How To Make Amazing OCs

Names

This chapter will be how to find the perfect name for your oc, and I hope you find this helpful. :)

Firstly, I'm just gonna say- do not name your oc off their personality. For example, do not name a dark and mysterious character Shadow. Okay, when I say this I do not mean nicknames. People can have nicknames off personality, but when a child is born the parents can't tell what personality their child will have. Thus why, in my opinion you should name your oc before creating personality.

I feel like the easiest way not to do this is to name your oc first before you create their personality. Or if you must for some reason make personality first before naming then I suggest finding someone to give name suggestions. Then out of the ones they tell you find the one you like best or just keep looking if you feel you don't want to use those. 

Or, another way around this 'rule' is to have them change their name. But really, if you must have their name something cliche, just have it be a nickname. Maybe have an oc that doesn't like their name so wants to be called something else? It's your oc, so I'm not saying you must do any of this really. I'm just trying to help. 

Also, naming oc's after words- personally I wouldn't unless its in another language. There are some baby name websites that you can type in a word like "beauty" or "Peace" ((or whatever word)) and it'll bring up names that mean whatever word you typed in. 

I think those are cool and they're great places to find names for oc's.

Which leads me into the next thing, pronunciation. 

Don't pick a name that is way to hard to pronounce. It can be annoying reading a story and having to create a gibberish pronunciation to substitute the name because it's spelt way to difficult to understand how you'd pronounce it. 

If you make an oc's name hard to pronounce then I would say either have them at some point say how it's pronounced, or clarify somewhere how it's pronounced, or at least have them get annoyed when it gets mispronounced. Because trust me, it's annoying.

And so if you don't plan on sharing your oc with anyone then you can pick as hard of a name as you want to pronounce because nobody would see it anyway. 

But, fanfic writers who like to post their stories and get lots of reads and stuff, stay away from hard names and overused, cliche names. 

You don't have to think of middle names if you don't want to- but I feel it really adds to your character and makes it seem more realistic. Just another way the creator gets to know their oc a little better. 

As long as you have a first and last name, generally you should be okay with just that. 

I'd say that's about it for picking names for your oc. 

Until next time, 

-ThisisIronic