The Author Name Game

Ever find yourself seated at the computer, struggling to come up with just the right name for your character? You're wanting something that will convey the gender, the age, the nationality and reflect the setting of your story. Since I write mostly historical fiction and strive for authenticity, all of these factors are important and need to be considered.

Much earlier in my writing career, before the marvel of internet became available, I added The Character Naming Sourcebook produced by Writer's Digest published in 1994 to my library. (That really dates me!) What I liked about this resource was that it not only gave you the meanings of first and last names, but also included hints to choosing historical, science fiction, fantasy, mystery and action names. It even included advise on naming your setting. I found it really helpful and this book has remained on my go-to shelf.


Don't know if this book is still available, but I highly recommend it.

Recently someone clued me in to a site called  fantasynamegenerator.com. it generates real names based on sex & nationality. This site is a wealth of links for different categories of names.

Need a boy's name? There's 100 Boys Names‎, Children Name List Boys‎, or Boys Name - Free Download‎ to search and find just the right name for your character.

Need a female name? How about Female Names‎, Famous Women Names - About.com‎, and List Of Girls Names - Download‎?

So if you find yourself stuck, trying to come up with just the right name for your unique character, do a bit of scrolling at one or another of these sites. Just think of all those interesting character names you'll come across, just waiting for their story to be told by you.

Me? I'm a book-in-hand person so I'll stay with what works for me.