What do your characters’ names say before they ever speak?
At birth, we are given a name—the one thing we carry with us for the entirety of our life. We are told, “This is your name,” and we are taught to respond to it.
Some of us grow to love our name. Others wish they could change it—and some do.
But over time, something remarkable happens—we give our name its meaning.
At a memorial service, attendees will often pause to reflect on who “So-and-So” was. They were kind. They were brave. They were funny. They were the life of the party. But we are not one thing—we are many things to many people. Each person who hears our name conjures their own version of who we are.
I am Brenda. Someone gave me that name before they knew who I would become. It is I who gave it a personality.
The Writer’s Gift
As writers, we hold a rare kind of power. We choose our characters’ names—not just to identify them, but to hint at who they are, or who they might become.
When I studied literature in college, I was fascinated by allegory. In Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown, characters are named quite literally: Goodman Brown represents a faithful, morally upright man, while his wife, Faith, becomes a symbol of belief—both spiritual and personal.
In the morality play Everyman, characters wear their values like name tags: Fellowship, Kindred, Goods, Knowledge, and Confession. While these works are heavy-handed by modern standards, they demonstrate the lasting impact a name can have.
Today’s writers might be subtler, but the principle still stands—names matter. They guide the reader’s perception before the plot even unfolds.
A well-chosen name can suggest courage, gentleness, mystery, or even insecurity. Researching the origins and meanings of names allows us to bestow layers of depth to a character before a single word of dialogue is spoken. A character named Miles, rooted in the Latin for “soldier,” might carry quiet strength. A Celeste could evoke serenity, sky, or the ethereal. Even choosing an ironic name—like a hitman named Lamb—can reveal volumes.
Naming with Intention
As we shape our characters, we have the privilege—and responsibility—of ensuring their names say something about them, even if only in a whisper.
We don’t always choose the names we live with, but as storytellers, we get to assign meaning from the very beginning. We can give our characters the names we might have chosen for ourselves—names that reflect strength, hope, humor, or vulnerability.
I didn’t choose my name, but I’ve spent a lifetime making it mine. Now, when someone says it, they’re not just saying a name—they’re calling forth a carefully crafted identity—mine.
What do your characters’ names say before they ever speak?
About the author
Brenda Wilkins Brenda Wilkins is an up and coming author with a gift for evocative storytelling and profound narratives. With a lifelong love of stories and a passion for exploring the lessons from the challenges of life, Brenda began her writing journey at an early age. Her works often explore themes of identity, resilience, truth, and the human spirit, forcing readers to view new perspectives.
Although there are many ways to name your characters, it’s more difficult than it seems. As writers, we must pick memorable names that define the personality of our characters. Each character’s name must be distinctive so our readers will not confuse them, yet we don’t want complicated names that will trip them up as they’re reading. If we have a huge cast of characters, we may run out of new and original ideas.
Writers who plan will create character profiles as they outline, choosing their names before ever writing. Those who write by the seat of their pants (like me) invent names as we go, or use placeholder names until the writing is done.
I’ve had to go back into my manuscript more than once to rename characters after realizing they had boring or similar sounding names. I’ve also had to research authentic names for characters who come from different countries.
I asked our members at the Writers’ Mastermind their favorite ways to name characters. Here are some fun ideas you can try out the next time you’re stuck for a character name.
9 Fun Ways to Name Your Characters
1. Movie credits–Most of us stop the movie when the credits roll. Next time, read through the names. Jot down any that jump out at you.
2. Players of sports teams–Are you a sports fan? Football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, golf, horse racing? You can find an endless supply of names at sporting events. Mix and match first names and surnames for your next hero or villain.
3. Name tags of personnel–Next time you’re at a shop, restaurant, or grocery store, look at the employee’s name tag and save that name for a future character.
4. Family tree–Mine your family tree for cool names, and honor your ancestors in your story.
5. Graveyard–Walk around a graveyard with a notebook and resurrect the names of the deceased.
6. Scrivener name generator–If you use the Scrivener app, you can use the built-in name generator. Click “Edit” and scroll down to “Writing tools.” From there, you can choose gender, language, and other options.
7. Online name generators–If you don’t have Scrivener, no worries. There are many free name generators online, like the fun-to-use one on Reedsy.
8. Baby name books–Bringing a new character in the world is like having a baby on the way. That’s why baby name books are the perfect source for names. They also list the meaning of the name, which adds an extra layer of personality.
I got the name for Ona, the protagonist of my WIP, from a New Age baby name book, which included names from different cultures and traditions all over the world.
9. Google–When characters need foreign names or common names for different time periods, Google is the best option. Search up “most popular names” in the geographical area or time period your character is from, and you will find loads of interesting names.
How can you tell if you’ve chosen the right name for your character?
It helps to read your story out loud to see if your characters’ names ring true. Beta readers will also tell you if they get confused.
Avoid using multiple names that start with the same letter or have a similar structure, especially important characters who appear in the same scenes. Mix up sounds, syllables, and styles. Good names will sound and feel right, and create a picture in the reader’s mind.
What are your favorite ways to name your characters?
Barbara Weitzner is the grand prize winner of the Writers Mastermind 2021/2022 Short Story Contest with Away from the World and All the Horrific Things That Happen In It. Poignant and heartfelt, it explores the reflections of a remorseful man as he lives out the rest of his days in a nursing home during COVID. Barbara Weitzner has written and published various short stories and novels and placed third in the 2015 Writers’ Digest Short Story Contest. She tells us when and how writing took over her life.
*****
Why We Write
By Barbara Weitzner
The reason I started to write was because I had retired from working. After the first few months of hanging around the house, a funny thing happened on the way to the kitchen for a snack. I changed direction and sat down at my computer and began to write a short story.
At first, my husband was thrilled. I was spending less time at the mall snatching up have-to-have bargains.
Sequestered in the den, smart phone turned off, I began to type my story.
In every story is the soul of the person who wrote it. I let the spell of each character, their words and thoughts take over until my characters seemed as real as family.
Soon, my characters were wearing me down. I did everything to raise them right, and as soon as they hit the page, they did anything they damned please.
Before I began to write my story, I was unable to button my jeans. With each hour spent mulling and deleting they began to hang pleasantly loose. While friends mulled over good restaurants and hairdressers, I worried about my protagonist’s unsavory personalities. Would my readers hate them, pity them, identify with them? Wish them well or hell? Would I have any readers?
Family noticed my less than perfect manicure, my rounded shoulders, the slight squint I’d developed in my eyes, a growing tendency for my mind to wander away from conversations.
My husband warned me my lack of returning e-mail and telephone messages was beginning to alienate a lot of folks. “And forget about sex, I’ll settle for a good home-cooked meal. You never have time to cook. Shut down the computer and read the directions on the oven,” he grumbled.
Hubby peered over my shoulder to read a sexy paragraph. He cleared his throat. He squinted. I noticed his eyes watering, was he reading lines too shocking to be kept in focus? He began to show the first signs of his age.
My canasta partners got annoyed when I lay my cards in my lap to jot down an idea. Friends got annoyed when their phone calls went unanswered. Hubby got annoyed when I’d jump out of bed to rewrite a paragraph. I stuck to my guns with the sangfroid of John Grisham, and when I completed my story, I e-mailed my submission to Writer’s Digest Short Story Competition. (November/December 2015) and waited months for an e-mail from the Writer’s Digest Editors my nails chewed down to my cuticles. (This is not an exercise for the faint-hearted). I wanted to be published before I dropped dead of anxiety or old age. I made promises to myself; if I only win a mention I’ll give money to charity, I’ll donate blood, help at our local soup kitchen. I’d give up ice cream. Give up chocolate.
Recently, my husband, my best friend, the love of my life, has passed away. I am still grieving.
My books, THE MOST GLORIOUS THING EVER, THE BOUGAINVILLEA CLUB, and THE PARRADINE ALLURE were published by Solstice Horizons (I do not have those editions I’d given them all to family). My short story, AN AMERICAN CHRISTMAS received honorable mention in the 2006 LA BELLE LETTRES short story contest. My article, IT’S NEVER TOO LATE, appeared in the September 2014 issue of SOUTHERN WRITING. My short story, FIRST LOVE was accepted for the 2014 fall issue of GEMINI MAGAZINE 2015. My short story HARRIETT S FATHER was accepted for TELL US A STORY December 2016 quarterly issue. I received an e-mail on 10/19/15 from The WRITER’S DIGEST Editors. My story won third place! And I am proud to have won first place in WRITERS MASTERMIND, for AWAY FROM THE WORLD AND THE HORRENDOUS THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN IT.
How can you create characters your readers can’t stop thinking about?
We are excited to have writing coach, editor, and author,Joseph Sale, back to teach us a groundbreaking method that will help you create deep and believable characters. Instead of having to invent what happens next, your characters will act out naturally. This makes it easier to write incredibly compelling narratives that readers can’t put down!
What You’ll Learn
Why it’s important to determine the deeper psychology behind your characters’ behavior
Why you need to know the difference between objectives and motivations
Why Motivational Mapping is better than Myers-Briggs and other personality-based systems
How motivators create interesting conflict for stories
The importance of the lowest motivator and how to use it to create believable conflict between character
Self-knowledge will help you build better characters. Find out what your own motivators are!
Discover and Leverage The 9 Motivators of Your Characters
The 2006 Christopher Nolan film The Prestige, based on the novel by Christopher Priest, has a lot to tell us about how to write magical stories.
Though there are many things to learn from the way it presents us with a story of two rival magicians, perhaps the most important learning point is the concept embodied in the title itself. For those who don’t know, “The Prestige” is the third act of any magician’s trick, in which what they previously destroyed, or made to disappear, returns – to the delight and adulation of the crowd. As Michael Caine’s character, Cutter, observes, “It’s not enough to make something disappear. You have to bring it back.”
“It’s not enough to make something disappear. You have to bring it back.”
Our mythologies and religions are full to bursting with gods and human beings who return from death. From the wounded King Arthur, who will one day come again from beyond the veils of Avalon, to the crucified Jesus who lay three days dead in the tomb yet rose, to the dismembered god Osiris, who was reforged from scattered body parts by his wife, Isis, the list goes on and on.
The recurrence of this image throughout history and across innumerable cultures is evidence that the idea of a “prestige” is hardwired into our deepest psyche. We yearn for what was lost to return to us. The concept has filtered through into modern-day popular culture too: The Return of the King, The Return of the Jedi, even Superman Returns. There is a sense that true heroes, true saviours, come back to us when we need them the most.
Of course, sometimes this deep human need is exploited for quick cash grabs, as in the “endless sequel” effect in which our favourite characters just keep coming back time and time again. In these instances, often it is the case that the story begins to lose all meaning, because there are no real stakes; the heroes are invulnerable, and even if they seem to die, they always come back without a scratch.
However, when this mythic principle is handled with sincerity and integrity, it can produce some of the most startling and moving moments in cinema, prose, poetry, indeed, any medium. The initial disappearance of the figure who is going to return need not even be via death; it can be just that: a disappearance. Consider how Gandalf leaving Helm’s Deep in the second Lord of the Rings movie shapes the narrative. He leaves the story for some time, long enough we almost forget where he’s gone off to, but at the critical moment, when all hope seems lost, he returns to save the day (bringing with him the “lost” Rohirrim) in a sublime eucatastrophe.
I often hear writers talking about how they have “written themselves into a corner” by disposing of an artefact, character, or even a place. Many of these issues can be fixed by building the concept of a “prestige” into your fiction from the get go.
A sad death at the end of a book can be devastating. But a “prestige”, a triumphant return, is infinitely more powerful; it shakes to the bone.
And on that subject, I always admire a writer who has the guts to kill their characters, and sometimes a character simply has to die, and die forever, for a story to end, for it to have any meaning. But whilst the bitter fruit of death, or loss, is sometimes what is needed to round out a tale, the far sweeter fruit of return also has its place. This is more true of horror, not less. In Nolan’s 2010 film Inception, he remarked that “Positive emotion trumps negative every time”, and I also happen to agree with him on this front. A sad death at the end of a book can be devastating. But a “prestige”, a triumphant return, is infinitely more powerful; it shakes to the bone. Death, after all, is merely existential.
As someone who helps upcoming writers refine and structure their work, I get a lot of questions about my craft: how I do what I do, the secret knowledge of how narrative works. All great writing is built on a deep philosophy which, at least in a healthy organism, evolves over time and with greater learning and understanding. Many people look to me for guidance about the underlying principles of narrative and how to work spells upon your reader.
This Patreon, the Mindvault, is built to give you the answers to these questions.
Once a month, I will share with you a Lost Relic – a piece of occult writing expanding on a narrative idea. For higher tier backers, I’ll also be sharing short behind-the-scenes videos about my creative process, the tools I use to create fiction and narrative, the hobbies that feed my creativity, and more. This is your chance to get up close and personal with a fully tentacled mindflayer.
