It's hard to invent an original name for a character

[gunhilltrain]

Usually there will be somebody (or several people) else with the same name, and I don't mean just on Facebook. For a while I've had a character named Paul D'Amato who narrates some stories and is the subject of others. Most commonly, he appears as a City College of New York student in the 1970s.

I just found out that there was an actor with that name. I remember him best as the jaded Green Beret in The Deer Hunter, but I never knew who he was.

https://deadline.com/2024/02/paul-damato-dead-slapshot-dr-hook-actor-1235833438/

 

[willlph]

Visit your local cemetery . That is one of the greatest places for name ideas . Mix and match the first and last names etc

 

[alohadave]

Try googling your own name. You'll find out how common names really are.

 

[StillStunned]

My go-to sources are the Men's and Women's England rugby teams, or at a pinch the cricket teams.

 

[SimonDoom]

After coming up with a name, use this tool to find out how many others have the same name:

https://howmany-ofme.com/.

 

[THBGato]

The only time I have worried about names is in my story Thirty where, for plot reasons, I needed the most common names possible (Jane Smith and María García).

 

[SamBomb]

I never thought to look up if my character names exist... I don't know if I want to go down that rabbit hole.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Usually there will be somebody (or several people) else with the same name, and I don't mean just on Facebook. For a while I've had a character named Paul D'Amato who narrates some stories and is the subject of others. Most commonly, he appears as a City College of New York student in the 1970s.

I just found out that there was an actor with that name. I remember him best as the jaded Green Beret in The Deer Hunter, but I never knew who he was.

https://deadline.com/2024/02/paul-damato-dead-slapshot-dr-hook-actor-1235833438/

It's not just character names. I've had fictitious companies and organizations appear after I had first mentioned them in one of my stories. They didn't exist before I wrote the stories, but only afterwards.

 

[Fatdog25]

I use a random name generator off the interwebs. I keep spinning the wheel until I get one I like.

 

[StillStunned]

It's not just character names. I've had fictitious companies and organizations appear after I had first mentioned them in one of my stories. They didn't exist before I wrote the stories, but only afterwards.

That's probably how Creation started, you know.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

 

[Britva415]

But seriously, I don't usually give my characters last names. I can only think of one, and the reason for it is so that she can go by her initials.

 

[Wriggle]

Visit your local cemetery . That is one of the greatest places for name ideas . Mix and match the first and last names etc

I used to take a shortcut though a graveyard everyday at work and I too recommend this idea.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I often need surnames for my characters after a while, or even for throwaway ones when they are mentioned in a context when they'd be referred to by both names.

I look them up online to check the name is either not known, or common enough that it doesn't look like I'm referencing a particular person. Once I named an eminent professor of a subject in a certain city. Turned out there actually was a noted prof of the same subject in the same city, so I changed the name.

When I've needed foreign names, I figure if at least two footballers of the right age have the name, it's probably OK to use.

 

[Trionyx]

I’ve used the names of foreign cities and towns as last names. Pull up a map app and start looking until you find something unique.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I’ve used the names of foreign cities and towns as last names. Pull up a map app and start looking until you find something unique.

I'm really not concerned about getting something unique. Since I think every story I've written is about Americans, especially New Yorkers, usually their ethnic identity usually comes into play. If they are "WASPs" - well, there are a lot of Amanda Watsons in this country.

Rupert Pupkin - Robert De Niro in The King of Comedy: I don't think there are may of those. His hometown of Clifton, NJ is very real.

 

[gunhilltrain]

My go-to sources are the Men's and Women's England rugby teams, or at a pinch the cricket teams.

I often use my junior high and high school year books. I pick a last name and match it with a first name.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Man, I was so pissed when I found out Indiana Jones was taken.

 

[AllenWoody]

My trick for infinite name ideas:
- Go to IMDB dot com
- Find a random movie
- Scroll down deep into cast/crew credits
- Mix/match first and last names until you find one you like

It takes THOUSANDS of people to make a film, and it's a very international undertaking. Film crew credits just go on and on. You will absolutely find some fun names you would never come up with on your own. Note that I'm not saying pick someone's first and last name together, just pick a first name you like (and haven't used before) and a last name (if necessary) from someone else.

 

[Katie_Mae]

I once posted a story (not here, ) which was a science fiction story. The story included letters written from one character to another. On a letter from one character I got a nasty comment "you need to retract this and apologise! [Character name] did not write this! This is false!" Or something along those lines. The letter was just about his week at school so I was like "wtf" but the person's email address showed their last name as the same ad my character.

Basically, my character in my science fiction story shared a name with a now deceased science fiction writer and this person must have googled their relatives name and stumbled across this letter, and didn't realise it was part of a fictional story.

I do usually remember to google my character names. I make sure they're not also the name of someone who might be mistaken for my character being based on them. Like, if a British professor character has the same name as a footballer and its a common name, but a problem, but I wouldn't name a footballer character the same as a real football character. I also check the name isn't used by someone who us too famous/strongly linked with a vein person Eg wouldn't name a character Adolf Hitler or something.

But I don't try to have names that no one in the world has.

 

[SimonDoom]

Man, I was so pissed when I found out Indiana Jones was taken.

They named the dog "Indiana."

There's always Pennsylvania James. "Penn" is not bad for a first name, and it's unusual.

 

[alohadave]

They named the dog "Indiana."

There's always Pennsylvania James. "Penn" is not bad for a first name, and it's unusual.

It works for Penn Badgley

 

[Candy_Kane54]

After coming up with a name, use this tool to find out how many others have the same name:

https://howmany-ofme.com/.

I tried this with my name (Candy Kane) and it returned 317 results with all of them being male with an average age of 94. Something hinky going on.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I tried this with my name (Candy Kane) and it returned 317 results with all of them being male with an average age of 94. Something hinky going on.

Guessing a lot of them live at the North Pole?

 

[Bramblethorn]

I used to take a shortcut though a graveyard everyday at work and I too recommend this idea.

Pick a graveyard far away from your own home. That way if anybody gets annoyed that you used their name, they have further to shamble.