How Book Characters' Names Are Born: Writers' Methods

From mythology to the phone book — approaches to choosing character names in fiction.

Every protagonist's name carries meaning. It shapes an impression before the character even starts to act. What methods authors use to find the 'right' name for their characters, and what advice can help beginning writers — the DeTalks team found out.

Why a Character's Name Matters

A character's name serves an identifying role and sets the direction for how the character is perceived in the text. In literary theory, proper names in a work of fiction can serve as 'key anthroponyms' — reflecting a character's personality, social status, and role in the plot, and bringing them closer to the reader.

Authors who pay close attention to language and its effects try to avoid random names and instead choose ones that create an appropriate impression.

Mythology and History: When Character Names Carry Symbolism

Some authors turn to myths, legends, or historical figures to give a character an added layer of meaning. This lets them encode a character trait into the name and create a certain cultural context.

In the Harry Potter series, for instance, J.K. Rowling built a number of names on symbolic meanings from Latin or classical mythology. 'Albus,' for instance, means 'white' — a trait that underscores associations with light and wisdom in the character of Albus Dumbledore. The name 'Sirius,' meanwhile, references the brightest star in the sky, echoing the character's transformative abilities and the motif of a 'guiding star.'

This technique shows up regularly in fantasy literature. Garth Nix, author of the Old Kingdom series, names his heroine Sabriel with a name that blends biblical and occult motifs. This naming choice helps readers intuitively sense her connection to the daughter of the last mage, who guides people between the worlds of the living and the dead.

A Name Overheard by Chance: How Real Encounters Shape Characters

Sometimes writers choose a character's name after an encounter with a real person. This could be a brief conversation at a conference, a chance meeting, or observing someone in public. Practices like this let the author sense a living person, their character or mannerisms, which become an anchor point for the fictional character.

Australian writer Tony Birch used exactly this method while working on his novel The White Girl. At one writers' event, Tony noticed a woman whose appearance and manner caught his attention. He noted her style, posture, and distinctive way of speaking, and after a short conversation, told her that her name, Odette, would be used for the novel's protagonist.

This selection method relies on intuitive perception. The name isn't chosen through logic, but emerges from the impression a specific person leaves. For the writer, it's a way to give the character a tangible anchor and make them more convincing within the fictional world.

Naming Characters After Living or Deceased People

Some authors use the names of real people to preserve the memory of those who mattered greatly to them. A choice like this turns the character into a carrier of personal history, even if the character themselves is entirely fictional.

In that same Tony Birch novel, characters carry the names of activists, relatives, and acquaintances the author respects or honors. Birch notes that for him, this choice is a way of cementing specific people's presence within the work, and paying tribute to their role in his life and social context.

Tabitha Bird, in her novel The Imagination Shop, gave one of her heroines the name Ann in honor of her grandmother, who died while Tabitha was working on the book. The name became a form of continuing family memory and integrating the author's own experience into the work.

Phone Directories and Databases

Writers also look for source material for names in entirely mundane lists — phone directories or old documents. Combining the beginnings of names or different suffixes lets them work with the structure of real names while avoiding direct copying.

Australian fantasy writer Garth Nix uses phone directories as source material for creating his characters' names. The author takes a name he's familiar with, then modifies it — changing the spelling, adding suffixes or prefixes, or combining parts of different words or spelling variants. As a result, the name keeps a familiar sense but takes on the intonation of another world.

Some authors, meanwhile, try to work from their own instincts. A name can appear to them suddenly — as a sound, or a realization that this one just fits.

Writer Ronnie Scott, for instance, notes that sometimes a name arises from a feeling. It isn't the result of a deliberate combination or analysis — Ronnie simply 'hears' how the name should sound, and that sound matches the character's personality. Tabitha Bird also says that the name for one of her main characters 'came ready-made,' as if it appeared on its own, without any further searching.

Intuitive selection relies on the work's atmosphere and the character's inner image. The author senses how the word sounds, so the names don't feel artificial or overly constructed, and don't draw unwanted attention.

Why a 'Wrong' Name Is a Risk

Whatever approach an author follows, names that 'don't sound right' or don't match the intended historical or cultural context can undermine readers' understanding of the book's internal logic.

Writers surveyed in a study by Andreas Stockl note that names need to be accessible to readers and easy to remember, especially in a series with many characters.

Names that are too similar to each other should also be avoided, since similar sounds can cause confusion. At the same time, in fantasy works, it's important for a name to feel internally consistent with the world's culture. If a particular 'region' has characteristic sounds or prefixes in its pronunciation, every name should reflect that.