How do you name your OC's?

[Sam Moony]

Hello creative people~

So, this is a question i have.

I was living my best life, drawing a cute bunny boy when the thought of a name slapped me in the face... how is he called?
I had a general idea of his personality and traits while i designed him but i had no clear view of a name... do you all have a process for this? is just random? do you scroll on pages for name babies? do you consult old grimoires of demons? do you base them on other characters?

 

[The_biscuits_532]

My main sona Stephanie actually came from a friend (the only IRL one I talk to consistently who is openly in the fandom), who jokingly suggested "Minecraft Steve" - but flipping the gender actually really fit her soooooo.....

I've got another character in the works and I'm mostly looking to people I know or follow online as inspirations, mostly based around personality.

 

[Tendo64]

I just look for names I like tbh. My fursona is named Sabrina, my persona Audrey. Just normal names, but names I like.

 

[TheCynicalViet]

With names, I make sure to give them something that reflects their character or references something important to their story. For example, I got a guy whose loosely based off of Momotaro but he has the ability to control plants and flowers are an important symbol that represent his character development so I have him the name "Hanataro".

 

[TemetNosce88]

I named my fursona August after a local writer I like a whole lot. My other characters, one I kept her name on adoption (Claire), the other two I picked names of girls I had crushes on in school (Hayley and Alyssa). Seemed as good a system as any, since I'm pretty bad at coming up with names on my own.

 

[TR273]

Different methods.
Sometimes the name comes first, then the actual character.
Most of the time I tend to skim through film credits and randomly pick a first and last name that seem to fit.
Occasionally a name simply suggested itself.

 

[lenago]

Humm i would say it is diferent Depending on the character. Somethimes i use a theme for certain group of characters.
Like for example i have concepts for Witch characters with spice related names "Papurika" "Curril" or "Cenammon"

 

[Vinfang]

I name my characters over their nature mostly. or the exact opposite, for villains.

 

[n1ghtmar3w0lf]

i kinda run through names in my head ,see what works and that don't

 

[Jojer]

Names can be extracted from just about anything. My methods vary, most of mine just kind of come to me as sounds in my mind. I try to translate what I hear into text and sometimes write it a few ways to see which one looks the best. Then I search online to see what else is affiliated with the name to get an idea before I use it. I also run a search on FA.

What names have you thought about? Are there any places, climates, ideas, colors, or traits you strongly associate your character with?

 

[MissNook]

It depends, but recently when I'm stuck on the name, I like to think of where they come from in term of countries (even imaginary) and what langage they would speak. Then I think of what country IRL is the closest and check for list of names in this country. Even if nothing catches my eyes, usually it gives me new ideas ^^

 

[Sam Moony]

its certainly interesting seeing how you all have different process for this. And it kinda helped me too x3. I used to have tons of characters in my mind when i was little and i was pretty good at names or thats what i thought but now that im back at drawing and making oc's i was like a little rusty hahaha.

However, i found a name x3 i think is true it has to resonate somehow with the character and if it has an in character explanation the better.

For the bunny boy i ended up going for Nihal, is an arabic name used for the second biggest star of the rabbit constellation and it kinda sounded.... unique. Also i like the idea of him having a nerd dad who just loves astronomy x3

Thank you all for your answers!

 

[Jojer]

its certainly interesting seeing how you all have different process for this. And it kinda helped me too x3. I used to have tons of characters in my mind when i was little and i was pretty good at names or thats what i thought but now that im back at drawing and making oc's i was like a little rusty hahaha.

However, i found a name x3 i think is true it has to resonate somehow with the character and if it has an in character explanation the better.

For the bunny boy i ended up going for Nihal, is an arabic name used for the second biggest star of the rabbit constellation and it kinda sounded.... unique. Also i like the idea of him having a nerd dad who just loves astronomy x3

Thank you all for your answers!

Nihal is a great name! Congrats.

 

[MissNook]

Happy to see you found him a name, And it sounds really cool and matches him ^^

 

[Tacoshark]

It really depends. Sometimes the name comes before the appearance, sometimes after. For some OCs I draw from words in other languages or symbolic meanings. For others, it is just a sound that in some way just feels rights.

 

[PinchRib]

honestly, i use the mythic / lore manga style and just name characters after object sets, but use a different language and tweak the results. dragon ball z characters were named after underwear and food dishes (and a hawaiian island, i think?).

my first snake-based character was called 'Bevont' after the hungarian bevonte, for shadowy or difficult to see. that sort of thing.

 

[Jackpot Raccuki]

Heavily depends on the theme of the character, any backstory and of course anything else that might affect how he’s named.
Jackpot was named in reference to how he is casino themed, and reference to gambling.
Gridix was named mostly with Grid, ideally related to coding and such, hence why I added “ix” to give it a slight sci-fi touch.

Some characters like Xavavious were named such mostly to relate to their culture and or origin, although not actually canon a friend and I have joked that the name translate to the equivalent of Kyle in common.
In his case he’s from a far future London and a long line of bounty hunters.

Some names like Fraz, Klaubern and Calviz are either based on names from other people or “modifications” of a real name to sound fictional.

I always name them after their creation.

 

[Ziggy Schlacht]

My fool proof naming method

• Step 1 - Do I already have a name for whatever reason?
  • Ziggy is short for Sigfried, which I've always wanted to name a cat. Switched to "Ziggy" to sound more... furry?
• Step 2 - Is there a name that's a pun or reference to the appearance of the character?
  • Example - I have a harlequin bunny character named Othello, he's half black, half white
• Step 3 - Do I need it to begin with a certain letter and or be a certain ethnicity?
• Step 4 - Does that name sound cliche or dumb and I want to change it a bit
  • Example - I want "Xaviar" as a character name, but that didn't sound fantasy enough, so it became "Xavarius"
• Step 5 - If none of the above, random name generator

And honestly this is the flow, I don't default to Step 5 that often.

 

[The-Courier]

I usually go by nationality, first. In the case of an alien I usually just come up with vaguely sounding alien names.

 

[Deleted member 140225]

I used to create my own nicknames out of words that i personally like and than used something like a "ship it" generator to see what possible results you may get out of randomizing and merging these words together. With that you are given even more options and can further modify the results until you will come up with a desired name that you would like to use for your characters.

 

[Pomorek]

For me, the default is using random plain names that people have around here. Unless I happen to have some more meaningful idea. Such as naming a wolf girl Lobelia, for a kind of flower, but also sounding similarly to the Spanish word for wolf. Or naming a saola girl Marta, a local variant of Martha, which was the name given to the first specimen of this species ever captured.

 

[Lira Miraeta]

Sometimes it’s impossible to come up with a name, sometimes it just appears in the head, pum, and it appeared. And in some rare cases I turn to the Latin language, for example one of my characters is called Apus Hirundin, his wings are like the wings of a swallow / black swift, I just went to Wikipedia and looked at the Latin names.

 

[Alys_0_0]

I just of names I don't see often or hear about often and then slap those names onto my sonas! Like Alys! Usually, people spell it with "ice" at the end but I wanted something unique.

 

[mangomango]

Sometimes, I just pick a name that sounds cool! Other times, I think about the character's design or personality, pick a theme from that, and search up related words until I find one that works as a name.
For example, this guy's design and personality reminded me of fire, so I just searched up "fire related words" and found Catalyst, which I think worked well!

 

[Stray Cat Terry]

I have various cultures in my universe, and the naming depends on them.

Some use real life names, be it English, German, Japanese, and Chinese.. etc. Old or present. Some use Latin names or modified Latin words, Greek, etc. And others use any names that're modified from preexisting words throughout actual human history.... Cuz each characters' culture and setups matter for me!

Most of the cases, I set their names so that their origins and/or hidden meanings correspond to their life of the past and the future.(aka. setups) I get most helps from Behindthenames, check it out if you're interested!

Otherwise, they are just made outta feels and I simply make them a name as long as their setups don't require a name of their background standards.

P.s.
In some cases when certain characters dont have their own name--like lab meats with code numbers--I tend to get names from my RP participants when they get to name mine! I don't necessarily need actual names for them, to be honest. But when it has to, it's convenient and natural, isn't it? :3