For my very first writing post, I want to talk about something I’ve been having a lot of fun with lately: naming characters! There are a million ways to do it: name generators, baby name websites, phonebooks (if you still have those), and so on.

However, most of those resources focus on “realistic” names. What if you’re looking for something more unusual or fantasy-adjacent? Well, there are fantasy name generators, but many have a bias toward certain languages, time periods, and styles (*cough* Tolkien *cough*), which isn’t always what you want. I personally don’t have the time to invent a language for the sole purpose of naming characters, so I’ve turned to other methods.

As it turns out, there are a lot of different ways to gain inspiration from animals. Endless possible names ranging from the ordinary to the unusual and entirely unique, depending on your method of search and creation. I’ve found both the common and scientific names of animals useful for different purposes. So, let’s start on that.

Scientific Names vs. Common Names

All described animal species have scientific names, and many (but not all) have one or more common names. For example, Corvus brachyrhynchos is the scientific name for the American Crow (common name). Armadillidium vulgare is the scientific name for an animal with many common names: common pill woodlouse, potato bug, pill bug, roly poly, and more. And Leptopteromyia americana is a species of robber fly that doesn’t even have one common name.

Now, when naming a character after an animal, most people go for common names first, since they’re more familiar. They’re common! Typing “bird names for babies” into your search engine of choice will show many examples: Robin, Raven, Wren, Jay, and so on.

Descriptive words within some common names can be useful as well. The “Rusty” in Rusty Blackbird might strike inspiration. And there are many more unusual common names you can give your characters, some of which may give off a fantasy vibe. I have two siblings named Oriole and Sparrow in a pair of YA fantasy novels I’m working on.

One problem with using common names in certain genres, though, is… do these animals exist in the setting? Especially in the case of historical fiction, you wouldn’t want to give your character the name of an animal they wouldn’t even know existed.

And maybe you just don’t want to use common names. Maybe you don’t want the name’s inspiration to be obvious, or maybe you want names that sound like they come from a fantasy language. Well, moving on to scientific names!

Using Scientific Names

Some scientific names can be used as is. For example, looking at the American Crow again, Corvus makes a fine fantasy name. In fact, there are already many fictional characters named Corvus, including a Marvel villain.

Another technique is to split a longer name into parts. If the name is made up of Latin or Greek roots, you may want to research and use one of those, especially if the meaning suits your character. If you don’t want it to look or sound like a root word, you might change the spelling or add/subtract letters. For example, I have a character named after Amblypygi (an order of arachnids): I took the first root “ambly-” (meaning blunt or dull in Greek) and changed it to “Amble” (which happens to be a real word, but still a fine name with a secret origin behind it).

If you don’t want to use roots, you can split it in other ways, or you can cut out the parts that sound nice and mash them together! For example, I have a character named Brach after Brachypelma albopilosum, otherwise known as the curlyhair tarantula. The name came about through a brainstorming session with a friend, and here are some other names we came up with: Bo’pilo, Pylos, Pelm, Pelma, Aylos, Elos. Lots of good names just from one species!

Scientific names are also good for naming pairs or groups of people. For example, you might name a mother Vanessa and her daughter Annabella (after the West Coast Lady butterfly Vanessa annabella), which is a neat way to connect them as relatives. Or you might name enemies after species that compete or have a predator/prey relationship in nature. Or you could name two friends or lovers after a symbiotic pair of species.

Where to Look

If you already have some species in mind, great! Go ahead and use their common names or look up their scientific names (or take a look at species in the same genus). However, if you have no idea what to pick (or if your animal of choice doesn’t have a great name), there are a number of books, websites, and apps you can browse.

Books: The best books for names are, of course, field guides. Field guides for everything from birds to reptiles to spiders and more can be found at most bookstores. Many places (including nature centers and some museums) also offer ID or checklist pamphlets featuring common species in your area, if you want something smaller (and usually cheaper, or even free).

Apps: If you’re looking for something less expensive or wieldy than a book, there are many field guide apps available, many of them free. For birds, the Audubon and Merlin apps are quite popular, and you can browse through names there. I haven’t found guides for other animals that quite match those two, but there are plenty available to try!

Websites: If websites and databases are more your thing, there are many of those as well. My top choice is iNaturalist (also available as an app), where you can find the names of pretty much any species of animal, plant, fungi, or even some single-celled organisms (pick a group or search for a species, then scroll down and click “Taxonomy” to explore the drop-down menus). Other sites include BugGuide.net, Crab Database, and many others. A simple search for “animal database” will bring up quite a few.

Research Before You Settle

As with any name, make sure to look up the meaning first! Especially with Latin/Greek roots, you probably want to check the meaning so that you don’t accidentally name your character something embarrassing (if you want to give them an embarrassing name then go for it, but do it on purpose, not on accident).

Even if you modify the name, you might still want to make sure you aren’t naming them after a celebrity, a band, a famous location, a swear word in another language, etc. (again, nothing wrong with naming a character after any of these things, but it’s better to know who or what your character shares a name with ahead of time).

You also want to check whether or not there are already characters with that name (as mentioned previously, Corvus is quite popular). Even if you are dead set on using it, it’s good to know who or what other people might associate your character with, assuming you plan on sharing your writing.

In Conclusion

As you can see, there’s quite a lot you can do with animal names. Common names, scientific names, mash-up names, endless possibilities! You could literally spend days and days browsing iNaturalist and building a list of names.

The idea of looking through huge databases might be intimidating, so I recommend having an idea of where to start before you look. Maybe your big and fuzzy male lead vibes with tarantulas, and you can start your search there. Or maybe consider a theme, like naming a whole family after rabbits. In my current project, all the characters are named after invertebrates.

So, I hope you enjoyed this post and discovered a new technique for coming up with fantasy names! This technique, of course, is not limited to looking at animals. Any sort of life form with a common and/or scientific name can serve as inspiration, and feel free to browse plants or mushrooms or whatever interests you! And names are not limited to people, either: fictional cities, organizations, dragons, and everything in between can have nature-inspired names, too!

Have fun, and if you enjoyed this post, check out my blog SandpaperOctopi for more.

Originally published at http://sandpaperoctopi.com on August 8, 2022.