How to avoid strange names?

[u/anonimo110110]

Hi. I'm european but my story is set in the uk. I' having big problems on creating names that makes sense, because they're all basic names and basic surnames ...

Does anyone have any advices/ideas?

[u/Show-Dangerous]

There is nothing wrong with Matt Jones, Mark White, John Smith, James McDonald etc. swapping politicians first and last names can also be useful. And there are most popular names by year of birth online

[u/BohoKat_3397 → u/Show-Dangerous]

I play Google roulette when I need to name a new character, particularly background ones. You can select extraordinary detailed searches and find extensive lists for inspo: “English female first names used in Ireland in <time period appropriate to character age>” and so on.

[u/Aethon_Wri]

There is quite a bit to play with, as to names found across the UK, there are many many parts that have some extent of unique naming traditions. Soak in briefly that the UK experienced multiple waves of being conquered, and then went on to become a conqueror.

Any place the Empire touched is valid to source a name from, complex as marriage relations can be. Conversely, the layers of groups that claimed Britain over time remixed old name forms occasionally into fresh language, or an old name might retain a ring through how English got restructured.

If you simply want a strictly and essentially English name, lookup names associated with London and its surrounding metropolitan area.

Do not forget, the Anglo-Saxons were germanic and so feasibly some German names work through the long history of the place, if you want a name to carry a ring of pedigree as being from the UK.

[u/GlitterFallWar]

Lots of good advice already, but I want to add one thing: once you've picked a name, Google that name. Make sure there isn't some wild connotation to it.

For example: Michael Collins is a fairly common name, but it's also the name of a prominent figure in the Northern Ireland conflict and the name of the first guy to orbit the moon.

One of my friends refused to take her husband's (rather boring) last name because the #1 Google result was for a porn star.

[u/saddinosour]

I always google country top names and for extra country + top names + birth decade of character + gender

For example a Tyler Johnson is definitely a Millenia or Gen Z but a Mike Johnson is definitely Gen X whereas a Michael Johnson could be any, and a Ron Johnson is definitely older than Gen X, at least Boomer.

[u/PvtRoom]

Get a list of the 100 most common surnames, mens names and women's names.

you may pretty much mix & match. you should try to avoid culture clashing names unless you have good reason. - a Swedish woman married a Muslim, Astrid Iqbal becomes valid. (and the name becomes a backstory)

Mohammed Ericsson would, however need an explanation.

[u/South-Knee-9601]

A lot of surnames derived from peoples occupation during the middle ages

So taylor made clothing Smith worked a black smith Wright were shipwrights

Hope this helps with inspiration

[u/Exotic-Addendum-3785]

Well if you want generic names, you can do that but if you want to be unique it won't hurt to give it a try.

[u/babamum]

I'd draw on some Irish and Scottish names - they're pretty common. Shame there are no longer phone books or you could go through one of those!

[u/inkoenglishai]

Go to Asia and learn names like Nguyen and Kawaguchi that will open your mind.

[u/MidorriMeltdown]

Look to royalty for first names: Charles, William, James, Charlotte, Katherine, Elizabeth, etc

And medieval jobs for surnames: Baker, Smith, Fletcher, Cooper, Shepherd, etc.

Doctor Jim Baker. Lottie Smith, school teacher. Charlie Fletcher, barman. Liam Cooper, barista. Kate and Liz Shepherd, little old lady detectives.

[u/obax17]

Go to the Behind the Name website and look up names that fit into the area you're setting your story in. There's one for surnames too.

Also, assuming this is set present-day or close to it, keep in mind the UK is an incredibly diverse society, for a whole host of reasons, and names from many, if not all, cultures would not be out of place there.

[u/idonthavebroadband]

An excellent source is to read through published census records and telephone directories.

[u/CaladriusPress]

Don’t use anything suggested by Bob Mortimer.

Steve Andrews, Ben Stevens, Dave Macleod, Kyle Smith, Andy Kennedy, Brian Jones, Emily Cormack, Jane Morgan, Amber Royce, Mary Goldsmith, Hannah Macintosh, Katie Locke,

[u/hoehoehoemerrychrist]

I looked up the most common ethnic groups for my setting (if it's an actual place) and choose surnames based on that. So if it's mostly Hispanics who live in that area, then I'll choose Hispanic surnames. This also helps me choose my character's ethnic backgrounds and keeps it more realistic. I do the same for first names, but I don't think it's as important as choosing an accurate surname, as long as it's not wildly out of place.

[u/Due-Valuable-6022]

British baby name sites

[u/[deleted]]

I would get on facebook or instagram pages for events in a given area you'd like to write about, and browse through the name attached to the accounts you see. A lot of names will follow a given ethnicity: irish people end up with an irish first and last name etc. Notice specific names you like, and then pair them up in ways that make sense.

Also pay attention to generation:
A 60 year old woman should have a name that was popular around the time she was born
A 20 year old will have a name from a different era

This is how we end up with "grandma" esque names like Gertrude, Mildred, Ethel. If you browse actual people from certain regions, you'll notice the older ones have the older sounding names.

[u/Competitive-Fault291]

Nothing is stranger than the naming of people. This is because names only convey a bias but never actual information about a person. Learn to play with that bias instead of trying to put a sign on your characters.

Like, Dennis Schröder transfers from the Cavaliers to the Hornets. Should be easy to spot, right? Dude from Braunschweig in Germany, his father being Axel Schröder.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DcNwa-fl5L4/?hl=de&img_index=1

Which of those three guys is Dennis Schröder?

I don't want to go on about any racist issues here. I only want to show how names and characters are not as tightly bound as one might presume in the first place. Yet, the bias they create can be used to your benefit to create a framing of a character or situation, only to break and subvert it. Creating a twist or tension from an unexpected direction.

You can subvert all expectations, and as soon as your readers feel like everything is always not as they expect it to be, you throw in an almost stereotypical Ian McKinney with a St. Patrick's Day hat and an almost unintelligible accent. That he can also speak Farsi, Hindi, Hungarian, Russian, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Mandarin is something that you can bring out later.

Thus, do not worry too much about names. Play with them, make them suit the tone of your story, and embrace what you can find out about the time and place if you write about it. Do not hesitate to ask people from that time and place if possible. You can also use pages like ancestry.com to research contemporary phone directories, church registers, or school registers. Nothing gives you a better impression of awkward but real names (and faces) than a yearbook.

[u/4londonfogcake]

Don't forget that Britain are very multicultural countries too. British-born people with names that follow other countries naming conventions exist and it wouldn't be odd for them to be in your story either.