Help Naming Characters

Currently, I'm working on a Pokemon fanfiction. It's made completly of new characters. No Ash or Brock will be in the story. The only problem I'm having is naming the characters. I have found three ways to name my characters. Name them normal names like James or John. Name the characters with names from all around the world. For example naming a character an Italian name. The last way is to name characters non-existing names or weird names. Which way do yo u find better to attract readers or to make a fanfiction better?

Thanks for help in advance.

Well...
I think you should use weird names, but these names must be chosen for their meaning. The name must "look like" the character... do you see what I mean ?
Normal names make the reader think that the character may be like them, so that's obviously not a good idea. (it depends on the story, of course)
Foreign names aren't a bad idea if you are lazy to invent a name, but they must also mean something. And don't use well-known name such as Mario, Luigi... that would even be worse than James or John...

THAT IS WHAT I HATE! Names always get to me. I sit for whole half hours thinking up one name for a character.

Yes, think up character-like names, what "ze_gobou" said previously. Like if a character is disobedient, call them something that sounds defiant. When I hear "speed," I think of a street-name for a lazy character. See? That's what you should go for. Good luck!

I sit for whole half hours thinking up one name for a character.

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O_o You too ?
Same for me, half an hour for every main character, a bit less for the others.

I guess I will go naming my characters weird names and rare used names. Thanks for the advice.

How about variations of normal names, like the name 'Henry' can be 'Heinrich', 'Enrico', 'Enrique', and 'Henri' in different countries.

Me, I normal just check out names in the Bible, like: Aaron, Barak, Cain, Perez, Malachi, Calah...

Yes I too sit for half hours over a dumb name. Well, good luck with your names! Bye...XD

I dunno... I don't stress too much on the names. If I can't think of a name right away, I leave the name part blank and move on. As I develop the story, sometimes the names just come to me, as I think, "oh, that name sounds right for this character. I'd think of a ____ acting this way. :)"

In my latest fanfic, I use a lot of Japanese names. It gives it a more exotic feel, but they're also names I relate to. ;) Keep in mind that whatever you choose, it's the character that should tell the most about him- or herself, not his/her name. So don't stress it too hard. You can always come up with a dummy name and fill it in later. xD

Names are easy for me, I just see names I like and use them :) Yvonne is a family name, Milo is a strong name meaning soldier (and apple :P) that actually comes from my love of the old film "The Adventures of Milo and Otis".
Nathan's name comes from the song I first heard the name Nathaniel in, "The Spirit of Man" from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds

No, Nathaniel
Oh no, Nathaniel
No, Nathaniel, no
There must be more to life
There has to be a way
That we can restore to life
The love we used to know
There must be something worth living for
There must be something worth trying for
Even some things worth dying for
And if one man can stand tall
There must be some hope for us all
Somewhere, somewhere in the spirit of man

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this is what i do, think of someone that reminds you of the character and think of that person's initials e.g if your character is based on a mate and his initials are A.P
then use those intials but with different name, so if he was Alan Parwhich then your character can be Alex Pottle
it really helps me in my fanfics

*Reads Orange_Flaafy's post*

Umm... Milo means "apple"? Eh, that's a bit... odd.

Anyway, my characters are actually named according to the same things- "Char" is actually a reference to my first starter when I began playing Red Version, and Ryou was the name of my first roleplay character that I ever created. (It was a Naruto rp, and I wanted the name to be Japanese, so I just created a pormantaue of a few words I knew and came up with Akakaze Ryou. Yeah, odd.) Audrey is named after Audrey II, the man-eating plant in Little Shop of Horrors, which happens to be one of my favorite musicals; and to top it all off Scott, Tori, and Jack are the nicknames of three people I happen to be friends with. Yeah...

If you're in a need for names, go to: www.behindthename.com

They have tons on there.

I just did... they have a heck of a lot of good names there. Yeah, I'm definitely using this from now on.

Audrey is named after Audrey II, the man-eating plant in Little Shop of Horrors, which happens to be one of my favorite musicals;

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I love that movie. Anyway though, this has become more of a name-idea clogged thread when the person already has enough help. If ya can't beat'em, shoot'em! XD No, I'm just kidding, join'em!

I usually think what would a "John" or "Darren" be like? If it matches and seems to be a good name, it stays. If not, nix it!

Ok, I am done here I guess. Well, buh bye all!

Well i think your characters should have either a little of both, or (depending on your storie's setting of the character) should have a traditoinal or an actual name.

That's just my advice, but i dont know. Anyway good luck on your fanfiction

Next to coming up with ideas the biggest plague of writers really is coming up with names for things, especially names for characters. As for advice on how to deal with it, well just expand your knowledge of names and you will find yourself scratching your head a bit less trying to think of them. Or just make Anime fan fiction because God knows Anime characters have strange names and who can't make up weird names.

Whenever I try to come up with names for characters in my drawings or stories I usually lean towards naming them after people I know (or normal names which also depends on who you know - I have a friend called Spiro and his nationality is Greek). The only other way that I would ever use to name characters would be when I'm using Japanese names. I normally just consult a language-to-language dictionary and convert English terminologies for Japanese names (eg. cherry blossom = Sakura, husky = Hasuki, etc.).

I would use the names i gave the peeps on my games...
But that's my (not even remotely humble) opinion.