Naming Book Characters

As a writer, baby name websites are your best friend. They’re great for helping you find a name for your protagonist that thematically ties in with, say, their struggle with guilt and self-forgiveness. Or maybe it ties into their origin as a seafarer. Or their name’s a clue to their true nature (see: Darth Vader, and how in German, “vater” means “father.”)

Baby name websites are super useful–until they’re totally inaccurate.

I found this article recently while searching for a Native American name for a character. Sadly, there’s lots of fake names rampant on the internet, and I’d recommend checking out this article about it:)

I have a strange little story about this Native American name: a few years back I wrote a book with a Hopi main character. He’s twelve years old, living in a magical boarding school in Mexico. I named this kid “Takaet,” but now, I can’t for the life of me figure out where I got this name from.

I know I researched Hopi names online, and names/meaning from other tribes, but I no longer remember where “Takaet” came from. It’s kind of sad:( and quite frankly, “Takaet” is probably not accurate for anything in the Hopi language.

So now I’m on the search for a more accurate name. But this time, I will be doing more thorough research than just checking out some baby name websites:)

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