Where do you find names for your characters?

by Sara Newnes
8th February 2014

Does anyone else really struggle to come up with the names for their characters? I often find that I have stories in my head ready to write but spend hours trying to find the right names for the characters. I can imagine everything about them but names just escape me. Does anyone have tips on how to come up with names?

Replies

@ Jonathan - keeping a list sounds like a simple and effective solution, I'll start one now!

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Dan
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Dan Forrester
08/02/2014

I have the same problem. So I decided to keep a list, and every time I came across an interesting or unusual name I added it. Now I have a three-page Word doc to go through whenever I need to name someone, mixing and matching Christian and surnames as required.

The other thing I found useful, mainly because I write historical. is online Parish registers. It's sometimes amazing what names were considered normal years ago!

Best of luck.

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Jonathan Hopkins
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