name, as the character is based off of real life me) and random letters put together.

Keenai: Same as Razayka except name is based off of Kenneth

Well, sometimes (Such as above) I fuse the name of somebody with random letters and get... That. It's a really cool thing to do xD. Sometimes I use names that are a foreign language and match the person's personality/looks. I also name them off of actual names from the top of my head (Without even knowing what they mean...)

Yeah, that's basically how I name my characters xD

 

[Zekurom]

Names like Rachel, Ken, and Hikaru just pop up randomly. But the Pokémon names usually have significance to them. Well, some of them anyway. For example:

Suigun the Buoysel = "sui" (water) + "gun" (army personnel/military).
Denchu the Pikachu = "den" (electricity) + "chu" from Pikachu.
Tokagex the Charmeleon = "tokage" (lizard) from Hitokage + "ex", a carry-over from Kamex.
Gabriel the Gabite - "Gabriel" sounds both like Gabite and Gablias.
Oiseau the Swellow - "Oiseau" is the French word for "bird".

And some of them don't really have any meaning. Like "Gamer" and "Telia".

Zephura the Skarmory (Akari's) = "Zephyr" (west wind) + a suffix

Also, some of the legendary trainers, especially Phoenix:

Reggie "Reiji" Gigas - looks like and is named after Regigigas.
Phoenix looks like and is named after Ho-oh.
Rachel is the Lugia, but there's no link there >_<

Diabla is the nonexistent but hypothetical female form of Diablo, the Spanish word for "devil".

 

[Glitchipedia]

I'm still trying to get better at writing fics, but generally I use words from various foreign languages, but try to find words that could actually be used as a name. Sometimes I make 'em up, and I have a belief that you can instantly make any name look and sound more menacing and ominous by adding boatloads of Zs and Xs and the occasional K in there. Which leads to names like Xarkone and really, really weird ones such as Zxurakoyako, which I normally use for deities and other mythical beings.

I used bizarre names like that once for a never-finished stop-motion LEGO film project. As it was going to be a sci-fi film, many of the characters had decidedly otherworldly names like Adtiir Praevuoz, Dicarrl Jazaan, Ezjin Loyez, Unla Renzku, Kieu Tonai, Hartaka Reveus and Xelec Kaebann.

That last one is the only one that had any significant meaning—it's part of a larger anagram of my own name. At the time I came up with it, I was trying to see if I could make like Lord Voldemort and mix my ordinary name around into something menacing. The whole anagram is "I am Bejen Lord Xelec Kaebann". Let me know if you think you've figured out the original name. :-D

 

[Joshawott]

My naming convention for characters is the same for my original work and fanfiction: Meanings. I go on Behind The Name and search for meanings.

Depending on the character, I give them a name with a meaning that corresponds with their personality, or is the complete opposite.
Failing that, I'll take foreign language words with important meanings, and corrupt them a bit until they sound like a name. With some characters that have specific origins (for example, in my original work, there's a German character) I'll be more likely to use corrupted loan words unless I can find a suitable meaning from a name from that region.

I also try and avoid Japanese names like the plague. That may sound odd, considering how I'm a huge anime fan; but I'd rather people didn't think of me as a complete weeaboo. I'll only give Asian names to characters if they are Asian (makes sense really).

Iirc, I've only use pun names for 2 characters (Put them together, and it's the pun) and a mythological reference once.

I'm not as thoughtful when naming my Pokémon in my games though xD. I did that for VGC09, but lately I've given them random human names (Debby the Cresselia, Gregory the Kingdra, Kate the Ononokus, Paula the Mamanbou).

 

[Captain GIROG]

I rarely give meaningful names, but I do try to stay consistent with my naming. For instance, in Field Research, all of the administrators of Team Magnum, except for Cammaren, have biblical names. Elisabeth, Barnabas, Magdaline, Caiden, etc. Barnabas Dismas and Jason Gestas are double-whammies, because they're not only the only characters with meaningful names (good thief/bad thief), but both of them are Biblical. To contrast, Lung Jove has a Roman name.

I also have some names that I just carry with me: Ken, Justin, Caitie, Cammaren, Chris, Roy, etc. are almost all used in whatever I write.

 

[embep]

Am I really the only person who uses this?
http://www.behindthename.com/random

It's the single most useful thing I've ever come across in regards to character naming. You can just refresh until you find something that seems right, which doesn't take that long. Putting thought behind a name is cool and all, but I'm not that into it.

Also, you get names like Maximiliana and Wolfram, which make things sooo much better. xD