Hello everyone. Have you designed a character or fursona but struggled on what to name it? If so, this is the article for you.
Here are some things I do when I’m struggling for a character name:
- Look up names fitting for the species. Pet naming websites can be useful if your character is a species that is often kept as a pet, such as a cat, dog, bunny, or snake. Keep in mind that the pet naming sites can have some silly names mixed in with more serious names. There are also various species naming sites for non-pet species, I have even seen one with dragon name ideas.
- Look up names relevant to a specific meaning. If you want your character’s name to mean a specific thing, look up names relevant to the intended meaning. For example my clock-bird character is named Oliver. His name has many meanings, such as “affectionate”, “olive tree” as well as “ancestor’s descendants”.
- Look up names that start with a specific letter. If you know you want your character’s name to start with a specific letter, then look up names that start with that letter in question.
- Look up names that originated from different cultures. If you want to find some truly unique names, I suggest looking up names from multiple cultures to see if you find something that strikes your fancy.
- Name your character after something. Such as a food item like with the case of “Pepper” or another animal, like with the case of “Bear”. I have a character named Alder. His name came from the alder tree. Alder is the older brother of Grey, a character who was my Roblox avatar a long time ago. My character Grey’s name actually came from my username of Greystokey which is also where my website name originated.
- Look at other mediums for inspiration. On occasion, when I listen to music, I get inspired and imagine a character, sometimes the name of the character comes to me as well. Although, usually it’s only a character design that I imagine, and less often a name to go with the character. Maybe you could look up terminology for a specific thing such as an interest of yours, and find a word that could work as a name. That has happened with me before. I have a character who I have had for a few years now, named Stoke. Her name originated from the word stoke, which usually means adding fuel to a fire, whether it be a campfire, a furnace, or something else.
Peace and love,
Mikayla
