I could quote Shakespeare, but we're talking about names here

So...I get the honor of putting up the second topic of our lovely WriYe Blogging Circle.  Today's topic: Naming Characters.  And then today's question...*drum roll* How do you name your characters? 

(Yes, I know that was expected.  I still wanted the drum roll.  Hush.)

Now, there is a ton of advice already out there about naming characters.  There is the "get a baby book and go for the meaning" type advice.  There is the going to a website and pulling up a random name.  I use this advice all the time when I am having a problem with naming a character, especially a background one.  With the background characters, at least for me, it seems to be more about getting a quick name like Mark than building any sort of depth to them with an interesting name.

Now, remember the story I told about the first character I created which lead me to understanding character depth?  You're probably wondering why I named such a character, no less a vampire, Pyre.  When you think of a pyre, you think of flames and funerals and Vikings.  Well, I think of Vikings.  You might also think of Doctor Who - oops, getting off topic.

What I wanted to do with her is be unique and a bit ironic.  Why name a vampire after something that is used to kill them?  Why not go with something a bit more towards a traditional vampire character or a normal name like Erin?  Because, even though I took the idea of blind hacker from somewhere else - we'll get back to authors stealing borrowing from other authors sometime - she needed to be different.  She needed to have a name that people would remember and to go with her oddball personality.  Erins being oddballs are a dime a dozen and we love all of them.  But it would be expected.  That would be normal.  Pyre isn't not normal.  She's brilliant and insane and...some things that really shouldn't be posted but have been uttered by others.

Once I had the name for Pyre, her back story suddenly just came out of me.  It turned out that she did have a completely normal name but Pyre was her hacker name and she had always been a computer geek.  This was the name she used to have an entirely different life and now, since she was in a different life, she embraced her hacker identity completely.

So, what I'm getting at is, unless your character is supposed to be normal or in the background, go for the gusto with naming them.  Go for the odd spelling of Christopher if you need them to stand out but you love the name.  You make the character into Kristopher and maybe now, they're a Russian spy, or were one in a past life.  Expected?  Maybe.  But you can bring depth to that character with the odd name and make them extraordinary.  Don't make your characters normal with their name.  Make them normal with what they do.  Stretch the limits with the name and you might find a back story that writes itself. 

Links for Naming Websites

Baby Names Website: http://www.weddingvendors.com/baby-names/

Behind the Name Random Generator: http://www.behindthename.com/random

Seventh Sanctum Name Generators: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php

Links to Other People's Answers
Cherri: WriYe Blogging Circle #2  
J. Wesley: Character Names
Keri: I Think Your Name Means Dumb
Siana Blackwood: Blogging Circle Post 2