Naming Your Characters

Some of the most unique, fitting names I’ve ever encountered was the Andrew Peterson’s The Wingfeather Saga. And if you’ve read it or are watching the TV series, you’ll know what I mean. The three siblings which the story centers around are Janner, Tink (later Kalmar) and Leeli. These names really stand out, and if you were to utter them in a room full of fantasy fanatics you’d probably get a bunch of excited cheers. 

So how do we name our characters well? This is a problem we all face, because every character has a name. From Gnag the Nameless to that random Cloven in the background, they all have a title they are referred to as, and what we call them is what’s going to stick in a reader's mind forever. This can seem pretty intimidating. We want our characters to have unique, memorable names that really stand out. So how can we do this? 

When you hear the name Leeli, you probably think either of the character herself or of flowers. That’s because the name sounds like ‘lily’ in some ways, so we get that soft, sweet annotation just by the way it sounds. The way a name sounds outloud is really important. If you stumble over it, are unable to pronounce it or it’s just got so many syllables that you shorten it in your mind there’s a problem. I’m often guilty of this. I come up with or find a name that’s long, elegant and means something beautiful. It’s just hard to say. 

We can have beautiful names for our characters without having long, tricky ones. Simple names, like Sara (which means princess) are lovely, but a little bit of research can yield untold riches. When I am trying to find unique names, sometimes they just come to me. Other times, I find what I’m looking for in a bit of Googling. The Welsh language is extremely complex, with some outrageously long words and names. However, you can also find exquisite names with glorious meanings if you Google ‘traditional Welsh girl names.’ This will yield you names like Bethan, Ceri or Rhian. You could also pull some of the town or place names from Wales. 

Another helpful thing is to change the lettering. For instance, the Welsh name Rhiannon means queen, so maybe I want to use it, but it just looks weird to me. So, because I’m writing a fantasy novel (or any genre where there’s an alternative to our own reality) I have the freedom to misspell the name. So, I change the name to Reannon. Same sounds, better look. 

If you’re still in search of names, below I have some ideas for you: 

Try Googling names that are rare Welsh, Arabic, Indian, Hebrew, Yiddish, Irish, Germanic etc. 

Reedsy has an awesome name generator that will give you name meanings if you use the specific country ones. Here's the link :https://blog.reedsy.com/character-name-generator/

Read your Bible! There are dozens of names listed in Scripture that aren't your everyday Rebekah or John. Read census records in Numbers, or lists of musicians in Chronicles. 

Look up flower names, tree names and the like. Often you can find unique plant names that will be cool character names.

If you're allowed to, make a Pinterest board.

And of course, make sure you're always careful when surfing the web!

Don’t overthink naming your characters. While each needs a good name, it doesn’t have to be a difficult one. Some of the most memorable names are simply words, like the Overseer. Keeping a list of names and their meanings is also helpful.   

As always, Ad Lucem.

-L.E.Levens