You Name-Caller! 30 Dystopian Character Name Ideas {WriterlyWednesday}

{1st post in the new WriterlyWednesday mini-series You Name-Caller!}

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Picking names for your characters can be one of the most fun parts of building your story. For me? It's something I have spent hours on for some particular characters. That may sound a bit obsessive, but a name can say a lot about a character, and even describe a bit of their personality. So why not obsess over names? You want your MC to have an awesome name which fits his character to a T, don't you?

Name-choosing can be an art in itself, if you let it. Or, it can be something totally random and serendipitous.

Today, I thought we could look at some neat examples of different dystopian names since so many people I know are writing novels set in that time era.

GIRLS:

1. Eyva - A twist on the traditional Eva, pronounced phonetically, instead of the traditional pronunciation Ee-va.
2. Flair/Flare - A twist on Blair, and making use of words which aren't traditionally used as names.
3. Gliese  - This is an interesting one, and I believe it to be pronounced glees.
4. Bryony - I personally think that this one sounds a bit Irish. It is a twist on the traditional Brianna. Pronounced bree-ahn-ee, to my knowledge.
5. Indigo - Once again, making use of commonplace words. I like this one a lot. It could be used as a boy's name as well.
6. Kae - Basically just a funky way of spelling Kay. Pronounced the same way.
7. Wren - A number of bird names can be used as names, and this is one of them. I picture this as particularly effeminate sounding, personally.
8. Meav - This is actually more traditional than the others, but I think it could easily be a post-apocalypse era name easily.
9.  Laine - Pronounced layn. A pretty variation of the male name Lane.
10. Willow  - A lovely use of the tree name.
11. Raine - A twist on the commonplace word rain. Pronounced in the same fashion.
12. River - The first thing I thought when I heard this, was of the character from Firefly which bears the same name. But if you can get past that connection, it's really a lovely dystopian-sounding name.
13. Cherisis - To my knowledge this has not been used before, thus I created it maybe? *grins sheepishly* Well, whether or not that is valid, it is a variation of the name Cheris. Can be pronounced a variety of ways, but I prefer shair-eh-siss.
14. Carolina - Dakota has been used as a name, why not some of the other states, too? I like Carolina in particular because it could also be a twist on the traditional Caroline.
15. Rynn - This could be a fantasy genre name too, in my opinion. A simple name fit for the strong heroine who has been through all to save her country. Pronounced rin.

BOYS:

1. Archer - This is one of my absolute favorites for boys' names, in general. Making use of commonplace words/occupations/sport titles.
2. Eames - If you've seen the film Inception, you're probably recalling the gangster-like character therein with this name. Setting aside that connection, I think this is a very dystopian-sounding name which traditionally has probably been used as a last name. Pronounced eems.
3. Damascus - Making use of location names.
4. Forest - Ignore the mental connection you might be making with the film Forest Gump for a moment, and picture how this might sound as a nice guy's name. Very earthy and raw, rich and full.
5. Griffin - Another personal all-time favorite. Making use of mythological creature names. I think this sounds very masculine.
6. Tiyev - I think this sounds rather Russian. Pronounced tee-yev.
7. Zander - A name with a very strong dystopian aura. I am not sure what origins it descends from.
8. Reed - A variation of the traditional Reid.
9. Yancey -  I saw this in a novel, used as a last name, but I can picture it easily being a first name, pared with a single-syllable last name.
10. Shiloh - Making use of location names, once again. I really like this one. Another earthy-toned, full sounding name. Pronounced shy-low.
11. Tavis - A play off of traditional Travis.
12. Mungo - A Latin-sounding name which reminds me of the character Thresh from THG.
13. Ash - Another use of a commonplace word. I like this one, too.
14. Lance - This may be a contemporary name in use commonly today, but I still think it sounds rather dystopian.
15. Ronan - Similar in sound to Nolan.

Hope this short list was helpful to you! I could list a dozen more names but I'll save that for another time.

Next WriterlyWednesday, we'll continue the You Name-Caller! mini-series with a post containing 30 Civil War names.

Blessings, y'all!