As a writer, naming my characters is something I’ve always struggled with.
It seems like such a simple concept. After all, we all know a lot of people and regularly meet new people. At school, at work, in the grocery store. We should have a whole pile of names stored in our subconscious that we can just pick out at random any time we need them, right?
Or, if you’re like me, when you need a name for a character your entire mind suddenly goes blank and it’s like you’ve never met another human in your life.
Yeah.
That’ll bring a writing session to a standstill.
And whether you’re writing a funny picture book or a creepy horror novel, you’ll need names. You’ll need kid names and adult names. Names for your main character’s friends and frenemies, teachers and neighbors, bosses and dentists. Names for their pets. Names for the antagonists. Names for that barista that makes the perfect matcha latte . . . and the list goes on.
So where do you FIND all of these necessary names?
What I do is I keep a running list of possible names in a document on my computer. Because otherwise my stories would either stay stalled and unwritten, or end up looking like: “the [main character] is speaking to [girl 3] when then they look over and see [guy with dog] . . .”
Which is technically an option but . . . not ideal.
Having a running list makes it easy for me to open the file (or glance at the printed version) in order to pick a name like I’m browsing a menu. And I’m all for making life a little easier.
I even separate the list into columns for “kid first names,” “adult first names,” and “last names.”
For example:
| KID FIRST NAMES | ADULT FIRST NAMES | LAST NAMES |
| Kayleigh | Amber | Moore |
| Nolan | Brian | Jackson |
| Bentley | Carrie | Bridges |
| Cooper | John | Ramirez |
One reason I separate kids and adults is because name trends tend to change over the years. Kids today don’t have the same names as the kids I went to school with in the 1990s. So if I was writing a contemporary middle grade novel (spoiler: I am!), then I wouldn’t name all of my characters after the kids in my own 6th grade math class. (Unless I was naming the teachers lol.)
You’ll find some suggestions related to changing name trends in the categories below.
A QUICK NOTE: I would like to point out that when I find a name, I never use BOTH a first and last name from the SAME person. I just can’t. It feels too much like stealing. Like I’m taking something that just doesn’t belong to me. I’ll let you make your own moral decisions here, but my advice is to only add the first OR last name to your list.
Okay. So let’s get into the good stuff.
Where do we find the names to add to our running lists??
BABY NAME BOOKS & WEBSITES
I gotta start with this one. It’s a classic. Tried and true.
Baby name books are hard to beat for browsing when you don’t have a specific direction in mind. I bought my first baby name book at a Waldenbooks in the mall when I was a teenager. A little bit of an awkward purchase for a teen in the 90s, but hey – I had that book for yearssss. Lost it in a move, but still, it is a very viable option for tactile people. And word nerds like me who, as a kid, often found inspiration flipping through my parent’s gigantic dictionary. A physical book can be a wonderful way for someone who doesn’t know where to start to discover an unexpected pathway.
So my first suggestion for authors is to have one of these babies (lol pun intended) on hand for when you’re not sure what kind of vibe you’re going for yet.
BUT if you’ve got an idea of what you’re looking for, then a baby name website is always a great option.
I don’t have a preference for one website over another, because if I’m going this route, I tend to put “baby name websites” into my search bar and then actually use multiple sites. Most of the ones that feature the least scammy ads will probably be from parenting magazines.
A cool thing about the websites (well, the good ones) is that you can put in search guidelines such as what letter you’d like the name to start with. Or they will let you type in a trait or name “meaning” and pull up names associated with that word.
Looking for “strong” names? Type in “strong,” or “strength” or maybe “bold,” and see what pops up. Want a name inspired by the forest or the ocean? A color or a feeling? A Greek or Hindu goddess? Type those babies in. Click on the “related” name suggestions that pop up. Explore. Have fun.
SOCIAL SECURITY WEBSITE
That’s right – the official social security website has lists of popular names.
Check it out: ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
To be more specific, it lists the Top 10 (or 20, 50, 100, 500 or even 1,000) baby names for any year after 1879. Their website always features the current year of newborn babies, but scroll down a little and you’ll find a search menu that allows you to dig deeper.
Why is this helpful? It’s that thing we talked about earlier: changing name trends. People had different names in 1890 than they did in 1990. So if you know what year your book is set, you can find the most popular names for that time period.
For example, if your book is set in 2005 and your character is ten years old, you can search for the most popular baby names from 1995.
Of course, these are American names. So it’s less helpful in some cases. But it’s certainly fun to browse through the trends.
MOVIE CREDITS
You ever sit and watch the entire scroll of credits to a modern day movie? They’re massive.
Maybe you’re waiting to see if there’s a secret bonus scene at the end, or maybe you’re listening to the credit’s soundtrack, but when you look at the screen, you’ll see it:
Thousands of names.
It’s a great way to spark inspiration. You do have to consider that the ages of the people in the credits may not be correct for the time period of your story (remember those changing name trends), so this one is usually more helpful for adult books/names than for kid books/names.
It’s also a reminder that there are still lots of “Johns” and “Michaels” out there (at least in the US). So keep that in mind, too when naming your characters. It’s why you should always consider using a few of the “popular” names from the social security website we mentioned above – at least for contemporary or historical fiction.
But, yeah, watching name after name scroll by right in front of your eyes is sure to get you going on your Character Name List.
REALITY TV SHOWS
There were years of my life where HGTV and the Food Network were 95% of the television I watched. Heck, I’d leave the channel on all day while I did other stuff, like cooking and cleaning and graphic design. But these days, when I have my occasional binge stream of House Hunters International, I find myself sometimes focusing in on the show with a sudden thought: hey that’s a really pretty name.
So if you watch any type of reality TV, and you hear a name you love, remember to jot it down. (This is also why I have a ton of notes in the Notes app on my phone. Just saying.)
SCHOOL EVENTS
This might be a weird one, but when I’ve been sitting there at a concert or a play that one of my kids are in, I always find myself with a flyer full of names. As a writer, my first thought is always whether or not any of the names from these classmates of my kids are giving me main character vibes.
I haven’t used this method much, but when you need to name your characters and you find yourself holding a paper full of contemporary kid names, well, maybe you add a handful of first names to your running list.
NAME GENERATORS
I’ve used these to name my Dungeon & Dragon characters. They’re a lot of fun. They’re made for fantasy characters but, honestly, they can used as inspiration for any genre. You never know what they’ll spark in your imagination as you scroll through the options. Definitely worth a try if you’re stuck.
There are a lot of name generators out there, so I’m not going to list/promote any specific ones. What I do is go to my search engine and type in something like, “name generator” or “name generator dnd” or “name generator book character.”
Some websites are focused on something specific (like fantasy names) and others will give you a list of options. I’ve seen everything from “pet names” to “pen names.”
Pinterest is one of those fun websites that can be a fantastic resource . . . or a gigantic waste of time. The problem is that there are a lot of great “pins” that say they have what you are looking for, and then when you click on them, you find that some of them are actual baby name websites or parenting blog, but then some of them are blogs that are just many, many lists punctuated by many, many ads.
And then every so often, there are some absolute treasure troves.
So it’s still a suggestion. Plus, it ends up being a good resource for more unique finds.
To get started, you can search for things like “popular names for twins” or “Victorian girl names” or “baby names that start with m” or “short unisex names.” Try typing in whatever vibe you are searching for. Have fun with it. (Remember to search in the Pinterest search bar – not Google.)
One more tip: when you click on a “Pin,” (not the link attached to it – just the image), it will show you “related pins” below. This can be a helpful way to explore a specific niche.
YOUR FAVORITE STORIES & POEMS
Okay, I wouldn’t name your wizard character Harry or your mermaid character Ariel, and I’d be a little careful about giving your fantasy character who rides dragons a name like Violet with a nickname of Violence . . .
But maybe you’ve got an old favorite book with a few characters that really mean something to you. For example, I named one of my cats Milo after The Phantom Tollbooth. And I named another cat Charis after a Ben Johnson poem. Not that anyone could pronounce the latter, but that’s another story.
In the movie Sabrina, the main character Sabrina Fairchild talks about how she was named for a water nymph that saved the knight in shining armor.
Perhaps there is a story from your own childhood, or a poem you discovered in an old book in the dusty corner of a used bookstore, and it struck you in such a way that you once thought: this is a perfect name. One day I’m going to name my kid / pet this name.
Maybe try naming your main character instead.
ANIMAL RESCUE WEBSITES
I gotta include the fur babies. Especially since I’m currently a momma to four of my own fur babies AND I foster kittens. What can I say? Animals are amazing.
Anyway, this section is here in case you’re ALSO looking for pet names. Sure, you can use the same resources above for this too – like looking up blogs by searching “popular names for dogs,” but that may not fit your vibe if you’re looking for something unique.
Rescues, though? They have to come up with tons of names ALL THE TIME. And they like to post the pictures on social media in hopes they’ll get a big crowd to show up on adoption day.
It’s great for groups, too. One whole litter of kittens can get you Salsa, Guacamole, AND Nacho. With maybe a side of Peanut and Butter. Or maybe puppy twins named Diamond and Pearl. Or a bunny named Floof.
So search for rescues in your area, and check out their Facebook and Instagram pages. Animal shelters also post photos on their websites, so look at county websites, too. You’re likely to find a lot of interesting names. Especially for rescues with big litters who need lots of names.
YEARBOOKS
This is one of those suggestions that should have been obvious, but I didn’t think of it until I was lugging around a box of 30-year-old yearbooks the other day.
There are a LOT of names in a yearbook.
Okay, okay, so the “name trends” thing does apply here too. You’ll want to be careful that the ages of the characters in your book match up with the ages in the yearbook you have.
You can use your own yearbooks, yearbooks that belong to your relatives, or you can see if your local library keeps yearbooks in their collection. Or maybe you find an interesting one at a yard sale. Never know when inspiration will strike!
ONE LAST WARNING: While this task of collecting names can be very helpful in not interrupting future writing sessions, be careful that you don’t use it as an excuse to NOT write. Writing adjacent activities are important, but don’t let them distract you from the writing itself. And this is one of those activities that can be really entertaining for neurospicy people like me – so beware of rabbit holes!
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Got a suggestion of your own that I missed? Let me know in the comments.
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Happy Writing!
xo Rosemary