Names for Characters in a Short Story

Writers' Corner
1

Genre of [name_u]Story[/name_u]: Realistic Fiction/Short [name_u]Story[/name_u]

Time Period/Location: Modern day, no specified place/city.

Brief Plot: A girl calls a cab and tells the driver to take her to a bridge. The cab driver manages to strike up a conversation with her and talk her out of committing suicide.

Character 1:

Character Description: The girl. Short, skinny, light blonde hair, brown eyes. Depressed and feeling lonely, generally quiet. Around 15-17.

Who named the character: Her mother who left soon after she was born, and her father who turned to alcohol after his wife left.

Immediate Family: Parents, though their names are unimportant to the story.

Already Considered: [name_f]Molly[/name_f] (unsure if I want to use it due to the drug association), [name_f]Violet[/name_f] (just not sold on this one)

[name_m]Don[/name_m]’t Suggest These Names: Anything that seems particularly upbeat/perky/happy.

Anything else?: N/A

Character 2:

Character Description: The cab driver, age 16-18, who’s filling in for his father who is sick. This character has been through a lot of hard times because he has a large family with his father’s cab driving as their only income. He tries to stay optimistic and positive, being nice to and helping anyone and everyone he can. He has brown hair and brown eyes, and is sort of gangly.

Who named the character: His parents, loving and sweet but poor people.

Immediate family: Parents and younger siblings.

Already Considered: [name_m]Oliver[/name_m], [name_u]James[/name_u], mostly sort of classic names.

[name_m]Don[/name_m]'t Suggest These Names: Anything terribly trendy like [name_u]Aidan[/name_u]. I think I do want a classic name for him.

Anything else?: I’d also possibly like some names for his siblings, not looking for anything in particular, just a few boys and girls names you think would go with the name(s) you’ve suggested for him.

2

Sounds like an interesting story :slight_smile:

I have a few suggestions for the girl:
[name_f]Melanie[/name_f] (meaning “dark”; I like the association with melancholy here)
[name_u]Blaire[/name_u] (could mean “battlefield”)
[name_f]Kathy[/name_f]
[name_f]Deirdre[/name_f] (just for the tragic association in an Irish legend)

For the boy I’ll go with classics (maybe you want to pick one or the other for his siblings as well)
[name_m]Jacob[/name_m]
[name_m]Daniel[/name_m]
[name_u]Alex[/name_u]
[name_m]William[/name_m]
[name_m]Patrick[/name_m]
[name_m]Simon[/name_m] (especially like this one, as it means “listener”)
[name_m]Christopher[/name_m]
[name_m]Matthew[/name_m]
[name_m]Andrew[/name_m]

If the younger siblings are girls: [name_u]Ashley[/name_u], [name_f]Hannah[/name_f], [name_f]Abigail[/name_f], [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f], [name_f]Megan[/name_f], [name_f]Emily[/name_f], [name_f]Sophia[/name_f]

3

For the girl I’d choose
[name_f]Lia[/name_f]
[name_f]Alice[/name_f]
[name_f]Anne[/name_f] nn [name_f]Annie[/name_f]
[name_f]Polly[/name_f]
I also second [name_f]Melanie[/name_f]. And I’d recommend to look through the songs. It would be interesting to name your character after a song’s heroine who also has a troubled life (like, you see, [name_f]Annie[/name_f] of [name_u]Michael[/name_u] [name_m]Jackson[/name_m]'s Smooth Criminal or [name_f]Nirvana[/name_f]'s [name_f]Polly[/name_f] :slight_smile: )
And I see your male character as
[name_m]Adam[/name_m]
[name_m]David[/name_m]
[name_m]Justin[/name_m]
[name_m]Keith[/name_m] (?)
[name_m]Jared[/name_m]
And I adore [name_m]Oliver[/name_m], too.
As for the siblings, I’ll suggest:
Girls: [name_f]Elisabeth[/name_f] nn [name_f]Lizzy[/name_f], [name_f]Emma[/name_f], [name_f]Natasha[/name_f], [name_f]Sophie[/name_f], maybe [name_f]Grace[/name_f].
Boys: [name_u]James[/name_u] nn [name_m]Jimmy[/name_m], [name_u]Chris[/name_u] (if you don’t go with [name_m]Keith[/name_m]), [name_m]William[/name_m] nn [name_m]Will[/name_m], [name_m]George[/name_m]
These are all classic and very popular names, but I think they’d fit your characters. I’d advice to give them some rare surnames that have meaning behind them if you want to make their names sound unique.

4

Personally, I think it would be cool to have a really perky name for someone who is depressed as an ironic twist. Like [name_f]Polly[/name_f], as suggested, or [name_f]Jana[/name_f] or [name_f]Winnie[/name_f] or even [name_u]Peppy[/name_u]. Hehehe. But here’s some other not so perky names:

[name_f]Lavender[/name_f]
[name_f]Lois[/name_f]
[name_u]Kendall[/name_u]
[name_u]Dara[/name_u]
[name_f]Daria[/name_f]
[name_f]Brenna[/name_f]
[name_f]Jolene[/name_f]
[name_f]Nellia[/name_f]
[name_f]Miriam[/name_f]
[name_f]Miranda[/name_f]
[name_f]Opal[/name_f]
Corinthia
[name_f]Hope[/name_f] (has never been upbeat to me, as the [name_f]Hope[/name_f]'s I’ve known are almost always somber people)
[name_f]Naia[/name_f]
[name_f]Nicolette[/name_f]

[name_m]Harris[/name_m]
[name_m]Nolan[/name_m]
[name_m]Vince[/name_m]
[name_u]Michael[/name_u]
[name_m]Julius[/name_m]
[name_m]Weston[/name_m]
[name_u]Kyle[/name_u]
[name_m]Brad[/name_m]
[name_u]Seth[/name_u]

Possible sibling names: [name_f]Kitty[/name_f], [name_m]Benson[/name_m], [name_m]Paulie[/name_m], [name_m]Jake[/name_m], [name_f]Samantha[/name_f], [name_f]Julia[/name_f], [name_m]Greg[/name_m], [name_f]Danielle[/name_f]

5

For the girl, [name_m]Daire[/name_m], [name_f]Braelyn[/name_f], [name_f]Eira[/name_f], Zaide, Lynae.
For the boy, I have [name_m]Caradoc[/name_m], [name_m]Caius[/name_m], [name_m]Aio[/name_m] (meaning tutor in Italian), Lucenius.
For siblings, I adore the idea of twin girls named [name_f]Solstice[/name_f] and [name_f]Celeste[/name_f].