Naming characters by Leanne Dyck

Here are some tips on how to find a name for your character.

Typing 'baby names' into your favourite search engine will yield a wealth of candidates. Adding girl or boy as well as the year of your character's birth to the search words will help pin point your search.

Cemeteries as well as telephone and history books are excellent sources for last names.


As I am Icelandic-Canadian, I like to use names from this ethnic group. Nelson S. Gerrard's book The Icelandic Heritage has helped increase my list of names.


What do you do if you can't find the perfect name?

Create your own.

Try combining names. For example, I combined 'Pat' and 'Ann' to create 'Pathan'.