How do you generally name your characters? They all have very unique names.
Naming Conventions and Methods
Names tell stories about their bearers: the hopes carried by those who named them, their culture or heritage, and the way in which they first present themself to others. I spend a lot of effort on names because I find them a really good launching pad for further character development. Why are they called this? How did they get their name/s? Do they have noms de guerre, assumed aliases, pen names, or other nicknames? What relationship do they have to their name/s? All of these questions open up additional avenues of exploring a character’s background and personality.
I will use Dienabou to illustrate my typical naming thought process:
All of her birth parents’ children have names that begin with the letter D
I specifically wanted her to have a sweet and solid-sounding first name, so I named her after someone I grew up with irl that embodies those traits to me
Diena is a natural shortening of Dienabou and feels close to Diana, Roman goddess of the hunt, the moon, etc. As she is an archer, it’s a fitting association
Diena is a pretty easy name for most people to say (especially if they bastardize it), but Dia and other family members call her Djéné between themselves when not using the Trade tongue. Considering that Diena ends up marrying a very famous Red Jenny, I thought that parallel was amusing
She was renamed Dienabou by Diaraye when she came out as a young teenager. Dienabou II is actually named for their sister Dienabou I that died in a house fire when Dia was a preteen. Family ties are incredibly important among my Cadashes and recycling names is a huge part of their conventions, so it was a way for Dia to embrace her sister as emphatically as possible (while also working through her own guilt due to the role she played in Dienabou I’s death)
Other factors came into play as well (i. e. ethnocultural identity: if Diena was from earth, for example, she’d be the daughter of Fulani Malian immigrant parents), but these were the initial thoughts behind my dwarf Inquisitor’s first name. Some characters don’t have quite as much intention behind their names; some have even more.
TL;DR I consider a character’s name strong when it meets most if not all of the following criteria: the meaning of the name fits the character, it’s language of origin fits, it can be shortened into nickname/s, it has a possibility for ironic usage, and it holds potential foreshadowing for the plot and/or their own character development.
It should also be noted that it is not necessary for every character to have a strong name; Genyidell’s first name, for example, was something I constructed on the spot with no reference to Elvhen or any already-named canon characters, and I still like their name all the same. At the end of the day, your original character’s names only have to work for you—and you can utilize any method you like when naming them.
