I was going through an old word document and marveling at the names I had created. They weren't anything too fancy/ fantastical, however, they felt like names that 'characters' would have, not like a lot of boring real life names. I liked a lot of names because they were so distinct -- because they were based on the culture/ ethnicity of the person, had an 'old-timey feel' (a lot of the names and last names were inspired by 1920s names), or they had interesting nicknames. I guess it helped as well that the characters and their profiles/ what I had also written about them was interesting and these names (at least to me) fit what the characters looked/ acted like.

So, what are the most interesting names you've created for your characters? This can be a completely new word or just a combination of two (or more) words you find sounds quite pleasing, or fits the character. Do your characters have nicknames, or names that different people call them? How does their name reflect their parents, for instance, did their parent name them after someone they knew, or did their parent call all their children names starting with 'B' or something else? How does their name reflect their cultural identity -- racial, ethnic, religious? Is their name quite common in their culture/ world?

And perhaps the most importantly, how does your character's name reflect who they are -- what they look like, how they act? -- when you hear/ think of the name, what type of person do you imagine? For instance, Harry Potter is called Harry Potter because both 'Harry' and 'Potter' are very common English first and last names, and Harry is English and Hogwarts somewhere in England. It was also supposed to appeal to a wider audience by him having a common name. When you think of Harry Potter -- if you didn't know about the books -- you'd likely think of a normal boy. Whereas, for Daenerys Targaryen, you're probably thinking of someone more regal or beautiful, maybe of Greek origin if you haven't read/ seen Game of Thrones.