Names names names!

[concertigrossi]

I HATE coming up with names. HATE it. I don't know why, but I have the damndest time doing it. And when you're working on a fic with about a MILLION incidental OCs, it's a full-fledged pain in the ass.

To that end:

A big damn list of English surnames put together by Chris Laning.

A big damn list of English given names. also put together by Chris Laning.

Wikipedia's entry on generic forms in British placenames. Take a surname, add one of these prefixes or suffixes, and TA-DAAAH! InstaPlacename.

Comments

[rexluscus.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, cool! *bookmarks* I have one that I've been using, but it's hard to browse. You end up naming your characters near the beginning of the alphabet. :) Here it is anyway if you'd like to have a look:

http://www.britishsurnames.co.uk/

[concertigrossi.livejournal.com]

oh, cool! Thanks! I need obscure ones, too..

Yea.. I've had to consciously avoid using too many "A" names in the past. It's not my fault they're easy to find! :)

[concertigrossi.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

I'm just trying not to repeat, and it's getting hard.

[cipher-six.livejournal.com]

I like this: http://www.squid.org/tools/names/
Its cheating, since it generates names for you, but if nothing else you can be inspired to create an original name based on the patterns you see.

Good luck!

[concertigrossi.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That's very helpful.. honestly, for the main characters, I like to put some thought into it, but if the person isn't showing up for more than a sentence or two, I just don't care and want it DONE. :)