The Name Game

I used to get paralyzed when naming characters. Endless worrying about if the name was already in use elsewhere, or wondering if any particular name 'sounded right' — not to mention, my OCD went into overdrive. This quagmire was also exacerbated by my experiences working in the video game industry where decision making can often result in Design By Committee dragging out the process even longer, if it allowed to and should be avoided if at all possible.

My struggles of naming characters would get so bad that I would wait until the very end of the writing process to decide on names. To be clear, this can work, but I believe it is more valuable to develop characters along with their names — it will make the resulting story and characters stronger.

Rather recently I have cobbled together a way to make the process fun, while also serving the vision of the story and characters. I have an extensive collection of reference notes on my observations of the Sword & Sorcery genre, so let's start there. For this particular adventure I'm referencing three main authors and works: Nifft The Lean, by Michael Shea, Conan (series) by Robert E. Howard, and the "Swords" or "Lankhmar" series by Fritz Leiber. Not only are these stories exemplary of the genre, but embody the tone I'm aiming to emulate — this is in no small part due to the apparent influences of the historical Ancient World on their settings. 

Step 1 — Start by simply taking a name from a story you think fits the appropriate tone of the story, or for a stronger result, something that might fit better for the actual character. I gravitate to names that contain flavor, or hints of the character's' actual personality, or traits, but your mileage may vary. For this instance, the character I'm naming is the villain of my story. At a high level, she is a heartbroken sorcerer who is determined to exact revenge on her former lover, and I figure she would be quite spiteful. As a jumping off point, I'll use the character Bêlit from "Queen of the Black Coast", by Howard. My character isn't a pirate, but I like how the name looks, sounds, and feels. This might seem...too direct a lift, or uncreative, but bear with me.

Name: Bêlit 

Step 2 — Begin rearranging the letters until you get something unique, while still capturing the right 'feel': 

Name: Bilêt, Bitêl, Bêtil, Lêbit, Libêt, Têlib, Tilêb

Step 3 — Try replacing a few letters:

Name: Balêc, Bilac, Butil, Labut, Lasêt, Têlac, Tilêm

I ended up with Bilac (pronounced: bye-lack) which also sounds similar to 'bile', which I feel further reinforces her traits.

Looking up the etymology of a real-world name can also push your imagination or character development even further.

In the end, I will always need to spend time naming characters, so why not make a fun game of it?