I can't come up with a last name for my character Finn in my new novel. It's killing me and making me grumpy.
Finnegan Grumpy...nope, shit.
I'm sitting in Starbucks, looking at a blond woman who I know from somewhere but I refuse to ask her about it because saying: do I know you from somewhere? is akin to saying: wanna bang?
Finnegan Wannabang...Is awesome, but the wrong kind of awesome.
Anyway, I like last names that are nouns or other words. I like last names that are homonyms (you know, the kind that are spelled different but sound the same. Like Kerse or Konseid or maybe even some that don't start with K.)
Finnegan Konseid...sounds like a Russian spy who lives in the suburbs and takes naughty photos of himself.
Please, if you are reading this, help a fellow out before I use Finnegan Placeholder.
what kind of character is he? what kind of book is this? is he a good, bad, noble, tragically flawed, broodingly complex, narcissistic...? character can determine the flavor of a name, as can plot. i know nothing of your book, i know nothing of your character. is he an angry silverback gorilla with large teeth and a pointy head? then Finn Silver?
ReplyDeleteFinn Silver sounds like a porn star who never could get his career going.
ReplyDeleteThe book is like a thriller, but more on the side of ridiculous than plausible. There's a Minnesotan Nazi, a woman who's disguised as a teenage fan of anime and manga, and a gay Armenian who writes poetry about the zombie apocalypse and blogs about video games.
Finn is the normal in the sea of odd, but he's a good dude. Just caught up in a lot of weirdness.
I like Atom. It's so elemental, and you can change the spelling, or make it backwards. Hmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteFinn McGill (fins and gills...ha, I kill me)
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Finn Stumpf (german for dull)
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Finn Megatron (only if he's Jewish)
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Finn Lyften (like an aeleron, only celtic sounding)
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Good suggestions so far. Finn is an aspiring comic book artist, so maybe I'll look into the characters and writers and artists I love from the mics and see about paying one of them homage.
ReplyDeleteHow about Finn Siegel, in memoriam Jerry Siegel: co-creator of Superman. If you don't like Siegel, Jerry had a few nom-de-plumes you could snag: Carter, Ess & Fine (thanks wikipedia for that one!)
ReplyDeleteFinn Fine... goofy sounding, but everyone needs something to be teased about in grade school, right?
Finn Fine is goofy, but Finnegan Fine or Finnegan Siegal are both pretty good.
ReplyDeleteI like Hariolor's suggestion of Lyfton. It's perfect. It sounds like Olde English (lyfe=life ton=sound/tone).
ReplyDeleteYou should name him something crazy. If he is the normal in a world of odd at least help him fit in with an odd name. Maybe one of those hockey names that goes on and on forever and then ends with an 'X' as if to say "this name continues on and on but we ran out of ink."
ReplyDeleteLike Zherfyaniandivferdx. I love those names. Or I could name him Finnegan Niedermayer and just start hating his guts.
ReplyDeleteFinnegan Yzerman has a nice ring to it.
ReplyDeleteIt does, but a lot of people will think the y is silent, or they'll call him Yizzerman or stupid crap like that.
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