How to Brainstorm for Character Names

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Laura Turner, and today, I'm going to talk with you about how to brainstorm for character names. Now, you're either writing a play or a piece of fiction or something else creative, and you need some good names for your characters. One of the first places that I go if I'm totally stuck on a name for a character is actually babynames.com. And I will search through the names that I think would fit the character, and I pick a name based on the meaning of the name, and if that meaning describes the kind of character that I want to create. You could also check out a book of baby names and do the same sort of thing -- thumb through it and find names that you think fit you character's personality. Next, what you want to do is actually pick names that are different from each other. If you're writing a play, especially, you don't want to have a character named Charlie, and then the other...the woman's name is Charlize because you're going to get sort of, you know, messed up with who you...who you were actually writing. Names that are very similar that can...that begin with the same letter tend to sort of appear as the same to you and to people who are reading it. So think about picking your names and making them differentiated from each other, and picking a name that will describe your character and sort of embody that character. And that's how to brainstorm for character names."