A few of my creative sources for names:
- Old English, latin, & folk.
- The old dusty tomes in the back of my local library that nobody reads.
- Make one up (an empty name) based on what my character does or is.
My method is pretty simple. First i visit a name database website,
then i search names according with their religion and find the suitable names for the character selection.
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Moderator Note: removed link.
If a character is meant to represent a certain personality or have prominent personality traits, I will sometimes look up the meaning of names and choose from there. This often results in the perfect name for the character.
For example, if I want a character that is loving and intimate and shy, I will look up names that mean those things. Names like Connelly, Darrell, Sajan, Amator, and Kama for boys, and Amanda, Aiko, Amorette, Darlene, Milada and Mina for girls, all mean some variation of love, beloved, worthy of love, etc.
For me, it makes the name a bit more meaningful. And if you believe that the meaning of names has power, then you are basically declaring who that character is. Plus it can be a nice easter egg if anyone ever figures it out.