You have a new cool original character that is a surefire hit. She’s got skill, an insanely complex backstory, and a sword the size of a front door. You know, everything you need to write a dozen bestselling novels. The only problem is that you don’t have a name, and based on the fact that you’re now somehow contractually obligated to write those twelve books, you’re going to be seeing the name you pick A LOT.

The good news is, despite what I just said, we are already overthinking it. Most writers don’t dwell too long on their characters’ names, and even low effort names can often find a second meaning or end up compelling. Take the “American Baseball player” names that the Japanese developers of Fighting Baseball for the NES came up with, for example:

That said, it’s still not a bad idea to give a little extra thought to the names of characters in your story to see if you can’t give some of the main players that extra layer of detail.

Try to Avoid Multiple Characters with the Same Starting Letter

I’ve seen this given as advice and also had a screenwriting professor straight up tell me not to worry about it, so take this tip with a grain of salt. I leaned towards the “it’s not a big deal” side for awhile, until I wrote a script on commission and had a character named Mark and a character named Mike.

I didn’t think about it while writing, but boy oh boy did the first draft notes include a lot of questions about how one character was seemingly always in two places at once. Draft two started with smashing Ctrl-F and replacing “Mike” with the super cool and thematic name “Dave.” I obviously kept “Mark” in because that’s my uncle’s name.

So it isn’t some hard and fast rule, but a nice rule of thumb. Avoid having multiple characters with names that start the same. If you’ve got a “Jake” or a “Jack,” you don’t get a “John.”

Consider the Phonetic Rhythm

A hidden definition that somehow relates to the character’s identity is great and all, but sometimes you just want something that sounds nice. Before we dig into looking for deeper meanings, I want to point out that the syllables, alliteration, and overall cadence of a name can be just as important.

I’m going to say something I’ve been trying to cut back on saying. Let’s think about Spider-Man.

Honestly, we can think about most of Marvel’s iconic heroes. Peter Parker, Reed Richards, Bruce Banner, Matt Murdoc, Rocket Raccoon… I’m stopping there. Once You hit animals you gotta stop.

I’m not the first person to point out Marvel loves alliteration, but also look at the structure. All of the last names use two syllables. There’s a similar convention in songs about names, like Layla, Roxanne, Jolene, etc.

I’m not well-versed in prosody enough to explain why the syllables of names matter, but I don’t think any of us necessarily need to be. This entire tip is just to remind you to say your characters’ names out loud. If it sounds off, it probably is.

A Nickname or Title can Carry More Meaning than a Name

If you know you want a name that evokes emotion, but aren’t trying to do something too fantastical, consider going the opposite direction. A simple nickname or “known as” can carry a real power in your story.

In Stephen King’s Dark Tower books, the main character is called The Gunslinger, and he chases the Man in Black. Both of these characters have names and the reader eventually learns them, but it can’t be overstated how evocative these original titles are. There’s a level of intrigue immediately conveyed by learning of them as these vague descriptors.

Think about your characters’ jobs, appearances, or actions, then think about what a complete stranger in the universe might call them.

Use Defunct or Fictional Language to Do the Last Tip, Literally

Fantasy novels are covered in this. A series such as Lord of the Rings can get away with it easiest as they have their own fictional languages. I’m not smart enough to figure out how myself, but the elf archer Legolas, for example, has a name that translates through the book’s elvish language to roughly translate to “a collection of leaves.”

Meanwhile, Gimli the dwarf has a name derived from the norse words “gimm” and “hle.” The first meaning fire and the second meaning protect. There is some building required, but its clear that the name of the dwarf from fiery mines was intentionally crafted to translate to protection from fire.

If you’re working in the fantastical, or just want to really find a deeper connection, think about the character you are writing. What elements, emotions, or themes define them? Then look for ancient words relating to these things and add your own twist, like Tolkien did.

Here is an example, just for fun. If I was writing a character who is a skillful thief, but has a heart of gold, I might search for old gods, constellations, or even just defunct words relating to thievery. Completely at random, I searched for Roman gods relating to thieving, and learned that both Laverna were often tied to thieves.

So, for my thief I could use a name like Verna. I intentionally did this as fast as possible for the sake of example. My thief also doesn’t have a last name, like Cher or Zendaya.

You can take this idea further, by considering geography. Your thief grew up in the desert? Don’t use the Romans, use the Egyptians. I can’t stress this enough but once you go down this path, the possibilities are endless.

Which is why I stated at the top that you and I are overthinking it. Here’s something I know about my new cool fully trademarked thief character that everyone is buzzing about. Not a lot of people are going to know I named them after a Roman god. It’s not going to make or break my story.

At the same time, I now know, and I feel a slightly stronger connection to the character by knowing, so there is a level of worth to it.

Use Your Friends and Family

I selfishly tried to hit that last note about connecting to your characters yourself hard as I needed it for this next pitch. We love transitions around here.

Most of my writing takes place in a fictionalized version of our world. My personal trick has become simply thinking about people in my life and using their first names. Now, you’re thinking “but that doesn’t offer any meaning to the audience!”

To your very astute point, I would simply retort that my headline of this article doesn’t say anything about the audience, now does it? I would pitch that naming a character after my uncle Mark does the same job naming my thief Verna does. It gives me an extra hook into the character. It gives me something I can use to think of them one level deeper than I would if I used the name Dave (I don’t know any Daves).

Finding meaning in a character’s name doesn’t have to be for anyone other than you. You’re the audience too, In fact, you’ll read the story more time than most people. You’ll have plenty of chances to prove how genius your writing is to the rest of the world, but first you have to connect to the material enough to want to keep writing it.

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