Names of Characters

[annie14892]

I'm currently trying to draw a new manga(first time)...Just an experiment on how well I draw and how well I express my ideas into drawing...:Poke:

I'm REALLY stuck on naming the characters though..Does anyone have Any suggestions..PLEASE HELP!!! :help:


I appreciate it alot.Thanks! :D

[Agawa]

Naming characters can sometimes be difficult, but I do suggest that you make sure you find a name that sticks with the character and fits your image of them.

-One thing I like to do is just sit and think of the character and how different names would fit them. Sometimes I can think of one I like just by going through whatever comes to mind.

-You could try a baby naming book or site. Sometimes just browsing names will give you ideas.

Either way, good luck!

[annie14892]

uhm Okay thanks.I tried looking up japanese name on the internet..but none of the names seem to quite fit my characters..T_T

[Agawa]

uhm Okay thanks.I tried looking up japanese name on the internet..but none of the names seem to quite fit my characters..T_T

Again, just keeping thinking about it, and you'll find one that fits. It may also be a good idea not to stick to names of one culture, or even pre-existing names. Sometimes I just think about my character, and I'll come up with names I've never heard of before that might fit them.

One more thing I'd suggest is not to get caught up in what the name originally meant- honestly, it really doesn't matter most of the time. What's more important is how you think the sound and feel of the name fit your character.

Just keep looking, I'm sure you'll find one eventually.

[animanic_critic]

It's nice to hear that you're starting a manga. My word of advice for naming characters (be it in manga or anime for that matter) is: Don't try to think too much on the names. I've seen some anime/manga where the names are so complicated that they'll be forgettable eventually. Make them simple and easy to remember, because good characters don't really need chic names.

I'm not sure whether the manga you're doing is based on fantasy or realistic Japanese background, but just pick names that would be "easy on the mouth", if you know what I mean. You don't really have to go all the way to surfing the Net for names - just pick out names from the anime/manga you usually know and try to tweak it to make it your own. Doing that is nothing wrong. That's my word of advice. Good luck!

[Mana]

Moved to Art, since it makes more sense here than there.

Whenever I write something, generally I have a name (first name anyway) in mind the moment I design a character, which may get changed as a character is fleshed out. If for some reason I get a character concept sans name, I'll mentally think of names while working on other information about the character, and by the time all the character information that I need is down, I'll have a name in mind.

Word of advice: Don't stick to just Japanese names if you can avoid it. Unless your story is realistic and takes place in Japan, having Japanese names for characters is silly.

[jetfire]

If you're looking for names that have particular meaning to them, or even just need ideas for names in general, then look here: http://www.behindthename.com/

The site shows different names from all origins (English, Japanese, Chinese, German, Romanian, etc...it's all there). It's a pretty useful too when you can't think of anything.

[animanic_critic]

If you're looking for names that have particular meaning to them, or even just need ideas for names in general, then look here: http://www.behindthename.com/

The site shows different names from all origins (English, Japanese, Chinese, German, Romanian, etc...it's all there). It's a pretty useful too when you can't think of anything.
NICE...! annie14892: Go take a good look. But it doesn't have names for fantasy genres... understandably.

[annie14892]

Okay.I'll go look.Thanks so much everyone ^-^

[annie14892]

Okay..So..I decided on these list of names..(I'm not sure if these names are really names..I just took a bunch of letters in the alphabet and put them together)

Which ones of these is best for the girl:
Okono,Tarahi,Serna,Hatasi,Yomaru,Hikaru,Hatame
If you guys Have other names that you guys like please tell me. ^_~

For the guys..Uhm I have absolutely no idea..

[animanic_critic]

Okay..So..I decided on these list of names..(I'm not sure if these names are really names..I just took a bunch of letters in the alphabet and put them together)

Which ones of these is best for the girl:
Okono,Tarahi,Serna,Hatasi,Yomaru,Hikaru,Hatame
If you guys Have other names that you guys like please tell me. ^_~

For the guys..Uhm I have absolutely no idea..
All the girls' names are okay (a little unusual for me), but first and foremost, what kind of girl are we talking about? Is she Japanese? Is she shy and modest? A tsundere (girl who starts out like a brute but slowly turns putty in your hands)? An overall tomboy?

I ask this because it helps if an apt name is given to a suitable female character; for instance, I don't see how a tomboy can actually have such a delicate name like Chidori. Kinda hard to picture... After which, then we came brainstorm on the possible outcomes.

Likewise for the guy, what is he like? P.S. Hikaru may also be a guy's name.

[annie14892]

Oh Umm..
Well the story starts out as the girl being a nerd but inside her head,shes really..how do I say this..hmm..different.She wishes that she could be some one popular that everyone can admire..[sometimes later in the story She thinks that she doesn't care about what people think about her anymore even though she still does]

She's a new transfer student and so everyone tries to talk to her..but they found out she was a really boring book worm.So they start making fun of her and talk about her behind her back.Some of them even tried to harass her for fun.Everyone exept the Most popular guy in school(I think I'm going to name him Ren),His 2 friends,and this girl (no name for her yet).Her New friend then gives her a make over and she became very pretty.

Some of the other girls in the school got jealoused and tried to hire some guy to try and rape her,but then Ren saved her.

So yea..I'm not going to give the complete 'detailed' summary of this story,for it'll take very long. But Later Ren and his friends realize that they love her.

The girl[now her best friend]realize that she's fallen in love with Ren and so she stops being her friend and she[the best friend friend]tries to get Ren to fall in love with her instead,by telling him lies about her[the main character].
The main character doesn't know why that her best friend stopped being her friend though.

She[the main character] tells Ren that he should go with the girl,But Ren Said 'no' because he already has some one he loves.(she did not know that Ren loved her)

Later on Ren confessed his love.Not knowing this,So did the friends.

The girl was then stuck..For she did not know who to go for.She was also afraid that if she chose Ren,The other girls,and her ex-best friend, Will hate her for it.


Yup..So from the summary so far,You should get an idea of the girl's character.Sorry If it was very confusing...No names yet so there's alot of She's,and the plot doesn't make sense a bit.I'll change this later once I get everything planned out.

[animanic_critic]

Aww, how bittersweet :heartrain ...

Okay now, it sounds like the female protagonist/lead is naive in mind. When I first read and trying to understand what she's like, the letter "M" pops up in my mind. So my gut feeling kept telling me to go with a girl's name beginning with the letter "M"; let's see... Mayuko, Mayu, Miyuki, Mariko, Mai, Miki, Misaki, Mitsuki, Mizuki - these are some I heard of before. I don't know why, perhaps it's because I watched alot of anime where the female characters has such names in such a situation, I don't know.

The guy's name is fine (Ren means party/group/company/water lily in Japanese) as it is, but personally I would call him "Kazuki" instead. As for the girl who began hating this female lead, name her beginning with the letter "H" or "A" - Haruko, Haruka, Akane, Asuka - they'll do fine.

P.S. My opinion is, take out the "rape" thing, and just put in "harass" instead. I can't really visualize a rape scenario in a romance-themed shoujo manga. But personally, I think your manga is gonna turn out great. Nice storyline, I must say!

[annie14892]

Umm..Thanks..*sweat drops* phew.I thought you were going to say it was a bad story..It just seems very complicated and confusing at first..


Oh Okay,I'll take the 'rape' thing out.

Okay..Back to watching ouran high school host club for the 3rd time. xD

I'm going to try to observe the way they draw things from different angles. O_o

Anyways,Thank you peoply for trying to help ^-^ If anyone else has an opinion to share I would gladly like to listen.

[annie14892]

Okay,I've decided.I'll name the girl miyuki and the guy kazuki.
I'll decide on the Other characters' name later.Thanks :D

[PerfectDeath]

errrk o-O
names...
I am terrible with names! Well sometimes i can come up with some good names, but then i somehow ruin them >_> naimly by making htem shorter and slang-ish...

get about 6 names or so, label each one one number from 1-6. Roll a dice.
That's my ultamite fool proof technique of stuff acomplishing!!

[Kyou sohma]

kyou sohma
tohru honda
shigure sohma
ayame sohma
yuki sohma
momiji sohma
kagura sohma
edward elric
alphonse elric
Jeen
moogen
renton thurston
eureka
inuyasha
kagome
shippo
merioko
songo
sesshomaru
naraku
and i dont feel like nameing a thousand anime charters so ill stop now

[jetfire]

kyou sohma
tohru honda
shigure sohma
ayame sohma
yuki sohma
momiji sohma
kagura sohma
edward elric
alphonse elric
Jeen
moogen
renton thurston
eureka
inuyasha
kagome
shippo
merioko
songo
sesshomaru
naraku
and i dont feel like nameing a thousand anime charters so ill stop now

o...k...

You know that the point of this thread wasnt to name random anime characters, but help this girl come up with some names for some characters that she created, right?

And you spelled Sango wrong...and Merioko? What's that? Haha, and Jeen and Moogan. It's Jin and Mugen. But anyways, you completely misinterpreted the meaning of the thread. What would be the point in randomly listing a bunch of anime character names anyways?

[animanic_critic]

Nah, I think annie14892 got this one in the bag. All she needs now is some time...

[Kyou sohma]

okay here you go ummm let me think of names...

hana youshi

raven osiema

zan matheus

did that help eney?:gmorning:

[sohryu]

How about you use the nifty "Edit" button? For future reference, double posting = bad, triple posting = worse. :)

[Kyou sohma]

what!?!?! You meen to tell me its agenst the rules to tripple post? or double post?!?!?!?!? Omg i dident know!! o man!!! Am i gonna get banned?!?!? I dont want to!

[Zushio]

I'd suggest consolidating your three posts into one using the edit feature, then deleting the two extra ones.

THE POWER IS IN YOUR HANDS!

[Kyou sohma]

there i isent a double psot so im safe... Right?

[kobi666]

most of anime/manga charachter's names are intended to mean somethiong
about the charachter, i think.
like brandon heat from gungrave? heat for the warmth in his heart
and heat is pronounced hito in the anime, meaning person.
brandon was one of the only one's in the story keeping his humanity and moral values(so to speak...)

bunch of other examples if you look inside
so my suggestion is picking what you would like a certein charachter to reflect and find the most apropriate word for it in japanese

[LadyYuina]

Um... does the meaning of the name have to be overbearing or have an emphasis with the character's nature? Is it ever okay to name a character whatever name you liked based on the way it's spelled and sounds?

[aoi_n_asul]

not necessarily, i think. but a name that speaks of a certain trait or nature helps in establishing that character's image immediately.

er, sorry anne...i'm not so good with names. ~~,
your characters' names sound good ^^

[Mana]

Um... does the meaning of the name have to be overbearing or have an empahsis with the character's nature? Is it ever okay to name a character whatever name you liked based on the way it's spelled and sounds?

Not necessarily, but the Japanese are fond of doing it. Moreso than English,Japanese names are taken from real words, so while it may not have a role in the person's personality, it should at least be pleasing, both in sound and meaning.

If you want to give a Japanese (or Japanese sounding) name to a character, there's no harm in it, but I would suggest that you look up the name's meaning just so that you don't inadvertantly name your mane character "sh1tface" or something.

[Ieyasu]

I felt I had to add this:

Please, no Japanese names for characters that aren't Japanese.

Whats wrong with good 'ole english names?
Alexandra, Jack, Jacob, Toby, Sophie, Alice even Cade(m). Don't fall into the trap of thinking english names all suck.

Don't just rely on english names though! Get multi-cultural on us!
Anja(f), Achim(m), Ciro(m), Esme(f&m), Wayna(f), hell, I'd rather you used ESTONIAN names than Japanese ones.

Why? Because using Japanese names in preferance to a whole host of any other perfectly good names, especially when the Japanese names are only there to sound cool, makes you look like you're trying to be Japanese.

I'm not saying don't use any Japanese names at all, I'm just saying don't give ALL of your characters Japanese names for no good reason.

[kobi666]

the thing with names that every name means something, japanese or not

a name has to fit the charachter, and naturally if you have the quality's of a charchter, just think of him in front of you, how he acts and how he looks, then just think, what kind of name would fit that character!
if you really wanna dig in to this there are many numerologic sites there, and the whole theory is based on how the name or how someone is called, depending on accent and nicknames, affects his personality.
it's really deep and i would suggest doing a numerology on a name before giving it to a character, it might even change the way you think of him/her/it !

[Ieyasu]

the thing with names that every name means something, japanese or not

a name has to fit the charachter, and naturally if you have the quality's of a charchter, just think of him in front of you, how he acts and how he looks, then just think, what kind of name would fit that character!
if you really wanna dig in to this there are many numerologic sites there, and the whole theory is based on how the name or how someone is called, depending on accent and nicknames, affects his personality.
it's really deep and i would suggest doing a numerology on a name before giving it to a character, it might even change the way you think of him/her/it !

Not really...

My name roughly translates to "wolf f**cker" and I can assure you I have never had sexual intercourse with canines of any description.

So a person's personality not having a thing to do with what the name means is most often the case these days.

Just pick a name you like, to hell with the meaning.

[Mana]

Sorry, but, to be honest, numerology is a complete and total piece of tripe.

[Ieyasu]

Sorry, but, to be honest, numerology is a complete and total piece of tripe.

I sincerely hope you're right.

[Mana]

I sincerely hope you're right.

Well, I am, if that makes you feel any better o_O; Numerology has no more bearing on anyone's life or personality than a newspaper horoscope or a call to Miss Cleo or any other mystical new age ways of bluffing your way into people's money.

[Finnf00]

My suggestion is, drop all names. They're not needed anyway. Be cool and different and such, and draw your characters so they can be distinguished from one another. It's not like you use a lot of names in real life convo (unless you're referring to a third person). If you can draw a maga without any dialogue, that would obviously be most awesome. Comics and cartoons only get better with less dialogue. A well constructed aesthetic presentation is both artistic and informative and needs no written explanations. Remember, you're not writing a manual but presenting a story with images.

[kobi666]

Well, I am, if that makes you feel any better o_O; Numerology has no more bearing on anyone's life or personality than a newspaper horoscope or a call to Miss Cleo or any other mystical new age ways of bluffing your way into people's money.

i really doubt it...
think what if someone calls you by a different name, or a nickname
it changes your whole attitude about, or rather you about him.
try it at home
tell all the people around you to call by a name that fits someone who is the opposite of you, something that sincerly doesn't suit you
see how you react... trust me... it works
BTW
im not talking about numerology in a magazine/horoscope level
this stuff is reserched deeply, in various psychological expiriments
if people will call me by my real name (jacob 666...) i'm sure i'l be a different person!

oh and mr wolf ****er...lol...
it doesnt really matter what the name means to the people around you
rather then how you feel about the name, your own interpetation is what counts and changes your personality
how do you say wolf ****er and in what language?