Y'all remember this? The good ol' bouba and kiki effect. If you haven't heard of this, we can test it out ourselves; of the two shapes above, which one would you associate with the nonsensical word bouba, and which would be kiki?
Typically, research has found that bouba is associated with the rounder, purple form on the right, while kiki is associated with the sharper orange form on the left. Different letters and sounds are associated with different sensations, regardless of language or culture. We have our soft letters; L, B, D, M, N, R, so on and so fourth. Then we have our sharp letters; T, K, V, and a few others.
Edgar Allan Poe's female names are a great example; Lenore, Ligeia, Helen, Eleonora, Eulalie, Morella, and Rowena all consist only of soft sounds. They're very smooth, almost somber sort of names (the letter L is often used for "dark academia" names, you'll notice), which fit beautifully with his writing style and content. Poe does use sharper names for women occasionally, like Camille and Jacinta, but he often sticks to these soft, morose sort of names that add to the haunting air of his storytelling.
Understanding the use of letters and their natural association in the brain can allow you to do some really fun stuff with naming. You can pick a name that is as sharp or soft as the character to amplify their sharpness or softness, or you can pick a name that goes against the character's personality to create a fun sort of dissonance. If you wanted to write a cut-throat assassin who is only on this Earth to exact revenge on those who have wronged her, perhaps name her Lina, a softer more romantic name, or you could name her Lark, which is quicker and sharper.
Length of names works in a very similar way. Lina is two syllables, and full of soft consonants, whereas Lark is one and ends on a sharp consonant, so it comes off as more aggressive. Lina is sweet and simple, Evangelina is much grander and more regal. Ollie might be a servant, but Oleander is a prince. You could also have a character be named Evangelina but go by Lina, although I'm a strong advocate for not giving characters long names, only for them to be shortened all of the time. Call them the long name! I want to see the long names! Especially with female characters! No more of this "long feminine name but short masculine nickname to show that she's tough" crap!
(I'm joking. Kind of. I am admittedly bias because I have a deep adoration for long feminine names.)
There's also the matter of how to name characters in fantasy. Personally, I think if you're writing a fantasy world, unless it is all based specifically on one real-world culture or place, different sections of your world should have different ways of naming characters. Think of the difference between Targaryen names and Stark names in Game of Thrones.
Targaryen: Elaena, Visenya, Viserys, Baelon, Daemon, Rhaena, Rhaenyra, Daenerys, Lucerys, Jaehaerys
Stark: Arya, Sansa, Jocelyn, John, Brandon, Lyanna, Edric, William
Notice the difference? The Targaryen and Stark families have vastly different styles of names, partially because most of the names I chose for House Targaryen were chosen over 150 years earlier than those for House Stark, but also because they have different cultures, customs, traditions, etc. If you're creating a fantasy world, keep some of this in mind, and when you're thinking of commonalities in language and culture to instill into the names, consider the things we've already talked about when it comes to letters and length.
There are a few other ways to name characters that I want to run through really fast.
Picking a character name with a meaning that relates to the character - fantastic. Perfect. I will never critique this method. Extra points if it's a name that specifically counters everything they are and stand for.
Picking a somewhat silly name like Possum or Sparky - DO IT. DO IT DO IT DO IT. LIFE IS SHORT AND THE WORLD IS WIDE. NAMES SHOULD BE FUN IN REAL LIFE AND IN STORYTELLING. GO WILD MY FRIEND.
Picking a birthname that's dumb and then giving them a different name that they actually go by - I don't mean a long feminine name that they choose to shorten. We've already discussed my feelings on that. I'm talking about making their real name Tulip, so they choose to go by Hope instead (which is an actual book, by the way. It's called Hope Was Here). It adds something very interesting to the character, their relationship with the person who named them, and provides the fun additional adventure, whether on-page or mentioned offhandedly, of them picking a new name. I wish I saw this a lot more, honestly. I think it's fantastic.
Picking incredibly long and unnecessary full names - I'm looking at you, Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klowolski de Rolo III. I'm looking at you and I love you dearly. Silly little freak boy.
But seriously. Give characters four names, at least. One of my personal favorite names I've ever created was Riviera Iris Isabeau Swan. Isn't that fun? Bonus points for each name being a different number of syllables. I'm very proud of that.
I'll give you another example; Neomoira Devoe Onryx Arkkukari. This one is a double whammy for the four names, and the first name which was chosen for it's meaning! Neo means new, Moira means fate, and bam! New Fate. Which leads to my final suggestion!
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD MAKE UP YOUR OWN NAMES - Mix names together! Jasper and Soren, congratulations, now you have Jasoren. Do not call him Jason, he doesn't like that. Or you can take a name and then add syllables to the end, that's basically all we've been doing with the name Anna for the last fourteen thousand years. Let's take the name Griffin, add an -or to the end. Maybe switch up the spelling to make it more fantasy-esque. Gryphinor. Beautiful. Switch a letter, Natalia to Natilia. This is a lawless land and I beg you to take advantage of that.
In closing, there is no wrong way to name a character. Play around. Switch names. Repeat names, for all I care. Ask God to send you a sign for what to name a character (a thing I have actually done). Writing is about creativity and expression, and that starts with names.
I will leave you with some of my favorite websites for names to help you on your search, starting with my own Pinterest because my lists are superior, obviously. Happy writing!
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