Now if you guys have read the previous post on how I mentioned that I had some issue with naming characters. Maybe you are dealing with this issue right now. Or that you need another word, or assistance in terms of this issue. Because I know sometimes, it can be stressful. I am sure the last thing you want is to be dealing with the stress of a character that you can’t put a name, much less an identity to, and instead to work on your story. I will help you with that.
Because let me admit, some characters are hard to name. In some cases, like I have done, I went from baby sites to looking at the character that I have created, just to see if there is a way to make it easier, or at the very least, less stressful.
For this example, I’ll be using Braedon, because he was probably the hardest character to name in my personal opinion.
Will there be other characters? Sure. But at this point of time, I will be using him.
How his identity began.
So when I normally create characters, I usually have some form of sketch of the character. I will admit, I knew that this character was going to be orange, he was wearing some formal like attire, younger, a bit crass, but at the same time, he’s… He’s a bit of a tsundere is probably the best way I can describe it.
I knew that he was going to be a bear character, was related to Magnus, who was a stone king at the time when he was created. Osten (This is Braedon’s previous name) was the one that was helping Lucy out to complete some form of adventure.)
However, over time, I just think… the more that I used his name, the more the name doesn’t fit. Then before you know it, you find yourself on the name board, looking at what name suits this character.
The search.
Now you would think that sometimes names would just click, and it would be easy, right? Wrong. In this case, it was a definite no. Searching through all of the baby sites, looking at definitions and making a list on which name would sound the best for this character. It took a while of researching, looking at meanings related to him, and just trying to write and figure out what… No, who he is.
I think over that time, I was also thinking about the relevance of Magnus and later decided that they are probably related in some way. How? I didn’t know at the time. But that was also probably factored into trying to find his identity and decide another name for him. It’s was no longer suitable for him.
So I had to look again. Thinking about names didn’t really help. Researching was sort of helping, but none of the names are fitting well enough, and… I wasn’t really getting a vibe that fit with him either. It went on for days, trying to decide, research, ponder, write… But nothing was screaming out for this character. Nothing was sinking in to him unlike some of the other characters I created.
Brainstorm
I will admit, it has got to a stage where I knew that I was pondering his name for weeks, maybe a month at this point. And it would be nice if the characters that you have created all have a name. And I knew I had to settle with something, anything that will make me stop thinking about it. Fingers crossed from there, it would sink in somehow, and that could become part of his identity — who he is and a character that I am happy to know.
So I picked a name, this was Braedon’s name at this point. And I was looking at it this way.
Brae, the first four letters of his name is an anagram of Bear. Braedon is a bear. So that works.
Braedon in baby sites such as babynames.com and others with similar spellings says that his name comes from Braden, which means broad valley or hillside… That was probably what made me hesitant. Although I could see it in some regard.
Don, from what I remember was brown and something with ruler. I was a bit on the fence about it at the time. He certainly wasn’t brown, even if he is a bear. But in another regard: ruler sort of made sense too.
Now there is also another thing that made me draw into his name. Salmon. That is something that he likes — it’s actually his favorite food. But also, salmons are usually associated with wisdom, knowledge and transformation. Which after pondering about it for ages, I settled with this name.
Was I happy about it at the time?
No, I was not. But I feel like sometimes, you’ve got to deal with the names that don’t make you feel comfortable associating a name to a character. It took a while of actually getting used to the character’s name, but I think over time, he has changed in ways that are different to how he was created when I have first made him,
Before, Braedon was pretty antagonistic. Or at least, he would never agree with what Lucile would say, or if he would, he was rather Tsundere. And he spoke differently. But over time, the dynamic has changed where Braedon seem to get along… Better with Lucile. I won’t say the best, but better. And that he seems to be in the hero’s side than the antagonist’s side. I will be glad to say in some extent that by changing the character’s name, it made him better of a character than he was before.
In some regards, he has probably fit to the name he has.
Is identity finding really that hard?
I will be honest; names can be very hard to come up with at times.
Ok, they are easy to come up with, but at the same time, you’d think, maybe a different name. A different name will suit this character. But sometimes, it is good to apply a name to your character, even if you’re unsure, not a hundred percent happy with the name, and can think of a different name. It’s better, if you can find a name that sort of suits them, and that you can at least reason with.
I do find that when you write the characters, it will either feel right or it would feel off, like another name would be a better fit. But in some cases, you would really need to push through it, and decide the way that your characters can evolve over time.