It can be hard to come up with creative character names. I think the funniest character name I came across was Stephanie Myer’s protagonist in ‘The Host’. She was called Melanie Stryder. Mmmm… the author writing herself into the story much, eh? What funny character names have you come across?
– Ermisenda
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Really? I missed that. My daughter is to blame for my even reading the series. Can’t believe I worked my way through them all and missed the point. Ugh.
Haha! š I haven’t read them so maybe that’s why I’m much more objective. Hopefully you enjoyed the series though.
I got through about three chapters before I decided I’d rather be strung up by my heels than read another word. I found it insufferable.
I got sucked in. What can I say?
As long as you enjoyed it, that’s all that matters! š
Oh man!! I don’t think I’ve ever came across a weird name in a book, but I’ve written a story with a character who has a strange, but creative name. It was a fantasy-pirate type of story and sometimes after going through my Pinterest board of names. ( have two by the way! The male lead has the name of Calix.
Here’s the story in case you’d like to read it š
http://wp.me/p1yMbO-1KQ
I like Calix. It’s cool but not wacky. š Nice choice! I find character names either come instantly or take forever to form.
Yes they do!
Another thing about The Host was that just about every other male character had a name beginning with “J”. Certainly an…interesting book, that one.
Can’t recall any other books with funny names, but I myself am downright horrible at naming characters properly. Just about ever character in my current WIP has a placeholder name, but I’m starting to get too attached to said placeholders to actually fix them. It’s really quite annoying.
Haha. She likes J boy names. š Naming characters doesn’t always come easily for me either. But I find placeholder names dangerous because often times they become the name itself. š
For creative names, open any book by Terry Pratchett, and be prepared to dig deep into your general and cultural knowledge. I’ll not mention any here, but let you make that journey for yourself. Believe me, it’s well worth while.
Terry Pratchett is an author I have been meaning to read for a long time! Everyone sings praise of his books.
I can thoroughly recommend his series. Just make sure you have plenty of spare time to do the reading. I can binge read his novels for days at a time, a good way to diet, incidentally. By the way, the Swan of Avon also came up with a handful or so of odd names.
Ahh! That’s the catch. I don’t have as much spare time as I would like. š That sounds like a diet I could get on board with. Except… I like to nibble food as I eat. Swan of Avon sounds like a lovely name.
… or Douglas Adams (‘Vroomfondel’… ‘Majikthize’… ‘Slartiblartfast’… ‘Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz’…)
or Henry N Beard and Douglas C Kenney (‘Tim Benzedrine’)
But what really gets to me is that EVERY time there is a young Chinese woman on a British TV drama she HAS to be called ‘Soo Lin’.
Seriously, read anything by Charles Dickens and you will come across names such as no one else can possibly invent (‘Smike’, ‘Murdstone’, ‘Gradgrind’…); or Mervyn Peake (‘Flannelcat’, ‘Shred’, ‘Shrivell’, ‘Mulefire’, ‘Swelter’, and ‘Perch-Prism’); or Sheridan (‘Captain Jack Absolute’, ‘Sir Lucius O’Trigger’, ‘Lydia Languish’)…
Haha they are some interesting names. Yeah racial stereotype names are bad. Just like the Ivan Ivanovitch Ivanovsky picture :P. Sir Lucius O’Trigger sounds like a hell of a guy!
Believe it!
What was the name of Bella and Edward’s kid in Twilight? That was fucked up.
Hahaha, yeah. Renesmee.