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Funny story , an old writer I use to work with asked me for my characters name . I didn't have a name so on the spot I made up the name "Isani" and it was a coincidence because Isani means possession and she has the power to possess people

I have kind of an opposite problem. There are so many cool names that I want to make a character for each of them XD. And when I try to name a character, I have like 5 name ideas for them and don't know which one to choose lol.

Imo character naming becomes a lot easier if you study sacred texts such as The Bible, Quran, Hindu texts, Shintoism and so on. You might not belive what they say to be true but damn are the full of cool names and ideas. You can also adapt some of those characters attributes/traits to your ocs, thus directly referencing where you got the idea from.

i don't usually give the names meaning lol. Because their design is what comes to my mind first (maladaptive daydreaming in a nutshell) so i only name them based on what kinda suits them lol. I came up with the surname "Mitchswinger" and the name "Ookafoobi" there are also names "Gabriella Winters" "Esteavo Balzarini" "Milad Moore" and my MC is "Ylvin" there are also names that based of their powers "Boomer" she's a sniper. and "Dice" he cuts enemies into cubes. "Kariko" basically came from Calico cat

My OCs are usually named by translating words into the language of the character's home language or the opposite, i give them a name, learn the meaning and build off of that 2 in particular are characters named Benedict Cladem, which means Blessed and Defeat as the character has a duality with Nicole Mallory, who's name means Victory and Curse, making then opposites and also related, as the theme of the entire story is basically yin and yang, how to things seem different are actually related, i did my home work with this one

I am latino and the characters in the story I am writing are named in Spanish and they have 1 or 2 names then the father's surname and the mother's surname. There is a character called Virtud (Virtue) and the rest of her name always begins with V, thus, there is a recurring joke with another character that calls her full name and adds an extra word that begins with V, my favorite part about this is that all the words are related and could perfectly form a sentence

The thing that seems even harder to me is to find out how to create a nickname to some of my characters. Like, my MC is supposed to have a "title" earned with bad reputation, called like this by random Japanese people living in Tokyo. I want this name to refer to what the mob sees when MC "fucks things up" with his abilities. I tried to use simple words for color or natural elements or for some kind of demigod in Japanese but... it still feels kinda weird. Idk if it would be better to come up with an English nickname instead (since I assume my story won't be seen by Japanese people anyway). I also thought about researching some nicknames for serial killers named in specific way by mob irl - in this way I found a story about a nurse who killed plenty of her patients and she earned a specific name in this way. Would it be a better idea?

I've spent my whole college career preaching the importance of good names in a story (either for characters, places, special moves, or the for the story itself), so it is very nice to see a larger platform discuss this. Here are some tips/suggestions that I've learned that you didn't mention: - A character's first name was always given to them by their parents (or circumstance) in the story, so you should consider what their parents were thinking when naming them. Perhaps their parents had big aspirations for them that the character is wary of, or they didn't value them and now the character has a chip on their shoulder. I generally like to have the first name play into their personality/skill, and their last name to play into their more general role in the story. - Having a character who goes by a name other than their birth name is a very fun way to explore their personality. Perhaps they have a girly name that they've never liked (a la Megumi in JJK), or perhaps they've always wanted to have a girly name. Maybe they suffer from middle schooler syndrome and use a very edgy name. Maybe it's a nickname that they earned through their actions, allowing you to squeeze more character building into them. Having a character change their name essentially gives them a built-in characterizing action, which is very useful. - To write foreign names, a simple but time consuming way to go about it is to find some kind of directory of foreign names and just look up the meaning for ones that sound good. Eventually, you'll have a good sounding foreign name with meaning. If you have a cursory knowledge of the language, you can even shield your wider ignorance of the language with a crude and simple pun. I have a character named Torabisu "Travis" Hayakawa, and he tends to inject the word 'screw' into his dialogue since his first name contains the character for screw in Japanese. - A very ripe area for finding inspiration are categories of items that themselves have names. Minerals, flowers, geography, all of these fields have plenty of things that are named, and the meaning can be more organic than some ancient Germanic or Hebrew name. - Pronouncing and writing the possessive form of a character's name that ends with S isn't that difficult. In English, whenever an apostrophe s is needed on the end of the word, you ditch the s if that word already ends in s (i.e. where are the cows' food / let's head to Chris' house). It can be a bit tricky to pronounce, but readers don't have to pronounce the character's name while reading. Their brain just skips past the tricky part. If you have enough readers to the point where you are concerned of their ability to discuss one of your character's names in the possessive form smoothly, then you should look into avoiding names that end with s. Otherwise, it isn't a deal breaker, just a bit of a snag. Thanks for reading my tips. Please preach the importance of good names to all of your friends, and their friends too!

Great video once again. Keep up the great work

I am using names from my favorite Japanese film, Legend of the Eight Samurai. Its a Sonny Chiba movie starring a young Hiroyuki Sanada. Blew me away as a kid. I found the Japanese names to be so alluring and the story so cool, that I want to give a nod to it. I'll be sure to research and ask my Japanese co-creator if there may be any issues. But so far she really likes the names.

Oh my god this was honestly just so helpful for someone who has no names for any of his characters! I love your videos!🥰

Been needing this! Thank you 🙏🏾

Thanks for the critique, Monitor! I shall keep this in mind when drawing more characters!

you give such good tips you a W

He is right. I was forgetting to subscribe to him after watching a couple of videos he made. I made sure to do so by the end it. Anyway, I now got tips on creating character names. Thank you, MONITOR COMICS!😉👍

I love your videos

The names that I give are mostly just descriptions of them in either, Hebrew, Chinese, or whatever other languages if I happen to feel adventurous. Fore example- the name of the main character of my second book is Shual Adom of the Redfox family. Shual adom means red fox in Hebrew

Hi montiar comics love video always giving best advise and Don’t be mad but I used basic names because somtimes simplicity is better than complexity .

one of my characters is literally just named 'Employee' XD

My protagonist has had a lot of changes but the name has always stuck. I went through 3 protagonists before I made this one. He was based off of aiga from beyblade and some of that inspiration stuck. He then became darker and donnes a headband.l and black clothes as well as a spellbook and a sharp tooth that stuck out. From there he developed into a bun rather that a ponytail. Then he dropped the jacket and croptop, then he took inspiration from tengen uzui and I added gems. The only things that stuck were his red and yellow high tops, his eyebrows (which were introduced in draft 2) and his name, which u later found out can be translated into Spanish which is cool because the main story takes place in a Spain esque world. So yeah, cool.

I have a random suggestion Could you please do a video on the story arcs for example like in apple black by whyt manga he said that the first arc is almost over and in Naruto there are war arcs. I would just like a video on how to make good and well thought out story arcs for your comics and manga. Also I'm not going to force you to make a whole video on this but even a KZfaq short would be very much helpful Thank you

Im always close to desperation when I have to find names xD Thanks for this Video

How about a 'how to choose a name/title for your manga' video? would love to see it and need some help myself

I have a few "pop out" names. One of my character's surnames is Diamondorio (he has diamond related abilities.) And on chatacter is named toad. He has the ability to bounce off of objects and has a few frog like features.

My main oc that I’ve been drawing since I was 15, is based in Japan in the 90s. I already have the name picked out since forever but can’t think of a good last name for him and his brothers. No I never been to Japan and no I wasn’t alive in the 90s so I’m here struggling

NGL…even as. Kid I had a habit giving names or just random up or makes sense Greatest Coincidence I did put of all my originals characters old and New ASTRIX is my favourite (rooted from the word Asterisk before I knew the name) and Ohh man baby it suits my Half-angel and Demon so much!!! And my first OC duo Cornilous and Yumi were the best!! (Recommendation helps)

My favourite character name is Nanakusa Nazuna from Yofukashi no Uta (Call of the Night).

In one of my manga projects that goes by the title "My Neighbor is a Parasaurolophus", I named the main male character Misaki simply to have a Japanese version of my actual first name. The other main and side characters (Which are dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals in human form) however are mostly named after or reference to either the geological time period they are from, the or their original animal's species with just a few exceptions. For example, the titular Parasaurolophus and main female character''s name Campa is derived from the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous period. Other names the follow this scheme are Branca (From Giraffatitan Brancai), Noria (From the Norian stage of the Triassic period) and Mira (From Estemmenosuchus mirabiillis)

I usually go to a website that has a list of names and their meaning for characters in my stories. Not only that, I want to have names for the characters that best fit their role in the stories.

For me I often default to naming characters after people or concepts from history/mythology/classical literature. In some cases the characters are meant to be my own fictitious reinterpretations of them (think historical figures in Fate or Clone High; or legendary monsters/mythical creatures like Dracula or Nurarihyon), but most of the time I want to allude to things that symbolise the character in a certain way. Like naming a character after a special tree/plant But sometimes I feel a bit silly and go the Ace Attorney route of naming characters with wordplay lol. Alternatively if I want to attribute a specific number to them (like a birthday or a serial number), I might base it off goroawase :)

Yes, the best fate for ninjago is unending conflict

2:24 3:24 4:54 5:36 6:22 6:40 7:00 7:26 7:54 8:24 Well Said. 8:47 4:46 Thank You. 5:19

I need this

a method that helps me find names is to think of the parents or the person that has given them the name. Do the parents have any hopes for the future or adhere to any supersitions? does a character resemble their father or mother? Maybe they take Thier name. or maybe named after their dead friend they met during a war. The context of who the parents are can be clue to finding a good name. Naruto got his name from this godfather Jiraiya, Jiraiya was Narutos dads teacher, Minato liked jiraiyas book "The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi" so much he named his then born son after the books protagonist "Nauro Mussabi". but funny enough Jiraiya came up with that name while eating Ramen, One of ramens toppings is "Narutomaki". The name is clever as Ramen is one of narutos favorite things to eat, he rutinely shares this meal with his teachers but also "The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinob" paralells with his journey and spunky attitude. This example has a little dominoe effect, but it joins symbolism, the characters personality and a reoccuring aspect into a name that fits so well it's the title of the series.

Monitor what's your opinion on making unique names that mean nothing is that fine

The way i write my stories makes me scared of the standards of indie comics. I feel so much smaller and out of place with these other indie comic book writers in comparison because my stories are just slam bam action heroes and robots go BOOM. I already know that everyone's audience is different but i have the feeling my demographic is kinda non-existent (i.e readers who like action stories) I, myself am not a fan of artsy, gloomy, edgy, dark, deep, complex or philosophical clash stories stretched to a whole 'how ever long' series. I myself want to make a simplistic, fantastical, cheesy, cartoony, soft Sci-Fi, cyberpunk action story and by "simple" i meant my world has alien robots, mercenaries, action heroes, unique individuals, rock music, rap songs, vehicles modified for combat, power armor, mechas, retrowave-y neon aesthetic, commandos, over the top extreme action sports and high speed action. But that doesn't mean it's just gonna be dumb, mindless action, i at least want some sort of depth and substance to it but just enough for it to be easy to follow. My stories are heavily inspired by cartoons and games rather than anime and manga like Transformers, The Bots Master, Centurions, TMNT, GI Joe, M.A.S.K, Generator Rex, Avengers EMH, Motorcity, Ben 10, Max Steel, Hot Wheels BF5, Slugterra, Storm Hawks, Ninjago, Megas XLR, Kick Buttowski, SRMTHFG, Randy Cunningham, Tokusatsu, Pacific Rim, Titanfall, Vanquish, etc. The way i see it, not everything has to be super deep, just fun to follow. I don't wanna make masterpieces, i just wanna make a fun time. I just hope that simplicity is still plausible

7:48 so Japanese characters are a no go unless I have a native speaker who works with me on speed dial double checking and signing off on everything I do regarding Japan

It's also important to make sure you're not accidentally giving the characters names of the wrong gender. Gender neutral names are fine but actually giving an erroneous name to the wrong gender also affects the story. I realized this mistake when naming my mob boss Takeo Okabe. Before then, I had him named Taeko without realizing that Taeko is a female name until someone pointed it out to me. With Western and European names, it's a little easier but with African, Asian, Middle Eastern and tribal names, you have to do research and dig a little deeper so you don't end up putting the name on the wrong gender.

My characters are humanoids that lives in a planet thats similar to earth so i try to be unique and not have any existing names that ties to America or Japan but i fine myself struggling.

After watching this video I have learned that I should be inspired by celebrity names, that is why i will name a character mike kalbijo dan

"Don't give your readers an opportunity to be confused" George RR Martin: Yes I think I will

I thought of one of my characters name which are twins, I named them "Novan Van Ark" and "Zephyr Van Ark" I never really thought of what they could mean other than realizing that the end of their names mean, "Van Ark" meaning "From Boat" or "From the Boat". They're twins but Novah was sent away because of favoritism, he was casted away to the mafia where he was taken care there and had a new name "Alexandr Van Sleuth". I never really thought of what the names mean, its just what fits the characters in my opinion but its really cool

OMG MENTIONED MY FAV ANJMEE

I am so sorry, this is like incredibly long. I was mostly writing this for me. so those who actually made it to the end I apologize again and say wow. I can happily say that I have all that is mentioned here. Maybe not use a phonebook but I met so many different people that I simply use their names and alter them accordingly. It got worse when I read MHA Horikoshi sensei naming style is something I really like so now I do tons of research on a particular name for my characters. Another way I come up with names is to design the character and show a part of their backstory or a defining personality. That makes me remember them, and I give names according. So if a character is charismatic and is prone to making bad jokes I might give them a name that meaning is a joke. I also think of who is giving the character the name. So not me, the author but another character in the story, maybe a grandmother who wanted to name her first grandson after a once famous individual. Or maybe the father named his son after his uncle. Things like those also determine my character names. And their environment, also character silhouette, there are times when I might give a tall person a short name. or a scary person a cute-sounding name. It depends. Here are some examples, all these characters are for a novel I'm writing so I would rather someone not just usurping these names I put thought into. I would also state what I perceive from the characters' names. (I'll use about 5) Notice: I don't properly understand the culture of the names but I really placed a lot of effort into all of them. To me, names are precious and are... magical if you want to be corny. 1) Nasuki Horike At first, her name was "Natsuki Hori", however, I added the 'ke' later to add more meaning to the name as well as to remind me of what her parents' relationship with her may be. Natsuki doesn't actually have a surname as she's an orphan, and even her mother is an orphan. She only gets the name 'Horike' when she's 12. She's also my protagonist, and the book is a summer theme. Note: Natsuki Horike means, Natsu; ‘summer’ - ki; hope or tsuki; ‘summer moon’ or suki; ‘summer love’. Hori; ‘moat, ditch’, ke (家); ‘house, family’. Together it means, Summer hope / summer moon / summer love, moat, ditch, house, family. I decipered it as "a child born under summer’s moon hopes to be loved - a house that guides this summer daughter, who secretly holds an advantage over people, (water manipulation) how to hope again through their love and protection." In this case, there are two descriptions. The first one is when Natsuki was a child, as she didn’t have a known surname then. The second one is after Natsuki got adopted by the Horike’s and how they influenced her, and what their objectives are. Which is to be a guiding figure that can protect their child. 2) Junichi Fujiwara Although his name is Junichi, later in the story he is called Jun. 'cause Jun gives off an English summery feel, like "June." His grandfather however calls him 'Junichiro' which means he who takes, rather than Junichi which means pure, obey and he who submits. Junichi doesn't like that his grandfather calls him that, however. Unfortunately I can't find the detailed part to why I named him so. However, I'm pretty sure I gave him Fujiwara because it's a long-lasting name in Osaka. 3) Susuna Guishiken She's a Brazilian child with Asian heritage, which explains her surname. Unfortunately, I can't find her detailed part either. But I'm sure I named her Susuna to give off an innocent feel. Especially since she's just four. 4) Furuya Hase She's a child who grew up in an onsen whose family follows and is run by the female. So it's matriarchal and matrilocal. Not something you would usually see in Japan. She is prideful of her family history and resolves to be as great as her ancestors. Note: Furuya Hase means, Furuya; ‘ancient valley’ and Hase; ‘long valley’. Together, it means, a long ancient valley. I deciphered it as "one whose ancient roots run deep into the valley". In this case, deep refers to ‘long’, and ‘valley’ refers to the family. So it's actually; One whose ancient roots run deep/long into the family. 5) Hana Ishikawa She is a friend of Natsuki, and I really thought of her character silhouette. She's a short, plump teen with shoulder-length hair. She's a very feminine person. who is quite tomboyish at times. She values her femininity a lot and learned a valuable lesson on how to love herself. Note: Hana has many meanings, but I’m sticking to the Japanese version. Hana means; ‘flower’ and Ishikawa means; ‘rocky river’ Together, it means, flower, rocky river (read in the English version), or rocky river. Flower (read in the Japanese version). I deciphered it as the delicate flower that is protected by a rocky river. In this case, I took her personality and added the adjective ‘delicate’ before flower. As well as her brother’s perspective, she needs to be ‘protected’ by her family who all hold the title of ‘rocky river’. again, sorry to those who actually read through this. but it's basically how I think of my characters. I

tim and tom are perfect

Easy, name them after food in different languages like they did in jojo vento aureo

In the story I'm writing I literally forgot 1 of my characters name and since he was a melee martial artist I jit named him Bako based off the bakom fighting style.

Since I followed Touhou in the past, I become obsessed with naming character with names that has particular meaning, either their wish, their symbol, or what defines her. Touhou also made me not only consider what kanji that defines them, but also how you spell them. Tonikaku Cawaii MC has name with "Hoshizora" kanji, but because he was mocked due to his name spelled "Nasa", he pushed himself to become someone with very high IQ. Shows with character that uses puns also uses the combination of kanji and how they spelled. Also, I don't think I will agree with "avoid using name ended with letter 'S'", as some culture , especially Greek and Roman, have a lot of names ended up with letter "S". Zeus, Hades, Paracelcus, Heracles, Julius, Venus, Socrates, and others. Heck, even comedy series that parodies Greek or Roman setting literally use "Random name + us" as character's name, like Biggus Dickus.

Just created a character name. Arma Telum. Sounds cool until you realise Arma means Weapon in Spanish and Telum means Weapon in Latin. (I used google translate so it may be scuffed). So my character is now called weapon weapon

What if I don't want my names to be related to anything? Is it fine to have names that I think simply sound cool and interesting? Or does every name have to have some sort of meaning to it? In the writing I'm making nobody's name really has much of a deep meaning besides the MC's and their partner's

Im curious can you name a character after an existing character but your character is different from the other character. Is it still ok to use that name if your character is different from the other character with that name because i have a character that has the name of an existing character but is very different from him. Can i still use the name or not?

This one Chinese game the mc have a name penglaiju jiuxiao and it literally means the savior whose came from heaven

4:21 A and I are vowels, not consonants.

Wish Gege Akutami would’ve seen this video.. when he made Gojo & Jogo 🤦🏾‍♂️ JJK

Shanks, Gildarts, Guts

What happened if you name a character after a city or town? I got few characters with local town name like “Deepstep” for example.

now that im looking at it having one guy named Joey and another named Percipitation Man might not work to well

I tend to not like giving my characters "real people names" something about just doesn't sound right

Kuro Kowai how's that 🙂

What is the manga name at 3:30 I read it but cannot remember

a reiminder that one piece has 1000+ named characters

You can also just give them normal names like Jake, Maria or Bob. The Name of the characters doesn't necessarily have to mean anything.

8:55 A Polish phone book 😆 This is one of my biggest struggles. Honestly, only my MC has a truly meaningful name that I researched (but his family name isn't Japanese on purpose). There's another character who I feel like got a quite meaningful name recently as well... but it's really hard to research Japanese names. I don't create new ones bc I know I would only come up with bs so I try to look for existing ones - even if they may look boring, at least they won't be unintentionally stupid. And if this idea really turns Japanese publishers off then whatever bc I know none of them would publish me anyway 😅 Japanese mangakas use foreign names too and nobody gets mad at them for it.

3:27 Bakemonogatari

6:36 is this turkish lol

I just use typos I make as names

Meanwhile DBZ characters be like: 🥕🥦🌰🍏🍇🌽🌶️🍐

(Laughs in creating a language just so that I can bullshrimp a name’s meaning on the spot)

Not me using AI name generators💀

6:41 This has to be the weirdest bit of advice I've ever heard. No James' or Katniss'? You literally just pronounce "iz" at the end, what's the problem? 🤔

Second

I don't really like tying either names or the writing to existing material. How many times can you see characters based on 7 deadly sins until it becomes annoying? I'm already annoyed Chinese and Japanese comics can't go one issue without a character referencing or just being straight Journey To The West, like it's the only story ever written there. Imagine if every single manga had a spanish guy based on Don Quixote. It also limits creativity and fantasy when readers recognize a reference and quickly puts it all together, and suddenly they know half the story. Naming based on meaning or reference also removes any connection to the lore and the world. Instead create a whole new species with it's own language. Weehjoghem. Three syllables. And lacking and lacking any quick letters like K or T. More rolling like their mouths are more relaxed. Or names that are pronounced like talking backwards and spelled as such. Give it it's own personality. Or if you want good and evil. DON'T pick angels and demons all the time!