Coming up with names for fictional characters

My suggestion would be get a book that has suggested baby names for first names and a local phone book and just flip to a page and pick out a last name.

I often like to use surnames from my family tree, names like Maynard, Ricketts, Scowcroft and McKenna that I know a bit about in terms of meaning and origin. I think what would be a good idea is to write down any first or last names you find interesting and build up a bank of these names that you could use to help you name your characters.

You'd be surprised how many stories assign tag names to some fictional characters.
Example 1: When Zeus fathered Apollo and Artemis (to use the Greek names), their mother was called Leto; but Leto simply means "lady."
Example 2: In the original Welsh story of the quest for the Holy Grail, the knight who succeeds is called Peredur; but old Welsh Peredur and modern Welsh parod mean "the prepared" or "the ready" (compare the Latin paratus.)
Example 3: Jane Yolen's fantasy novella The Wild Hunt features a character called Gerund (as in leaping, hopping, skipping;a gerund is the present participle of a verb when it is used as an adjective).

Maybe take names from who your characters might be inspired by or think of something that's catchy like a names that have the same first letters like Peter Parker or like a one syllable first name and 2 syllable last name.

Are you looking for popular names or unusual names?

This for first names and this for surnames.

Those two sites are my best friends when writing. <3

Lullaby said:

This for first names and this for surnames.

Those two sites are my best friends when writing. <3

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Thank you for the links.


And thank you all so far for your suggestions and advice.