Naming names

[Anastasia]

Hi Everyone,
any ideas how I can name my characters?

It's a sci-fi novel, set on Earth in a near future, following an alien invasion. Naming the aliens isn't too bad (just use a lot of letters from typing exercises), but I can't name my humans appropriately. I just think their names are naff.

I've looked on some of the baby name sites, but its not going well. How do you think up names for characters that don't end up sounding like dodgy drag acts, or uber-chav guests on Jerry Springer?

[The Ace]

Try the phonebook then mix up christian and surnames. You may well come up with the name of a real person but how many David Learys are there in the world already ?

[Wolfeborn]

I find it best to think about what the character is like what they wear what there personality is like there likes dislikes etc and try and think of a name that fits, alternativley you could write down short synopsis of there personalitties and then check out the name meaning sites to get names that fit those personalities in meaning.

[Lhinneill]

I don't know if you still need help, but...anyway.

It's been a while since I've created any traditional/real world characters with common names, but whenever I do, I try to make a list of names that I like and that fit the character. Meanings are important to me, and usually that plays a huge role in what the character ends up being named. Once I have the list, I'll play with the names and try to see if they'll really work. Most of the time, my character ends up picking her own name, if that makes sense. ^_~

[igloo15]

I am wondering if people know of a way to get names for cities. I have always found it hard to come up with names for cities. I thought about using actual cities but obscure city names but in a fantasy setting the names don't always come out good.

[Talysia]

Coming up with place names used to be a problem for me, too, although it got easier when I realized that a lot of cities/places/lands were named after people. I find it easy to make up names (as anyone who has read the Character Creation Thread could surmise), so it was just one step further to extend that into a place name. It also gives the land a bit of history, too. It depends on the type and situation of the land, though.

I know it's just one aspect of naming cities/lands, but it's how I managed to get around the problem, at least.

[DarkBunni]

Take a deep breath people, this is gona be long:

Nash Springfeild (coz it rocks)

Sara (you can think of the last names u self)
Watson
Devon
Compton
Terrence
Kliff
Papa roach
Unis (pronounced 'you-nis')
Red
sgt. Samuel Bones
Fredderick
Jenni
Corbin
Hali
Jed
Ellsa
Zeppidy
Graft
Samz
Benton
Jazz
Timothy J Jones
Quip
Fred
Bob

(struggling alot more then what I thought I would be, heh )

Vincent
Lawson
Vent? wat?
Dixon
Polly

(Someone help me! damnit!)

Quinton
Flint
Jet Sampson

Thats it for now coz its three am, hope it helped