Writing Question: How do you come up with character names?

This is one of those questions I love to see professional writers answer because the responses are so interesting. For example, here’s q quote form Paddy Chayefsky:

“Names are fun. In Hospital I used a lot of mystery writers. Had a nurse named Christie. A doctor is named Chandler. Sometimes I go to baseball box scores and pick out names. Sometimes I keep characters from one project to another. Arthur Landau, a lawyer, runs through a variety of things.”

That’s an arbitrary choice when it comes to names. But you get bonus points if the name reflects something about the character or conveys some thematic importance.

For example, we were discussing The Incredibles the other day in my Pixar class, and I noted the name of the superhero family: The Parrs. As in ‘par.’ As in average. A perfect name to give them seeing as that summed up the struggle Bob, Helen, Dash, and Violet had in trying to hide their superpowers and appear normal.

So how do you come up with character names?

And while we’re at it, what resources are there to consult when trying to brainstorm or generate names such as baby names?

See you in comments.

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