Screenwriting : Characters by Jackson Christian

I think it depends on the world you're creating and the type of made-up creatures. For example the names in Lord Of The Rings were made up and seem to fit a place like middle earth. For example a name like Gandalf who is a wizard, but then the humans in middle earth had regular names.

Really depends on the kind of world you are creating. With a fantasy world I would suggest looking at old English and Irish names.

Fantasy world is same as any movie world. Some filmmakers spend lots of time picking names. Example is Spike Lee's movies. He's not googling random character names.

I like using made up names myself

I myself look for old names, like old Irish or Norse names but I guess anything old without a specific geography would work as they are not very recognizable in today's world. I sometimes look at names in myths, legends, etc. and change some things. Actually a lot of Tolkien's names come from the Poetic Edda for example. I was very surprised when I discovered that. I had always thought that they were made up names but some of them did not even change a single letter. They were direclty from those myths and stories.

Whatever you like. Just make them easy to read and say.

The cardinal rule. Don’t make the read difficult.

I don't think the names Tom, Dick, and Harry are suitable for a fantasy/made-up world. Use made-up names or ancient names.

It's your world - create it! Made up names!

If you're basing your world on a historical civilization or ethnicity, use its language to create names.

Yea, I would make up your own names for a fantasy

Names should reflect the world you are building, but clarity is important too. As Harrison Ford is rumored to have told George Lucas on the set of Star Wars: "You can write this shit, but you can't say it. Move your lips when you type!"

I read my dialogue out loud, Samuel. I also use audio readers.

Great and helpful responses from everyone! What I'm understanding is to be creative and try not to be complicated.

Maurice - me too. Great excuse for talking to myself - "It's not a psychotic break, it's MY PROCESS!!"

How are you, Jackson?

Samuel, when I read dialogue out loud, I try to speak like the characters (based on their personalities and speech patterns).

Maurice- I'm good! Nice to meet you and everyone else!!

The story I entered into the Nicholl for this year is a fantasy film. When I was coming up with the names for most of the characters, I sat in a room and looked around at the pictures and calendars and books around me. And I would pick apart pieces of words and put them together to create a lot of the names. Happy writing!!!

I’d keep the fantasy element but “uniquely” relevant to characters particular place in society, job or nickname.

What's the actual difference? "Jack" can be a serial killer, an astronaut, even an alien...

Nice to meet you also, Jackson.

Without knowing more about your "made-up world", I'd lean towards giving your characters names that befit the world. I would imagine you wouldn't want to give a character a name that adversely jars and feels incongruous.

For example, look at the character names in The Hunger Games: Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark, Haymitch Abernathy, Caesar Flickerman, Claudius Templesmith, Rue, Cinna, Clove etc. Imagine if they had a character called Bob Johnson. It wouldn't fit; it wouldn't be in harmony with the other names.

Great example of character names @PhilClarke! For a fantasy film, the names should be very unique (Jane and John won’t do).

@JacksonChristian, use the world you create as a foundation for creating Character names. Is your world based on Earth (terra), the Sea( oceanus) Space (galactica)? Use the environment of your Characters as inspiration for names.

Or do your Characters have a certain look (ex. Strawberry Shortcake)? Maybe their appearance influences their names.

One last suggestion. Do your Characters have special powers? Their name and power can be linked (ex. think of the X-Men).

Good luck!

Personally, I've always gone the Marvel route and made my character names subtle references to what they're similar to / based on.

Example: The Nazi Villain Johann Schmidt is clearly a nod to the notorious Nazi philosopher Carl Schmitt.

Another example: The Dr Strange villain Kaecilius is an allegorical nod to the Hindu word for God, not to mention sounding much like a species of blind snake.

You can make up names but don't make them all really long and difficult to remember, otherwise the reader may get confused about who is who.

Honestly, the world is your oyster. You're the creator. Name them whatever you want, and it will work out fine.

I say give them names that sound pleasing to the ear.

I recently finished a fantasy script that was partially set in the Middle east. Never having been there I did some research into the languages and ended up giving them names that revealed something about their character. English speaking audiences may not know what they mean but it is a subtle nod to the way some cultures name their children. For example I found the Arab word for "guide" and named the guide in the story with that name. Plus it sounded cool too!