Help naming my character's?

Writers' Corner
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[name]Hi[/name]!!! I’m writing a fantasy novel about five brothers who are witches with magic powers… And I need help naming my characters. I’ve got plenty ideas for the story, but I can’t write without naming these characters and sticking to the names. That’s my main problem.

All five brothers have medium brown to black hair and brown or hazel eyes with light tan complexions. I had been bouncing around with the idea of having a theme, to emphasize their relationship and how the story is based around it, but your suggestions need not apply to a theme, though they can. My ideas for their last name are [name]Thomas[/name] or [name]Denton[/name], but if you have any other suggestions, feel free to offer them up. :slight_smile:

More about the character’s personalities…

Eldest Brother: He’s got a dark side, being very cold and sarcastic, but only to hide a deep rooted depression and other hateful emotions directed towards his parents. He doesn’t get along with his brothers very well, especially not the second brother, but he’s very protective of them and still loves them all very much. Eventually, the ice melts away and he’s revealed to be very straight-laced and caring with a sarcastic sense of humor.

Second Brother: He’s a dreamer. He desperately wants to be popular, or just to be liked/loved. It’s so bad that sometimes he ignores his family and puts people who don’t treat him right first. He and his older brother fight all the time, because of their differing opinions on family.

Third Brother: The smartest brother who is a bit of a perfectionist, but struggles with being perfect due to everyone’s perception of his perfection. He seems like he’s really boring, but he’s pretty emotionally restrained, due to the immaturity of some of the people around him.

Fourth Brother: He’s the funny one and a bit of a pervert. He lives to make people laugh. Not much else is really known about him, except that he and the second brother are pretty close, due to similar personalities, and that he and the fifth brother are twins.

Fifth Brother: He’s the shy one. He and the eldest brother are very close and the eldest brother is mostly protective of him. He’s the fourth brother’s twin.

Either both or one of the last two brothers may get cut, it just depends on how well I can flesh them out as I write. Thank you to anyone who offers me suggestions and I hope you can help me settle this issue!!! :slight_smile:

2

Can we have some clues about place/time? I mean it doesn’t have to be legit historic minutae down to every detail but is it set “now” or a hundred years ago or…?

Anyway here’s some different sibling sets:

The “normal” set:
Brother 1: [name]Donovan[/name] - dark by nature, by complexion, and by name. I picture a [name]Donovan[/name] as good-looking but not “pretty.” I think your description sounds more like a [name]Van[/name] than like a [name]Don[/name], as far as nicknames. Attractive, but difficult.
Brother 2: [name]Joseph[/name] - this is an outright reference to the Biblical dreamer of [name]Genesis[/name]. He also fought with his brothers, but in the end did not hate them. :wink: A [name]Joseph[/name] has a bland-ish name and might strive to stand out. Or he might use that blandness to get away with things while people are paying attention to older, sarcastic [name]Donovan[/name].
Brother 3: [name]Hugh[/name] - I stole this off the “destined for [name]Harvard[/name]” list. It also literally means “mind, intellect.” I picture a [name]Hugh[/name] as rather in the shadow of some of his more strident brothers.
Brother 4: [name]Alan[/name] - Another Irish name to balance [name]Donovan[/name]. This one means “handsome, cheerful,” and so he is. It is a retro name but not dusty, and its not very snobby.
Brother 5: [name]Caleb[/name]. A Biblical name to balance [name]Joseph[/name]. [name]Caleb[/name] means “loyal, devoted” with implications of religious faith, but it also means “dog,” his brothers might look on him as rather a soft-eyed puppy to be protected. On the other hand, every dog has his day, right?

I hope this helps a little. This was sort of off the top of my head with what you had. If its yuck or if you had a specific time period in mind I might try a do-over.

3

Oh, yeah… That might be helpful, huh? The time and place of my story is literally now, 2012. It takes place in New [name]York[/name]. The family has Irish, French, English, Welsh, and Scottish blood.

4

[name]Joseph[/name] and [name]Alan[/name] aren’t very popular right now, then. Not like bafflingly odd but pretty '50s retro. Either maybe that’s a named-for-ancestor thing, or maybe replace [name]Alan[/name] for [name]Aidan[/name] (spelt this way, please, make the name nerd in me happy, lol) which means “fiery.”

[name]Just[/name] because a lot more Aidans are wandering around at the moment than Alans.

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I really appreciate your suggestions and I really like and probably will use them. [name]Joseph[/name], [name]Hugh[/name], [name]Aidan[/name], and [name]Caleb[/name] are great! I really like the name [name]Donovan[/name] and I think it will fit the character but I’m not sure if I’m sold on it… I’m kinda indecisive when it comes to naming him. Hahaha. If you, or anyone else who may be reading this thread, have any other suggestions, I’m all ears!!! :slight_smile:

6

[name]Doyle[/name], [name]Duncan[/name], [name]Sullivan[/name], [name]Cole[/name], [name]Ciaran[/name]/[name]Kieran[/name] all mean “dark” and have an Irish sound that doesn’t conflict with that sibset. [name]Corbin[/name] means raven which to me implies both dark and clever. Maybe try writing a paragraph or a page with Brother 1 and then do find/replace with each name and see which works the best and feels the most right?

I can identify with indecision, I’m doing this right now instead of my own writing. lol