I need both a first and last name! The character in question is male, mid to late thirties, a cop/soldier type, in a position of authority. Very serious and intense, almost humorless. Big on self-discipline and authority, sees things in black and white. He isn’t emotionless, but he’s very repressed. He’s physically attractive and involved in a romance, though, so no ugly or unpleasant names. It’s a futuristic setting, so unusual names are okay.
I’m using [name]Dresden[/name] as a surname for now, but I’m not loving it.
Bump, I could still use the help! Right now the best thing I can come up with is [name]Soren[/name] [name]Brock[/name]. [name]Brock[/name] is a little more “boyish” that I’d like, but it has the hard, clipped sound I’m looking for. I’d love [name]Kirk[/name] for a last name but don’t want the [name]Star[/name] Trek association, especially since this is sort of sci-fi.
[name]Dresden[/name] does seem to work. I think common, average-[name]Joe[/name] names would work well, like [name]Andrew[/name], [name]Brendan[/name], [name]Sam[/name], [name]Mike[/name], [name]Jeff[/name], [name]Brian[/name], etc. I like to call them 90’s names, the strong and silent type of names.
I’d definitely suggest a change of last name as [name]Dresden[/name] is the name of the main character in the [name]Dresden[/name] files–and your description is actually pretty similar to him, though he’s very sarcastic, he’s still male, intense, a detective and a pretty tough guy.
Tough guy names have lots of strong, guttural sounds-- g, k, kr, br, gr, etc. Many more consonants than vowel sounds. And often they are clipped and monosyllabic. But don’t do anything too stereotypical like [name]Brock[/name], [name]Kurt[/name], [name]Stone[/name], etc.