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On the psychology and choosing of names
Brought to you by Super Editor

Many authors struggle with names. After coming up with a character who perfectly fits his or her intended role, planning personality traits, clothing, hobbies, and physical descriptions, now you have to sum all of that character's being up in a name!

There is an incredible number of ways to choose a name. Often authors are baffled by the vast array of first names and surnames that could be given to a character, and it's almost impossible to start. Whether you're hoping for a name that could belong to any girl on a street or a fantasy warrior from planet Xyla, there are infinite ways of choosing a name.

Ordinary Names
The best way to find ordinary names is a list. Sometimes one might choose a name that actually means something, while other times one might hope for an ordinary name with little more meaning than "her mom liked it."

Seventh Sanctum is a site that, among other things, generates random names. You can ask it to pick a new name until you find one you like. Names such as these tend to be best for characters from Earth whose backgrounds are much like ours. Don't feel the need to search for meaning. How many people do you know with names like Skye or Joy? Emily is a much more common name.

Behind the Name is a catalog of different names with the same meaning. (For example, Drake means dragon.) Names with meaning can be fun in moderation. But be warned: if you overdo it and name your character something like Amethyst Lavender Violet, your readers will begin raising their eyebrows.

Behind the Surname is a last name site from Behind the Name that categorizes surnames. They're categorized by ethnicity.

Inspiration Pro Pad 2.0 is a free name-generating program that focuses on RP and fantasy names but also has real-life names as well. It also generates encounters and treasures.

20000 Names lists names and their meanings by geographic region and gender.

Wikipedia also lists common surnames by country.

List time!
Here are plenty of ordinary names. I'm picking these from people I know. They're people I bumped into at school, some dA friends, friends of friends… Many of these people were born in the first half of the 1990s; some are older, some are younger. For the most part, these names should be timeless.

All these names are available for major or minor characters. If you mean to throw out a random name, then this is also handy, so you don't find a girl saying "My friend Mariana Annabelle Topaz and I saw this really cute guy over at the ice cream shop."

Girls
Abigail (Abby)
Annabelle (Annie, Ann)
Ashley
Breanna (Brea, pronounced "Bree")
Caitlyn
Candace (Candy)
Cassandra (Cass, Cassie)
Cindy
Elena
Emily
Erin
Jamie (James; this nickname would probably annoy her)
Jennifer (Jen, Jenny/Jenni, Jenna)
Katharine (Katie, Kate)
Lindsay/Lindsey
Michelle
Rachael
Samantha (Sam, Sammy, Sammi)
Sarah/Sara
Stephanie (Steph)
Tess

Boys
Alan
Andrew (Andy)
Benjamin (Ben, Benny)
Bertram (Bert)
David (Dave)
Jacob
John (Jack)
Joshua (Josh)
Leon/Leo
Michael
Nathan
Nicholas (Nick, Nicky)
Paul
Robert (Rob, Robbie)
Samuel (Sam, Sammy)
Thomas (Tom, Tommy)
Trenton
Zachary (Zack/Zach)

A note on nicknames in English (for non-native speakers): Several nicknames end in –y or –ie. These are diminutives, or things that make things smaller, such as –ito in Spanish. Usually children's names end in diminutives. For example, a boy might call himself Tommy at first, but when he's 12 he might change it to Tom because it sounds more grown-up. Most people would probably get rid of the –y or –ie by adulthood, although some names (like Jenny) are common enough that adults will use them. Mikey, however, sounds like it belongs to a 5-year-old.

Last Names
Abel
Alexander
Anderson
Benham
Boyle
Collins
Cotton
Dickenson
Downing
Frace
Glenn
Grossman (poor character!)
Han
Hanson
Hewitt
Highfield
Mains
Mains
Matthews
May
Morton
Pearson
Peterson
Robbins
Russo
Ryan
Scott
Sears
Stewart/Stuart
Travis
Wallace
White
Williams
Worth
Zimmerman

Hispanic Last Names
Cortes
Dorado
Lopez
Mendiola
Naranjo ("naranja" means orange, as in the fruit)
Navarro

Names that People Stumble Over (some readers will relate to your character's plight)
Ainsworth (AYNS-worth, not ANS-worth)
Breunig (BROO-nig, not BROY-nig, not BROO-ning)
Cavanaugh
Clough (pronounced like "cloud" without the d)
Doepker (DEP-ker)
Fleming (everyone wants to add a second m)
Gauthier (Go-shay)
Krazewski (Kra-SHESS-kee; often mispronounced and misspelled)
Krueger (KREE-ger)
Oldham (OLD-um, not "old ham")
Thye (TEE)
Vaughan (vown)
Zueleger (ZOO-leg-ur)

The Ultimate Villain Name (with story time)
There is only one last name that you should ever give your villain, and that is Burr.

This is because of everyone's favorite politician, Aaron Burr! His career (or at least the memorable parts) took place after the American Revolution. First Burr ran as Thomas Jefferson's vice president. This was back when the electoral system was different, and somehow it was arranged so that Jefferson and Burr had 73 votes for presidency.

After voting and re-voting took place in Congress, Alexander Hamilton finally broke the tie and reluctantly voted for Jefferson to be president, saying that Burr's character was too dubious for him to be president. This added Hamilton to Burr's enemy list. Later, Burr went to plot with people of the opposite party, this time for the secession of New England. Burr hoped to sway the populous state of New York into joining them, probably hoping to become emperor someday. He ran for governor—against Alexander Hamilton.

Hamilton, who thoroughly hated Burr, publicly cast doubt upon his character. Burr, infuriated, challenged him to a duel. Hamilton accepted. The two of them met one misty day with guns in hand. Hamilton loaded his gun and discharged a shot into the ground. Being a gentleman, he thought Burr would do the same. Burr took careful aim and shot, mortally wounding Hamilton.

Burr's plans of secession and becoming the emperor of an independent New England didn't work out, so instead he decided to conquer the Louisiana Territory. Burr gathered a small army and marched on New Orleans. Unfortunately for him, this didn't work out either. Jefferson was warned and Burr was captured and tried for treason. He was acquitted due to lack of multiple witnesses, and, apparently having run out of conspiracies or simply the popularity to pull them off, went off to Europe.

That is why the best last name for your villain is Burr.

Things to Keep in Mind
Names that Start with the Same Letter
Usually these should be avoided for characters of the same gender. While it's okay to name your protagonist Sarah and then have a girl named Sammi show up later, usually these things should be avoided—especially if one or both of the characters is minor and/or is absent from the storyline for a while. While the characters and their names are distinct in your mind, some readers will know them as "S---- the girl" when keeping track of them in their heads. It's generally good to have only one S---- the girl.

This should especially be kept in mind with fantasy names. If the names are especially strange, you should avoid having male and female names start with the same letter. (Instead of reading "S—— the girl," they may read "S—— the person whose gender I don't remember and can't figure out from the name." The horror!) Apply your common sense with this idea. You should be able to figure out what works and what doesn't.

Changing Times
If you're writing historical fiction, research names as well as the times. If your book is set in the American Revolution, you can borrow first names from political figures around that time—George, John, Alexander, Samuel, etc. If women weren't involved in politics around that time, draw up a list of political figures' wives. While you research your setting, try writing down every first name that you run across. You'll end up with a good list of names you can draw from.

——>Note: Borrowing last names of particularly famous individuals may not be a good idea. Aaron Burr is mostly remembered by history gurus and law students/professionals. Names like Napoleon and Hitler... It doesn't matter how megalomaniacal or insane your villain is; it'll sound contrived. The same goes for heroic names like Washington and Bolívar. The subtler and more common Adams might be better.

Science fiction in the near future has predictable naming trends. What are the current top baby names? Thirty years later, these babies will be grown up, and unless Edward read Twilight and changed his name out of sheer horror, they'll have the same names.

Different Cultures
Research is essential to picking a good name! You want to know what ethnic group your character comes from, and it's also a good idea to look up cultural naming patterns (such as diminutives) so the name will seem normal even to a reader of that race or ethnicity.

I'm not going to tell you all the rules and generalities for different cultures, because that would make this resource way too long. Try looking through history, news stories, websites from the area in question, deviants from the area, naming websites, and the all-knowing Google.

Economic Status
In societies with low class mobility, name length was another way of marking status. People from the lower classes had short names, while nobility strung together titles and extra names until their names were as frilly as their clothing. Take Tom Dacre, the little chimney sweep , and Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolayevna Romanova (whose name wasn't actually that bad in the scheme of things ).

Today, long names still have a formal connotation, while short names are more casual. That's the purpose of nicknames. Imagine a man named Bartholomew Alexander Higgins. His friends probably call him Bart.

A Word of Warning about Name Meanings
The first time you go to a website full of names and their meanings, it can feel as exhilarating as a child's first trip trick-or-treating: suddenly there's free candy everywhere. Tristan means "sad," so what would be a better way to highlight your character's sorrow about her past? Sharde means "honor confers a crown," and it's edgy to boot. Now your characters' names can tell us all about them!

Just look at my real name, which means "little bird." I'm short and slight, I enjoy singing, I love heights, and I have a pointy nose. Even my name is a perfect fit!

Except... oh, yeah, my parents didn't know me when they named me. I was still in my mother's womb. My parents picked my name because they liked it. And (let me check...) they don't even know what it means.

Your character's parents or guardians will pick his/her name. Therefore, that name will reflect on them instead of your character. Is your character named Wellington? His parents are probably the stiff-collared sort, and they might be British. If your character is named Joy, I bet her parents hope she'll have a life filled with happiness. And if your character is called Stormy Kry'stal Natasha Darke Angel Speedster Ash, her parents are probably addicted to illegal substances. (Hang in there, Stormy!)

Then, there are some of you more scholarly sorts with rebuttals on the tip of your tongues. Great writers have used name meanings! Look at Holden Caulfield's name!

The difference between good and bad name meanings is not what they are, but why they are. Amateurs often choose names that emphasize a character's unique traits just to make the character more special or unique. Writers of great literature may also highlight characters' traits through names, but they do it not to make the character special, but to build upon the theme of their work. Salinger chose Holden's name to underline Holden's desire to preserve the innocence of childhood despite the fact that he is growing up, the struggle upon which the book is based.

If you want to pick meaningful names that will add to your story, try thinking about how they will add to your theme. They can be subtle.

It's also completely fine to choose names simply because of their sound and pay no attention to meaning. That's what many parents do. Unless your character's name is ridiculous, it will have little bearing on his or her life. I could have been called Raven, and even though I have little fondness for Poe or the color black, people wouldn't have thought of me any differently.

Inventing Names
By this, I mean fantasy names. Don't make up names for characters in realistic fiction. Seriously, there are tons of resources out there for you.

Inventing fantasy names is a bit difficult, but it gets easier and more enjoyable with experience. There are a number of methods of picking something.

Assembling Nonsense
It works, but it's not recommended. Basically, that's throwing together random letters and seeing what happens. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't. If you're ambitious, you're welcome to try it, but there are much easier ways to do this, and they often work better.

Google Translate
Yep. Google Translate is a perfectly acceptable way to come up with odd names. When naming a random alien or elf, it's a pretty quick way to get things done. My main antagonist (Athryl) actually has a name that comes from Welsh.

You can type in a word such as "strong," "flower," or "genius," and then take a translation that you like and copy and paste it. However, why not shake things up a bit? The foreign word is just a start! If you think it would sound better if you tweaked it, then tweak away. Athryl's name could have been longer, but I cut off the last three letters to keep it from being a pain. If you think of something that can sounds better or is more pronounceable, then by all means, use that.

Etymology
There is nothing like borrowing a piece of a word from Latin or Greek. It leaves a hint of a meaning in your readers' minds. The best way to see this is through examples.

Harry Potter J. K. Rowling took many of her spell words from Latin. For example, lumos will light up a wand. Have you ever heard of something being luminescent? Many word roots are unconsciously imprinted into our minds, and even the word lumos gives us a feeling of light or glowing.

Bionicle (from Lego) A character named Umbra has a name that's an interesting paradox. Umbra can turn into a beam of light, but his name means "shadow."

Psychosynthetics This is a term that my character Zaen to describe his ability to manipulate molecules with his mind and create new things with them (within reasonable limits). Psycho = mind; synth = creation or coming together
I would've called it psychosynthesis, but the psychologist Roberto Assagioli stole that first.

Altering Ordinary Names
Yes, an awesome of mythical names is ordinary names! Just like Google Translate, ordinary names can be great starting points. This is usually the way I do names. Here's an example taken from when I was 12 or so.
Mirri
I've always liked this name, but the problem with it is that it's a real name, when I wanted a fantasy name.
Mirria
No, that doesn't sound quite right. That extra syllable garbles it a little in my mind.
Mirra
It's a real name again, but I like it more.
Amirra
And... done. This was the name I ended up choosing. Those of you who read "Extrasuperfabulous" might remember her as the example of a Mary Sue. Still, she has a pretty name, and it was all based off of a (rare) name that real people have.

Names like that don't have to be pretty. You could start with something such as, I don't know, Engelbert, and play with it from there. You can also take regular nouns, verbs, adjectives, or anything under the sun. It's much like playing with etymology then. Name a character Banan and your readers just may think of bananas (which may be what you want). You can even modify names from history for the enjoyment of your more educated readers. For example, in chapter 10 of my book, it was mentioned that a planet was recovering from an Asrian invasion. Those who know about the awful Assyrian Empire will probably raise their eyebrows (or knowingly roll their eyes) when they see that.

So, did you notice the common thread? Creating a fantasy name is much like drawing: you're allowed to use a base. In this case, however, elitists won't snub their noses at you and accuse you of the inability to draw, but they may laugh and feel smart because they're in on the joke.

Consistency
Before you run off and make all these fantastic names based off of other words, you might want to consider consistency. Consistency will add a lot of believability and maturity to your work. Do you want your aliens to be named Zorx, Klax, and Jennifer? Unless you're writing a comical children's book like Dav Pilkey's, I don't think so.

Try to pick names that are based off of similar letters. List a few different letters, mess around with them, and see what patterns you can create.

Vowels (especially a and o), n, and r:
Akoro, Anira, Karo, Pana, Ellienne, Kirona

The letters k, j, r, and x, as well as th:
Kejoth, Thon, Terrej, Xoka, Kran, Xermort

These groups of names give off very different people. The first group seems to belong to a race of wood-elves or fairies. The second group seems to belong to people of an... unusual planet.

Make sure that you hear the name in your head before you type it! Look at these names:
Ksalks, Dslald, Fjdakl, Kwlekois, Adjelkl
How do you pronounce Ksalks? Well, upon examination it seems to have "salk" in there, which must be like "salt," and "ks" must be like an x sound. As for Fjdakl…

Uh, no, don't do this. Hear the name in your head before you type it. I made these names by writing a capital letter, hitting random keyboard keys, and then adding a vowel as necessary and deleting the semicolons. Trust me, if you can't already hear this name in your head, the reader won't be able to either.

Remember, names should be easy to understand. There's nothing wrong with stepping away from the conventional, but be careful to stay clear, or you may end up with an indecipherable name like Psophyyiah. Readers will stop smoothly breezing through your prose, and they'll scratch the sides of their chins and say "What the heck is THAT?" Then they'll carefully sound it out in their heads and conclude that you really just named your alien princess Sofia. You might as well have stated it straight out and spared the reader the trouble.

Apostrophes and hyphens can create similar issues. Their "edginess" has caused them to become an unfortunate fad in character naming. While there are rare occurrences of punctuation in real-life names, usually you want to avoid peppering your elves' names with eye-slowing hyphens and apostrophes.

I don't recommend putting punctuation into character names. While I understand that those names have thought behind them, my first instinct always reads them like this: ur'qei-odfk'aj-kal'lask

In names, extra punctuation means extra confusion. You can make your cultural names unique without them being this special snowflake-y. (By that reasoning, you might as well throw in an exclamation mark or two and be really original.) Fantasy names that stick with the 26-letter alphabet usually sound the most genuine, and while apostrophes and hyphens can be pulled off, they generally have that tinge of stale fan fiction.

--->Note: Making up names may end up with you finding an actual name from a different culture! Since there are so many different cultures out there, it really isn't something you should be concerned with. If the idea deeply troubles you, you can search the new name on Google and see what pops up. However, a lot of names have already been taken, sometimes by multiple cultures, so it probably isn't much of a concern. Take the name Amirra. I recently learned that it's Arabic.

The Balance of Vowels and Consonants
Vowels and consonants are a major part of name psychology, and people have used them to suggest traits for ages. Basically, nice characters tend to have names with proportionately more vowels, while mean characters often have names filled with harsh consonants.

Let's examine our favorite good guy/bad guy pair: Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader!

Since English is a fickle language, let's write them out phoenetically.

Look Skiwahlkur
Dahrth Vaydur

or:

lOOk skIWAHLKur
DAHRth VAYdur

Luke Skywalker just sounds a lot more like a "good guy name," doesn't it? The vowels carry most of the weight, giving it a softer sound. Darth Vader's name is full of harsh consonants that break the sounds against the tongue.

A vowel:consonant ratio is often a subconscious thing. Look back to your oldest writings. Did you do that? Here are some names from the novel I started when I was barely 11:
Eve Twilight, Alan Pi, Su Li Chong*
versus
Darkness (uh, yeah) and Mitch Black
*This name is not actually Japanese; I had made it up. (Again, I was eleven.)

Just look at Mitch Black's name. Isn't it dastardly? The –tch, bl- and –ck parts really jump out. Compare it to Eve Twilight's name. It's obvious who the bad guy is.

Yes, fantasy names that follow patterns can make use of this too. Let's take the list from earlier:
Kejoth, Thon, Terrej, Xoka, Kran, Xermort

Now we'll analyze this, keeping in mind that this is highly subjective…
Kejoth: Either-or. The –jo- part seems to jump out the most, and it's balanced.
Thon: The vowel in the name, along with fainter consonant sounds (th and n) makes this almost certainly a "good guy name."
Terrej: This one also goes either way. The hard j tips the scales towards evil, but the rest of the name is soft.
Xoka: The o carries a lot of weight, but the k is very hard. You could call it either.
Kran: This could go either way, but I'd tip the scales towards bad. The a sound is a bit stale there, and the "kr" doesn't sound completely pleasant either.
Xermort: What a villainous name! The vowels fade into the background. This person even has the suffix –mort to finish it off with a deathly feel. J. K. Rowling did the same with Voldemort. I bet that he and Xermort could be best buddies.

Don't overdo the "more consonants = bad guy" idea. Do you remember Ksalks, Dslald, and Fjdakl? If you're lining these guys up against people such as Amirra, Karo, and Ellienne, some readers might groan.

You may want to take this concept and dump it on its head! Perhaps you want Xermort to be your hero, with the stoic Kran at his side, while they defeat that dastardly witch Ameliana. It never hurts to shake up readers' unconscious thoughts a little.

The balance of vowels and consonants is usually psychological. People are probably going to be more inclined to sympathize with Thon and Ameliana than they will with Xermort initially, but if Xermort is consoling a crying little girl while Ameliana screams at the cook for leaving the pastries in for too long, things will change very quickly. Names are only first impressions, and you can't truly judge character with those.

In Conclusion
So, what's in a name? Truly? Not much. If your character isn't named Annabelle Jade Vesper Kitsune or Psophyyiah, you're probably safe. A character's deeds, not vowel percentages or word roots, make up the readers' long-term impressions of them. Special names are like glitter. Your work doesn't need them, and too much glitter makes it look like a kindergartener's art project, but a little bit here and there can be fun and add to your art.

Names can be one of the hardest things to pick when it comes to creating a character. Thankfully, there are ways to give our imaginations a boost, and there are infinitely many names out there for us to pick!

Happy writing!

…Now I want to go make a bad guy named Xermort.

Description
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On the psychology and choosing of names
Brought to you by Super Editor

Many authors struggle with names. After coming up with a character who perfectly fits his or her intended role, planning personality traits, clothing, hobbies, and physical descriptions, now you have to sum all of that character's being up in a name!

There is an incredible number of ways to choose a name. Often authors are baffled by the vast array of first names and surnames that could be given to a character, and it's almost impossible to start. Whether you're hoping for a name that could belong to any girl on a street or a fantasy warrior from planet Xyla, there are infinite ways of choosing a name.

Ordinary Names
The best way to find ordinary names is a list. Sometimes one might choose a name that actually means something, while other times one might hope for an ordinary name with little more meaning than "her mom liked it."

Seventh Sanctum is a site that, among other things, generates random names. You can ask it to pick a new name until you find one you like. Names such as these tend to be best for characters from Earth whose backgrounds are much like ours. Don't feel the need to search for meaning. How many people do you know with names like Skye or Joy? Emily is a much more common name.

Behind the Name is a catalog of different names with the same meaning. (For example, Drake means dragon.) Names with meaning can be fun in moderation. But be warned: if you overdo it and name your character something like Amethyst Lavender Violet, your readers will begin raising their eyebrows.

Behind the Surname is a last name site from Behind the Name that categorizes surnames. They're categorized by ethnicity.

Inspiration Pro Pad 2.0 is a free name-generating program that focuses on RP and fantasy names but also has real-life names as well. It also generates encounters and treasures.

20000 Names lists names and their meanings by geographic region and gender.

Wikipedia also lists common surnames by country.

List time!
Here are plenty of ordinary names. I'm picking these from people I know. They're people I bumped into at school, some dA friends, friends of friends… Many of these people were born in the first half of the 1990s; some are older, some are younger. For the most part, these names should be timeless.

All these names are available for major or minor characters. If you mean to throw out a random name, then this is also handy, so you don't find a girl saying "My friend Mariana Annabelle Topaz and I saw this really cute guy over at the ice cream shop."

Girls
Abigail (Abby)
Annabelle (Annie, Ann)
Ashley
Breanna (Brea, pronounced "Bree")
Caitlyn
Candace (Candy)
Cassandra (Cass, Cassie)
Cindy
Elena
Emily
Erin
Jamie (James; this nickname would probably annoy her)
Jennifer (Jen, Jenny/Jenni, Jenna)
Katharine (Katie, Kate)
Lindsay/Lindsey
Michelle
Rachael
Samantha (Sam, Sammy, Sammi)
Sarah/Sara
Stephanie (Steph)
Tess

Boys
Alan
Andrew (Andy)
Benjamin (Ben, Benny)
Bertram (Bert)
David (Dave)
Jacob
John (Jack)
Joshua (Josh)
Leon/Leo
Michael
Nathan
Nicholas (Nick, Nicky)
Paul
Robert (Rob, Robbie)
Samuel (Sam, Sammy)
Thomas (Tom, Tommy)
Trenton
Zachary (Zack/Zach)

A note on nicknames in English (for non-native speakers): Several nicknames end in –y or –ie. These are diminutives, or things that make things smaller, such as –ito in Spanish. Usually children's names end in diminutives. For example, a boy might call himself Tommy at first, but when he's 12 he might change it to Tom because it sounds more grown-up. Most people would probably get rid of the –y or –ie by adulthood, although some names (like Jenny) are common enough that adults will use them. Mikey, however, sounds like it belongs to a 5-year-old.

Last Names
Abel
Alexander
Anderson
Benham
Boyle
Collins
Cotton
Dickenson
Downing
Frace
Glenn
Grossman (poor character!)
Han
Hanson
Hewitt
Highfield
Mains
Mains
Matthews
May
Morton
Pearson
Peterson
Robbins
Russo
Ryan
Scott
Sears
Stewart/Stuart
Travis
Wallace
White
Williams
Worth
Zimmerman

Hispanic Last Names
Cortes
Dorado
Lopez
Mendiola
Naranjo ("naranja" means orange, as in the fruit)
Navarro

Names that People Stumble Over (some readers will relate to your character's plight)
Ainsworth (AYNS-worth, not ANS-worth)
Breunig (BROO-nig, not BROY-nig, not BROO-ning)
Cavanaugh
Clough (pronounced like "cloud" without the d)
Doepker (DEP-ker)
Fleming (everyone wants to add a second m)
Gauthier (Go-shay)
Krazewski (Kra-SHESS-kee; often mispronounced and misspelled)
Krueger (KREE-ger)
Oldham (OLD-um, not "old ham")
Thye (TEE)
Vaughan (vown)
Zueleger (ZOO-leg-ur)

The Ultimate Villain Name (with story time)
There is only one last name that you should ever give your villain, and that is Burr.

This is because of everyone's favorite politician, Aaron Burr! His career (or at least the memorable parts) took place after the American Revolution. First Burr ran as Thomas Jefferson's vice president. This was back when the electoral system was different, and somehow it was arranged so that Jefferson and Burr had 73 votes for presidency.

After voting and re-voting took place in Congress, Alexander Hamilton finally broke the tie and reluctantly voted for Jefferson to be president, saying that Burr's character was too dubious for him to be president. This added Hamilton to Burr's enemy list. Later, Burr went to plot with people of the opposite party, this time for the secession of New England. Burr hoped to sway the populous state of New York into joining them, probably hoping to become emperor someday. He ran for governor—against Alexander Hamilton.

Hamilton, who thoroughly hated Burr, publicly cast doubt upon his character. Burr, infuriated, challenged him to a duel. Hamilton accepted. The two of them met one misty day with guns in hand. Hamilton loaded his gun and discharged a shot into the ground. Being a gentleman, he thought Burr would do the same. Burr took careful aim and shot, mortally wounding Hamilton.

Burr's plans of secession and becoming the emperor of an independent New England didn't work out, so instead he decided to conquer the Louisiana Territory. Burr gathered a small army and marched on New Orleans. Unfortunately for him, this didn't work out either. Jefferson was warned and Burr was captured and tried for treason. He was acquitted due to lack of multiple witnesses, and, apparently having run out of conspiracies or simply the popularity to pull them off, went off to Europe.

That is why the best last name for your villain is Burr.

Things to Keep in Mind
Names that Start with the Same Letter
Usually these should be avoided for characters of the same gender. While it's okay to name your protagonist Sarah and then have a girl named Sammi show up later, usually these things should be avoided—especially if one or both of the characters is minor and/or is absent from the storyline for a while. While the characters and their names are distinct in your mind, some readers will know them as "S---- the girl" when keeping track of them in their heads. It's generally good to have only one S---- the girl.

This should especially be kept in mind with fantasy names. If the names are especially strange, you should avoid having male and female names start with the same letter. (Instead of reading "S—— the girl," they may read "S—— the person whose gender I don't remember and can't figure out from the name." The horror!) Apply your common sense with this idea. You should be able to figure out what works and what doesn't.

Changing Times
If you're writing historical fiction, research names as well as the times. If your book is set in the American Revolution, you can borrow first names from political figures around that time—George, John, Alexander, Samuel, etc. If women weren't involved in politics around that time, draw up a list of political figures' wives. While you research your setting, try writing down every first name that you run across. You'll end up with a good list of names you can draw from.

——>Note: Borrowing last names of particularly famous individuals may not be a good idea. Aaron Burr is mostly remembered by history gurus and law students/professionals. Names like Napoleon and Hitler... It doesn't matter how megalomaniacal or insane your villain is; it'll sound contrived. The same goes for heroic names like Washington and Bolívar. The subtler and more common Adams might be better.

Science fiction in the near future has predictable naming trends. What are the current top baby names? Thirty years later, these babies will be grown up, and unless Edward read Twilight and changed his name out of sheer horror, they'll have the same names.

Different Cultures
Research is essential to picking a good name! You want to know what ethnic group your character comes from, and it's also a good idea to look up cultural naming patterns (such as diminutives) so the name will seem normal even to a reader of that race or ethnicity.

I'm not going to tell you all the rules and generalities for different cultures, because that would make this resource way too long. Try looking through history, news stories, websites from the area in question, deviants from the area, naming websites, and the all-knowing Google.

Economic Status
In societies with low class mobility, name length was another way of marking status. People from the lower classes had short names, while nobility strung together titles and extra names until their names were as frilly as their clothing. Take Tom Dacre, the little chimney sweep , and Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolayevna Romanova (whose name wasn't actually that bad in the scheme of things ).

Today, long names still have a formal connotation, while short names are more casual. That's the purpose of nicknames. Imagine a man named Bartholomew Alexander Higgins. His friends probably call him Bart.

A Word of Warning about Name Meanings
The first time you go to a website full of names and their meanings, it can feel as exhilarating as a child's first trip trick-or-treating: suddenly there's free candy everywhere. Tristan means "sad," so what would be a better way to highlight your character's sorrow about her past? Sharde means "honor confers a crown," and it's edgy to boot. Now your characters' names can tell us all about them!

Just look at my real name, which means "little bird." I'm short and slight, I enjoy singing, I love heights, and I have a pointy nose. Even my name is a perfect fit!

Except... oh, yeah, my parents didn't know me when they named me. I was still in my mother's womb. My parents picked my name because they liked it. And (let me check...) they don't even know what it means.

Your character's parents or guardians will pick his/her name. Therefore, that name will reflect on them instead of your character. Is your character named Wellington? His parents are probably the stiff-collared sort, and they might be British. If your character is named Joy, I bet her parents hope she'll have a life filled with happiness. And if your character is called Stormy Kry'stal Natasha Darke Angel Speedster Ash, her parents are probably addicted to illegal substances. (Hang in there, Stormy!)

Then, there are some of you more scholarly sorts with rebuttals on the tip of your tongues. Great writers have used name meanings! Look at Holden Caulfield's name!

The difference between good and bad name meanings is not what they are, but why they are. Amateurs often choose names that emphasize a character's unique traits just to make the character more special or unique. Writers of great literature may also highlight characters' traits through names, but they do it not to make the character special, but to build upon the theme of their work. Salinger chose Holden's name to underline Holden's desire to preserve the innocence of childhood despite the fact that he is growing up, the struggle upon which the book is based.

If you want to pick meaningful names that will add to your story, try thinking about how they will add to your theme. They can be subtle.

It's also completely fine to choose names simply because of their sound and pay no attention to meaning. That's what many parents do. Unless your character's name is ridiculous, it will have little bearing on his or her life. I could have been called Raven, and even though I have little fondness for Poe or the color black, people wouldn't have thought of me any differently.

Inventing Names
By this, I mean fantasy names. Don't make up names for characters in realistic fiction. Seriously, there are tons of resources out there for you.

Inventing fantasy names is a bit difficult, but it gets easier and more enjoyable with experience. There are a number of methods of picking something.

Assembling Nonsense
It works, but it's not recommended. Basically, that's throwing together random letters and seeing what happens. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't. If you're ambitious, you're welcome to try it, but there are much easier ways to do this, and they often work better.

Google Translate
Yep. Google Translate is a perfectly acceptable way to come up with odd names. When naming a random alien or elf, it's a pretty quick way to get things done. My main antagonist (Athryl) actually has a name that comes from Welsh.

You can type in a word such as "strong," "flower," or "genius," and then take a translation that you like and copy and paste it. However, why not shake things up a bit? The foreign word is just a start! If you think it would sound better if you tweaked it, then tweak away. Athryl's name could have been longer, but I cut off the last three letters to keep it from being a pain. If you think of something that can sounds better or is more pronounceable, then by all means, use that.

Etymology
There is nothing like borrowing a piece of a word from Latin or Greek. It leaves a hint of a meaning in your readers' minds. The best way to see this is through examples.

Harry Potter J. K. Rowling took many of her spell words from Latin. For example, lumos will light up a wand. Have you ever heard of something being luminescent? Many word roots are unconsciously imprinted into our minds, and even the word lumos gives us a feeling of light or glowing.

Bionicle (from Lego) A character named Umbra has a name that's an interesting paradox. Umbra can turn into a beam of light, but his name means "shadow."

Psychosynthetics This is a term that my character Zaen to describe his ability to manipulate molecules with his mind and create new things with them (within reasonable limits). Psycho = mind; synth = creation or coming together
I would've called it psychosynthesis, but the psychologist Roberto Assagioli stole that first.

Altering Ordinary Names
Yes, an awesome of mythical names is ordinary names! Just like Google Translate, ordinary names can be great starting points. This is usually the way I do names. Here's an example taken from when I was 12 or so.
Mirri
I've always liked this name, but the problem with it is that it's a real name, when I wanted a fantasy name.
Mirria
No, that doesn't sound quite right. That extra syllable garbles it a little in my mind.
Mirra
It's a real name again, but I like it more.
Amirra
And... done. This was the name I ended up choosing. Those of you who read "Extrasuperfabulous" might remember her as the example of a Mary Sue. Still, she has a pretty name, and it was all based off of a (rare) name that real people have.

Names like that don't have to be pretty. You could start with something such as, I don't know, Engelbert, and play with it from there. You can also take regular nouns, verbs, adjectives, or anything under the sun. It's much like playing with etymology then. Name a character Banan and your readers just may think of bananas (which may be what you want). You can even modify names from history for the enjoyment of your more educated readers. For example, in chapter 10 of my book, it was mentioned that a planet was recovering from an Asrian invasion. Those who know about the awful Assyrian Empire will probably raise their eyebrows (or knowingly roll their eyes) when they see that.

So, did you notice the common thread? Creating a fantasy name is much like drawing: you're allowed to use a base. In this case, however, elitists won't snub their noses at you and accuse you of the inability to draw, but they may laugh and feel smart because they're in on the joke.

Consistency
Before you run off and make all these fantastic names based off of other words, you might want to consider consistency. Consistency will add a lot of believability and maturity to your work. Do you want your aliens to be named Zorx, Klax, and Jennifer? Unless you're writing a comical children's book like Dav Pilkey's, I don't think so.

Try to pick names that are based off of similar letters. List a few different letters, mess around with them, and see what patterns you can create.

Vowels (especially a and o), n, and r:
Akoro, Anira, Karo, Pana, Ellienne, Kirona

The letters k, j, r, and x, as well as th:
Kejoth, Thon, Terrej, Xoka, Kran, Xermort

These groups of names give off very different people. The first group seems to belong to a race of wood-elves or fairies. The second group seems to belong to people of an... unusual planet.

Make sure that you hear the name in your head before you type it! Look at these names:
Ksalks, Dslald, Fjdakl, Kwlekois, Adjelkl
How do you pronounce Ksalks? Well, upon examination it seems to have "salk" in there, which must be like "salt," and "ks" must be like an x sound. As for Fjdakl…

Uh, no, don't do this. Hear the name in your head before you type it. I made these names by writing a capital letter, hitting random keyboard keys, and then adding a vowel as necessary and deleting the semicolons. Trust me, if you can't already hear this name in your head, the reader won't be able to either.

Remember, names should be easy to understand. There's nothing wrong with stepping away from the conventional, but be careful to stay clear, or you may end up with an indecipherable name like Psophyyiah. Readers will stop smoothly breezing through your prose, and they'll scratch the sides of their chins and say "What the heck is THAT?" Then they'll carefully sound it out in their heads and conclude that you really just named your alien princess Sofia. You might as well have stated it straight out and spared the reader the trouble.

Apostrophes and hyphens can create similar issues. Their "edginess" has caused them to become an unfortunate fad in character naming. While there are rare occurrences of punctuation in real-life names, usually you want to avoid peppering your elves' names with eye-slowing hyphens and apostrophes.

I don't recommend putting punctuation into character names. While I understand that those names have thought behind them, my first instinct always reads them like this: ur'qei-odfk'aj-kal'lask

In names, extra punctuation means extra confusion. You can make your cultural names unique without them being this special snowflake-y. (By that reasoning, you might as well throw in an exclamation mark or two and be really original.) Fantasy names that stick with the 26-letter alphabet usually sound the most genuine, and while apostrophes and hyphens can be pulled off, they generally have that tinge of stale fan fiction.

--->Note: Making up names may end up with you finding an actual name from a different culture! Since there are so many different cultures out there, it really isn't something you should be concerned with. If the idea deeply troubles you, you can search the new name on Google and see what pops up. However, a lot of names have already been taken, sometimes by multiple cultures, so it probably isn't much of a concern. Take the name Amirra. I recently learned that it's Arabic.

The Balance of Vowels and Consonants
Vowels and consonants are a major part of name psychology, and people have used them to suggest traits for ages. Basically, nice characters tend to have names with proportionately more vowels, while mean characters often have names filled with harsh consonants.

Let's examine our favorite good guy/bad guy pair: Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader!

Since English is a fickle language, let's write them out phoenetically.

Look Skiwahlkur
Dahrth Vaydur

or:

lOOk skIWAHLKur
DAHRth VAYdur

Luke Skywalker just sounds a lot more like a "good guy name," doesn't it? The vowels carry most of the weight, giving it a softer sound. Darth Vader's name is full of harsh consonants that break the sounds against the tongue.

A vowel:consonant ratio is often a subconscious thing. Look back to your oldest writings. Did you do that? Here are some names from the novel I started when I was barely 11:
Eve Twilight, Alan Pi, Su Li Chong*
versus
Darkness (uh, yeah) and Mitch Black
*This name is not actually Japanese; I had made it up. (Again, I was eleven.)

Just look at Mitch Black's name. Isn't it dastardly? The –tch, bl- and –ck parts really jump out. Compare it to Eve Twilight's name. It's obvious who the bad guy is.

Yes, fantasy names that follow patterns can make use of this too. Let's take the list from earlier:
Kejoth, Thon, Terrej, Xoka, Kran, Xermort

Now we'll analyze this, keeping in mind that this is highly subjective…
Kejoth: Either-or. The –jo- part seems to jump out the most, and it's balanced.
Thon: The vowel in the name, along with fainter consonant sounds (th and n) makes this almost certainly a "good guy name."
Terrej: This one also goes either way. The hard j tips the scales towards evil, but the rest of the name is soft.
Xoka: The o carries a lot of weight, but the k is very hard. You could call it either.
Kran: This could go either way, but I'd tip the scales towards bad. The a sound is a bit stale there, and the "kr" doesn't sound completely pleasant either.
Xermort: What a villainous name! The vowels fade into the background. This person even has the suffix –mort to finish it off with a deathly feel. J. K. Rowling did the same with Voldemort. I bet that he and Xermort could be best buddies.

Don't overdo the "more consonants = bad guy" idea. Do you remember Ksalks, Dslald, and Fjdakl? If you're lining these guys up against people such as Amirra, Karo, and Ellienne, some readers might groan.

You may want to take this concept and dump it on its head! Perhaps you want Xermort to be your hero, with the stoic Kran at his side, while they defeat that dastardly witch Ameliana. It never hurts to shake up readers' unconscious thoughts a little.

The balance of vowels and consonants is usually psychological. People are probably going to be more inclined to sympathize with Thon and Ameliana than they will with Xermort initially, but if Xermort is consoling a crying little girl while Ameliana screams at the cook for leaving the pastries in for too long, things will change very quickly. Names are only first impressions, and you can't truly judge character with those.

In Conclusion
So, what's in a name? Truly? Not much. If your character isn't named Annabelle Jade Vesper Kitsune or Psophyyiah, you're probably safe. A character's deeds, not vowel percentages or word roots, make up the readers' long-term impressions of them. Special names are like glitter. Your work doesn't need them, and too much glitter makes it look like a kindergartener's art project, but a little bit here and there can be fun and add to your art.

Names can be one of the hardest things to pick when it comes to creating a character. Thankfully, there are ways to give our imaginations a boost, and there are infinitely many names out there for us to pick!

Happy writing!

…Now I want to go make a bad guy named Xermort.