we want to name characters with meaningful names
July 14, 2022 10:57 AM   Subscribe

My kid often asks for help naming characters in her writing. In general she's looking for names that have a hint of meaning, but not too on the nose. What reference book can I get her? Online resources also ok.

I'm thinking some sort of "roots" dictionary where she can look up a keyword and find "roots" or associated characters from a variety of sources.

Like say she has a character who's a "plant" superhero. She'd look up "plant" and find words or roots meaning "plant" in Latin, Greek, Norse, Sanskrit, Old English, etc., and then she'd be able to use one of them to base her character name off of.

Is there such a thing?
posted by fingersandtoes to Writing & Language (10 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Not sure if you know about it already, but Behind the Name is a fantastic online source for meanings of real names in multiple languages. You can get some mileage out of searching it using google like this (for 'plant') which brings you to this page of names tagged 'plant' which seems inspirational! I don't know a way to search for tags on the behind the name site itself but they do have a hefty search form.
posted by quaking fajita at 11:17 AM on July 14, 2022 [6 favorites]


This is a great moment to introduce your daughter to the joys of metonymy. In your example, the best name for a plant-based superhero probably isn't a literal translation of "plant" from another language, but the name (in any language you like) of something associated with plants. How about Flora, or Herb, or Green Shoot, or even The Rooter? She can draw or imagine a plant, or the superhero using their plant powers, name the parts, colors, or actions she sees, and go from there. Google images and dictionary definitions and etymologies will have plenty of starting points.
posted by drdanger at 11:31 AM on July 14, 2022


A phone book?
posted by parmanparman at 12:22 PM on July 14, 2022


Critical tools in my writing work have included a dictionary, thesaurus, baby name book, dictionaries of mythology, etc. You can get most of those online for free.
posted by Chaussette and the Pussy Cats at 12:35 PM on July 14, 2022


Fwiw, my kid tends to plug words into Google Translate, or peruses the paper English/French dictionary we have, and has figured out a bunch of etymologies as a result.
posted by tchemgrrl at 12:43 PM on July 14, 2022


This is an older book - 1990s - but she might like The Guinness Book of Names by Leslie Dunkling. I read it as a child and enjoyed it. There are some lists by meaning as far as I recall. It covers names in general so house and pub names for instance. There are also discussions of what people think about their names, or how they made the decisions about their children’s names. It’s discursive generally. The names will be vintage of course but may have come around again by now.
posted by paduasoy at 1:09 PM on July 14, 2022


Best answer: The Story Games role playing community put together this great book of names for characters and places from cultures all over the world (and some made up) that's now available as a free download: The Story Games Name Project

You can also still purchase printed copies online from several online retailers, if she'd rather have a physical book.
posted by hydropsyche at 1:15 PM on July 14, 2022 [2 favorites]


Ok, so, I know yr asking for a kid. So this absolutely requires a parental filter, but Rude Tales of Magic is on an entirely different level with naming NPCs. One of the players introduces himself to everybody he meets, resulting in a truly unhinged cornucopia of character names. Elbows Annual. Buckley Lindsingham. Buddy Badnews. Nicotine Tones. So, meaningful? Maybe not so much. But definitely will stimulate the imagination.
posted by PikeMatchbox at 5:53 PM on July 14, 2022


she has a character who's a "plant" superhero

The character must be named Rowan, after the tree.
posted by SPrintF at 8:30 PM on July 14, 2022


When I was a kid, I collected baby name books for this purpose and spent many happy hours browsing them and naming my plant superheroes and spies and whatnot. Lots of them have theme lists, lists of names with common roots, etc.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 1:49 PM on July 15, 2022


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