Subject: Don't spend longer than five minutes on a name.
Author:
Posted on: 2011-05-09 04:05:00 UTC
I have a particularly low opinion of what're often perceived as 'meaningful' or 'deep' or 'appropriate' names.
As a general rule, I do not spend more than five minutes thinking about a name for a character. Instead, I leave it up to a random name generator (this is easy for me, as I don't bother with fantasy or otherworldly names) and if I don't like what it spits out, I hit it up again until I find one that I like or play mix and match with the ones that do, then I make sure it's appropriate to the character and appropriate to the place the character's set in. I don't think many of us get to choose our birth names; why should any other fictional character's? Our parents generally name us after things that sound good, or in the directions that they'd like us to aspire to be, or even things they associate with things they like, but of course, a person belongs to nobody but him or herself.
Trying to typecast your character's name is usually something of a waste of time. Of course, sometimes you'll find that names are oddly more appropriate than you originally expected, and if that works, then great, power to you, but otherwise, don't concern yourself with such things right off the start. Focus on what makes Bob or Quel'no-vanta'bedda'name unique and memorable as a character first in terms of development and portrayal, personality and backstory --who they are, what made them that way, and why-- and the rest of the bells and whistles will sort themselves out of their own accord, and often you'll find that you'll get better results out of that approach than trying to be everywhere at once or deciding on what makes that character special up front.
Having a good, rock-solid, believable and consistently well-portrayed and justified background alone will make your character special all on its own. You don't need exotics, mystery, or special names to accomplish this feat.
In all honesty, I think what you should be focusing on is what made your guy what he is, what experiences he's been through, the lessons he's taken from them, and how that's shaped his outlook, worldview, and personality. Start there.