I don’t know about you, but naming my number one main character is the hardest thing to do. It often takes me a while, sometimes a whole month or two before I can find that perfect name. And the villain is next.
But what I want to know is how you come up with your MC’s name and how you go about finding it.
I find a picture of someone that looks similar to my main character, and think about how I would name that person in the picture. Once I come up with a few, I think about the personality of my MC and then see which of the names match the best. If that doesn’t work, I just find another picture and the process repeats!
The names usually just come to me. Occasionally I’ll go and read a few lists on Behind the Name and see if anything leaps out at me. I recently had another idea for a book, I was searching for the main characters name when I came across Eckhard. It means ‘edge’ which is perfect for the story so I decided to use that as a surname. Then I was discussing the names I’d made up for my world and in telling her about the new story she suggested [name_m]Eli[/name_m] as a name. I’d been thinking about how I didn’t currently have a twist on [name_m]William[/name_m] and then - like lightning- Elliam Eckhard was born.
Basically I don’t put a lot of fuss or faff into it. I just let the names come to me or I go in search of them.
When I write (which is not very often), I will usually ask my younger sister to give me a random list of 50 names she thought of, and then I will pick a few off that list and give some different diminutives and alternatives for each name I picked. Then I will think about if the names match the main character, and then I’ll go on Nameberry. Which seems like a lot of work for a one-page short story I’m just going to stick in the paper shredder later.
I actually come up with a name and THEN fit a personality around the name. I come up with the name by looking on Nameberry and finding a name that I would want to read about. 
It’s quite simple actually.
I, too, have much difficulty with main characters’ names. I usually have one of two problems: I can’t find a name that suits the character or that I like, or I can’t decide between multiple choices.
It usually depends on the story, however; for one story, I came up with names on the spot and stuck with them until the end. I can’t imagine them with any other names (the main characters are a [name_f]Cora[/name_f] and a [name_m]Jack[/name_m]). For other stories, like the one I’m currently writing, I’ve had trouble with almost every character except for one, for which I don’t have a last name (my MC, called [name_f]Alaina[/name_f] on the spot, took me weeks to rename; I finally settled with Miria, though had to change a different character’s name because I now had too many characters whose name began with M).
I find that realistic fiction stories are easier to name, because I often give them more familiar names. Fantasies, dystopians and sci-fi are harder, because I struggle to give them unusual yet still good and somewhat believable. They also usually have difficult restrictions. [name_f]One[/name_f] story had all of its men in government take a name ending in -el ([name_m]Mael[/name_m], Citadel and Kaiel were all characters).
Names will either come to me and be a perfect fit or I’ll be going round in circles trying to find one, it’s either one or the other. Sometimes the name comes before the personality, sometimes it’s the other way around. Then I name other characters based on the first one - plausible sibset, not too many names with the same start letters or end sounds, etc. Contemporary stories are easier to name for me, but I still want to make sure the names fit the birth year, the parents, the surname and everything. Working on my first dystopia now and finding names rather difficult.
Generally, my characters drop into my head fully-formed with names attached to them. (For instance, I once had a girl named Flute. [name_u]True[/name_u] story.) In my current WiP, my main male character arrived nameless, literally: he spends the entire prologue unnamed. The name he calls himself for the story, [name_m]Scorpio[/name_m] Leftfeather, popped into my head and makes total sense in-world, but I had to scan a list of names for weeks before coming up with his true name. (The really sad part is that nobody but me and my critique partner will ever know his true name; I’ve elected not to include it in the actual novel) My female main character, on the other hand, stepped into my head, shoved aside the girl I had lined up for [name_m]Scorpio[/name_m]'s love interest, shot holes in the original plot I had planned, killing five characters in the process, and told me her name was [name_f]Thisbe[/name_f] [name_m]Franco[/name_m] Ritz. She, vigilante that she is, totally changed the entire plot, pacing, and character arc of everyone else in the story. (And poor [name_m]Scorpio[/name_m] has to sit in the corner without a real name.)
So yeah. They generally pop into my head with roaring personalities and names dangling off them like coattails. When they don’t, I spend way too much time on the internet searching for the perfect name, and when I find it they all throw a party.
For me, the names need to fit the period and theme. For most characters I like to choose names with meanings that fit with the character or tell something about them which is not obvious at first. But that can be a major pain so eventually I just pick a name I like that has no meaning relative to the character. Most of the time the personality appears first and then comes the name but I’ve had the name appear first or the name and personality appear simultaneously.
If I’m having trouble finding a name for an extended period of time, I assign the character a nn that relates to their personality until their real name pops up. If they still refused to be named I go through lists of names or ask people for help. For example, I called a really sweet but freakishly intelligent character Muffy for the longest time until I decided on [name_f]Lorelai[/name_f] “[name_f]Lore[/name_f]”, thanks to help from Nameberry. But she still refuses all surnames.
For surnames I try to balance the character’s name. So if the first name is pretty out there, I tune the whole name down with the surname unless the character calls for a ridiculous name. For example, one of my MC’s first name is Phoenyx and to mellow it out, but not too much, I gave her the last name [name_u]Reid[/name_u].
I find others to be the biggest help if I’m ever stuck.
Well, I develop the character before naming him. I look for names that have meanings similar to the characters traits. I make a list of names I think could work. Then, I sit down and list off sentences with potential names out loud. Usually when I say the right name, I just know.
If I’m lucky, the right name just comes to me. If inspiration strikes, I put the name through a sort of screening process: does it make sense for the time/place the character was born, would the character’s parents really pick a name like that, does it suit the character’s personality, is it too close to another character’s name or the name of someone I know, is the name’s meaning (both literal and through association) ridiculous, sappy, or unsubtle, etc.
It’s all feast or famine, too. If the above doesn’t happen, I know I’m in for hours of listmaking on behindthename and weeks of waffling back and forth between my options. It sometimes helps to set the name question aside and spend more time fleshing the character out. If I do, I might get a flash of insight about the name…or I might not.
Characters are like kids. Some are harder to name than others.
It’s not hard for me to name my main characters at all. When I wrote my first book (back in WIP stage), I was 13 and named them all just random names that didn’t mean anything to the characters. My main good guys were Veroku (which I think I made up), Anese (ah-ness, I think I made this up too), and [name_u]Frost[/name_u]. My main bad guy is [name_m]Griffin[/name_m] and my waffling character is [name_m]Damien[/name_m]. The characters grew into their names and in the case of the two made up ones, if I ever met an Anese or Veroku [name_m]IRL[/name_m], I’d be like “No, no you’re not.” because their personalities fit them like a glove and since I’ve never known the names before the characters, the personalities fit the names.
With my current about to be published book, I put more thought into it. With my main girl, she just came into my brain with her name attached, so she’s [name_f]Marietta[/name_f]. I don’t like the name [name_f]Marietta[/name_f], but she is undoubtedly [name_f]Marietta[/name_f]. Sometimes she’s [name_f]Mari[/name_f] and sometimes she’s [name_f]Etta[/name_f]. 90% of my other names are either ironic names ([name_u]Pax[/name_u] for a bad guy even though it means peace, Alsandair for an incompetent good guy even though it means defender of man and at the same time [name_u]Alexis[/name_u] for someone who kills indescriminately even though it means defender of man) or when they’re throw away characters, the ones dying quickly, they get names that mean something to do with the character or sometimes ironic names ([name_f]Cecilia[/name_f] is a seer, Akil means both important and pain and he dies pretty fast, Pivane means weasel and he is etc). Only one of my good guys has a name that means what he is – [name_m]Absalom[/name_m] [name_m]Lucian[/name_m] [name_f]Verity[/name_f] is the rebel leader, name means father of peace, light, and truth.
Also, all of my characters have full names, middles and last, that go with their characters Quella’s middle name means “air” because she uses air magic, Soroka’s means something to do with fire because she does fire, [name_f]Marietta[/name_f]'s is Lunshea – moon fairy – because it made me think of madness. [name_f]Syrena[/name_f]'s is [name_f]Amara[/name_f] so her name means siren and her whole name – [name_f]Syrena[/name_f] [name_f]Amara[/name_f] [name_f]Melaine[/name_f] – means siren (of) eternal dark.
For the new series I’m thinking about, it’s all word names and numbers and stuff like that. It’s futuristic and that’s just how they name. So I have characters named Glacier, [name_u]Fife[/name_u], Tank with characters named [name_f]Una[/name_f], [name_m]Octavius[/name_m], [name_m]Decimus[/name_m] etc.
Anyway, I’m rambling. It’s all about the story and the irony for me to sum all that up.
Honestly, when I’m thinking up my main character, their name slaps me in the face, so to speak. It’s just there in my mind already and if I feel the name doesn’t rightly suit them, I change it to something of equal prominence. Typically, I acquaint myself with the personality of the character before I name them.
It takes me a while to find a name for a main character. I like to go through lists, use the super search tool, and skim other novels. It’s extremely helpful to know my characters background before the search, otherwise it’s a waste of my time. I usually get a list of names that may or may not work, and I try writing with them. Sometimes they just don’t sound right, so I toss them.
This process can last for months. My main character of my main novel, [name_f]Rosamunde[/name_f] Drowns, has been renamed at least six times. The story has been revised a lot too, and with each revision there came a name change.
It can be rather exhausting, but it’s probably one of my favorite parts of character development.
I usually make very long lists of names that I like, names that I’ve heard before, names to honor a real-life person or character, etc. After that I’ll spend hours reading over the lists and finding the name that best fits the MC.
bringing back some old discussion threads
I’m with whitefeather in this one. The name is just a detail like any other (looks, style,…) that comes to me while developing a character. I’ll usually stick with my first choice, and if not, it’s not because it didn’t fit, but rather because two or more names were to close. That happens because I rarely make up the names together, it more like I have a character where I think “he’s definitely an [name_m]Oliver[/name_m]”, then later with another one I think “You’re definietly an [name_f]Olivia[/name_f]”, and only several pages in I’ll realise what I’ve done.
Normally I make a list of names that fit the time period/world; then I pick which names go best together (for the MC, the people aroung them alot and the villain) After that I decide on defining traits for the characters (personality-wise and physically) and use whichever I think fits best. Admittedly, I normally use my favourite on the list for the MC.