Hi there. I am writing this post because I have been struggling with finding the perfect names for each of my six main characters in the story I am trying to write. It should be mentioned that the story I am writing is an anime-inspired teen coming-of-age friendship story set at a prestigious private school in [name_m]Southern[/name_m] [name_m]California[/name_m] during the mid-2000s.
Character #1 (Original [name_f]Name[/name_f]: [name_f]Carissa[/name_f])
[name_m]Her[/name_m] Appearance: [name_f]Fair[/name_f] skin, long golden blonde hair and pink eyes. Default expression is a genuine smile on her face.
Personality: This character is kindhearted, outgoing, and girly, and is always ready to lend in a helping hand. Nonetheless she is quite sensitive about the world around her and is often quite naive. [name_f]She[/name_f] comes from a loving Jewish family that encourages her interests in creativity and helping others. Though despite her bubbly exterior and cheerful demeanor, she is actually a sensitive girl struggling to maintain a role-model-like image and the stress of her demanding school environment.
Character #2 (Original [name_f]Name[/name_f]: [name_f]Taraneh[/name_f], “Tay” for short)
[name_m]Her[/name_m] Appearance: [name_m]Light[/name_m] olive skin, shoulder length dark cherry red hair and green eyes.
Personality: This character is introspective, determined, and tomboyish. While she is usually shy around new people, she is fiercely protective of her friends. [name_f]She[/name_f] has a strong passion for music and dancing, and is also proud of her cultural background, yet struggles to embrace it in the predominately white school she attends.
Note: I had originally written this character to be of Iranian ancestry, but I had another idea that involved writing her as having a [name_f]Latina[/name_f] mother and a Iranian father.
Note #2: My original name for this character, [name_f]Taraneh[/name_f], is a Persian name meaning “song.”
Character #3 (Original [name_f]Name[/name_f]: [name_m]Julian[/name_m])
His Appearance: [name_f]Fair[/name_f] skin, short silver hair and icy blue eyes.
Personality: This character is introverted, artistic, sensitive, and intelligent. He often gets lost in his own world of creativity; however he also tends to keep to himself and has a hard time expressing his emotions, which can lead to misunderstandings with others.
Character #4 (Original [name_f]Name[/name_f]: [name_m]Keon[/name_m])
His Appearance: Short navy blue hair and brown eyes.
Personality: This character is enthusiastic, witty, reliable and a bit awkward while also being quite a bit of a prankster. He’s quite geeky and is the glue that often holds the main characters together with with positive energy and humorous outlook.
Note: This character is written to be black, hence his appearance.
Character #5 (Original [name_f]Name[/name_f]: [name_m]Edmund[/name_m])
His Appearance: Shaggy dark brown hair covering most of the right eye, crimson red eyes and an athletic build.
Personality: This character is adventurous, passionate, fiercely independent, and rebellious. With a strong sense of justice and not being afraid to speak his mind, he is loyal to his friends and has a deep love for music, often practicing with his band.
Note: This character is written to be a Latino skater emo punk with a bit of vampire aesthetics into him (No, this character isn’t a vampire and this isn’t a vampire story).
Character #6 (Original [name_f]Name[/name_f]: [name_f]Violet[/name_f])
[name_m]Her[/name_m] Appearance: [name_f]Ivory[/name_f] skin, shoulder-length black hair and purple eyes.
Personality: This character is reserved, intelligent, and observant. She’s rather guarded due to her secret, which makes her wary of forming close connections - but that doesn’t stop her from being fiercely loyal to those she trusts. [name_f]She[/name_f] comes from a wealthy family, forced to live with meeting her parents’ high expectations. However she is also hiding something her family doesn’t want to know…
Note: [name_m]The[/name_m] original name I chosen for this character was [name_f]Violet[/name_f] because… read the above paragraph and you’ll know why. Symbolism matters!
Basically, the summary comes down to this when trying to find a good, fitting name for my characters:
Character 1: [name_f]Sweet[/name_f], cheerful, feminine name that usually means “gentle”, “kindhearted,” “beloved,” etc.
Character 2: Something cool yet not too masculine. Something like [name_f]Roxanna[/name_f], [name_f]Valentina[/name_f], [name_f]Alexis[/name_f]. Or a Persian name, like [name_f]Taraneh[/name_f], [name_f]Roshanak[/name_f], etc. I do want to give this character a short nickname just because she likes being called by nicknames.
Character 3: A gentle, not to hard-sounding name that kinda also gives off some subtle villain vibes… this character is going to become very isolated and aggressive later on in my story, hence why.
Character 4: Definitely something spunky and energetic. Something that fits his personality basically.
Character 5: Something romantic yet vampire-ish.
Character 6: I am pretty comfortable to sticking with [name_f]Violet[/name_f] but if you have any other suggestions, do let me know.
Please do try to give me at least some suggestions for finding good names for my characters. It would be really helpful to make some progress with my story! I look forward to seeing your ideas. 
