The simple automated character name generator below will help in your search for interesting and unique character names, male or female.
Have you struggled to imagine a suitable name for your story or novel
character? Maybe you've checked
in baby books or have flipped through the phonebook looking for the
right combination of names, and still you can't find one you like?
Follow these suggestions for naming fictional characters
and then have fun choosing one at the bottom of the page with the random
character name generator.
First, decide whether you'll refer to your character by his or her full name, first name, surname, or a nickname.
Remain consistent. Avoid sometimes using the nickname and sometimes using the full name, as this confuses readers.
Only alter a name for a good reason. For example,
a man called Ben by his friends might be Benedict to his starchy mother
and
Mr. Pierce to the babysitter. This makes sense according to their
characterization, but don't have the babysitter calling him Mr. Pierce
one minute and Ben the next.
Aim for interesting name combinations, but don't
get too weird. "Velvet" sounds more like a horse than a person, and
Crystal Shanda Lear is just silly. Keep your characters real.
Use the name generator to provide story
characters with dissimilar names. If you have Polly and Paul in the same
story, or even Robert and Rebecca, readers will
have a difficult time remembering their names.
Give your characters names that not only begin with different letters but that also sound as dissimilar as possible. Ben and
Jacqueline will be easier to remember than Ben and Jennifer, for example.
Aim to have the name suggest something about the character. Think of the book Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, and that family of girls. Beth was the
quiet, gentle daughter; Jo the strong, boisterous one; and Amy the baby
of the family. The other names elude me at the moment, but those three
stuck with me for forty
years because they suit the characters.
Now play around with the character name generator below to quickly
and easily generate alternatives, until you find one that suits your
character.
In the dropdown menu below, choose whether you want a male
or female name, and then click the 'Generate Name' button. It's that
easy. Repeat as often as you like
until the right combination appears.