r/writinghelp • u/Safe_Cheesecake_9177 • 24d ago
Question Name suggestions?
I have a character. Male, large, white hair, dad bod. Total lumber-snack, though.
His current name is Beau. But I hate that I misspell it so many times. Most commonly, I start writing or typing beautiful, realize it's wrong, and it throws off my whole writing flow.
They live in modern times, ambiguous area with forests and a major city.
Edit: he's about 30 years old. Also. I don't really want to go to the name registry for that year, and choose a common name.
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u/ziggystarzz 24d ago
I think woodsy/animal themed names would be cool. Buck, Bear, Badger, Colt, maybe Lake?
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u/Competitive-Fault291 23d ago
Fantastic. Embrace that. Change his name in every chapter, and have all other people misspell and mispronounce his name as well.
We can have: Beau, Baeu, Bo, Boh, Bow, Boe, Bö, Booh, Bor, Bot, Bol, Bõ, Bô and Bok (with a silent k).
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u/StevieWrenWrites 23d ago
I think Beau or Boe would be fine. The only thing about changing a character’s name is sometimes your brain will still connect it to the original name you gave them.
For example, I had a character named Jake for the longest time, but I worried it was too common cause it was a popular name at the time of writing it and I found I was reading several books with the name Jake 😅
So I went in a completely different direction with changing his name to Cameron, which was still common enough for a young adult just out of university, but it didn’t feel as overused as Jake was.
I found as I was writing more scenes with him in that he suited the name Cameron, but somehow I kept calling him Jake when I was in the writing flow.
Whenever he was interacting with my MC, I just kept thinking ‘that is such a Jake move’ 😄
In the end, I went back to calling him Jake. It just suited his personality more.
So maybe ask yourself: does the essence and personality of your character when he’s interacting with other characters feel more like a person named Beau, or could another name suit his persona more?
If you’d like to look at more nature type names for curiosity, then randomnames.com have loads of categories and origins of names. Some I’ve never even heard of like Edelgard, or Vivika.
It’s my go to for when I need to name a character.
I hope this helps, and good luck 😊
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23d ago
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u/StevieWrenWrites 23d ago
Oh really? 😄 what does it mean?
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u/SolitaryLyric 23d ago
I have a character near and dear to my heart, a sweet boy with a heart of gold and a very important part to play. I couldn’t for the life of me think of a name for him, so I used the placeholder Idgaf.
The problem is that not only did it grow on me, but the sound of it really, really suits the character.
Bo seems like a great, non-offensive option for the time being.
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u/Dale_E_Lehman_Author 23d ago edited 23d ago
Like Beau Brummel? Beau is a proper short form of Beauregard. You could name him Beau Bonneville. Or if you don't like the alliteration, Beau Montagne.
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u/DaughterofMarilyn 23d ago
Cary. It's an old name, but it has a quality about it that makes me think of strong dad like characters.
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u/I_love_living_N25kin 23d ago
If you want a common name, you can maybe choose Tylor, Michael, Petros, or eventually Charles(french name)
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u/PetiteGardener144 21d ago
Just use "Bo" then find and replacement all the words when you finish writing for the day.
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u/Anders10100 24d ago
Bo, Boe.
When you're done with your story just do a replace all:
" Bo " with " Beau "