Alright, it’s time to confess, I love Onomastics! You don’t know what onomastics is?! It’s only one of my favorite hobbies. Names! Doesn’t everyone belong to a dozen different sites to discuss and research names? No! Well, if you are a writer, you have to care a little about your characters’ names. 

You could pick names based on a person you used to know, family members, a name you would use on a kid, one that “just sounds right”, or a name with a hidden meaning. 

You should have a site or two bookmarked to look up characters, whether or not you want to join the forums. Most of these sites have baby in the web address or description, but they are mostly women who love names but are not pregnant. Either way, your writing might feel like your baby! My favorite is ebabynames.com for their easy-to-use database. Others are: behindthename, babynamesworld, babycenter, Native American names, babynamewizard, nameberry, and the US Social Security Names site. 

Authors have a history of giving characters names with secret meaning. *Spoilers* Remus Lupin is a werewolf, when both names mean wolf. Darth Vader is Luke’s Father, and Vader is Father. 


I love to give my characters a mix. Some names I love but will never use (I have two sons), some from family members, some to show a comparison (named after a famous person), and most are named for the name meaning. I’m currently having fun with my WIP naming Native American and Irish characters very culture specific names. I even got to name a car this week!


How do you name your characters?