Naming your Character

I'm a HUGE believer in names and the power of names. Yea, it sounds dumb. But what I mean that I think names help shape your personality.

Finding your character's name can be tough. Some writers say that they wait until the end of the book to name them, so that the names don't affect how they'd imagined him/her.

Me, I name them beforehand for the exact same reason.

I actually enjoy naming. I like finding fierce names for fierce characters and soft names for the meek ones. Unless you're trying to be funny or make a point, you're probably not going to name an evil tyrant CHARITY. But maybe your adding that for a reason.

I choose names mostly on intuition. I have to actually feel like it's the right name before I slap it on them.

YOU are the author. YOU choose the name. What do YOU want them to be named?

As a quick exercise; what would you name the above gargoyle? Is it a boy or a girl? A normal name? A fantasy name? A name that's too hard to pronounce in human speech so he/she just has a nickname? Are they lonely or evil? Daydreaming or plotting? I'm sure whatever name you pick will reflect their personality that YOU think they have.

To sum up, their names reflect they're personalities, unless you're trying to add humor, symbolism, or make a point.